Give & Gain Day - We did it!!

Give & Gain Day is the UK’s only national day of employee volunteering. Give & Gain Day 2011, managed by Business in the Community, was nationally sponsored by Lloyds Banking Group, Hewlett Packard and Eversheds LLP, in association with BT and gyro.

Key successes of 2011 were:

This year Give & Gain went international with activity taking place in 16 countries throughout the world resulting in 535 organisations providing over £3m worth of support going to communities most in need. 27, 530 employee volunteers worked on 422 projects to support over 330,000 individuals. Activity in the UK alone supported 25,406 pupils/excluded individuals to feel more ready for work, offering them insight into the workplace and the future career opportunities available to them.

Give & Gain Day 2012 will take place on 18th of May. Register your interest today!

Why Give & Gain ?

Engaging new volunteers and encouraging a sustainable approach to volunteering

Give & Gain Day seeks to raise the profile of employee volunteering, encouraging more employers to support their employees to volunteer in work time and celebrating the employers that continue to provide their employees with opportunities to support their local communities.

Every year feedback from Give & Gain participants demonstrated the strength of the event as a vehicle for engaging new participants and encouraging ongoing community based activity. This year 47% of Give & Gain Day participants in the UK were new to volunteering within work time and 98% of all participants reported a desire to take part in employer supported volunteering again.

“I found the whole experience was extremely rewarding, it felt really good to be able to help the School to improve its physical appearance. The Children were very excited about what we were doing and the staff really complimentary and grateful. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience and would like to volunteer again in the future.” Employee Volunteer, Capita Symonds

“The opportunity to do something useful and to work as part of a cross departmental team. Also the sense of achievement and pride gained from a job well done, that will be part of an on-going project within the school and which the team can continue to be involved with and see progression” Employee Volunteer, Hewlett-Packard

“They were excellent role models to our children and parents. Their skills were beneficial to our school. The day has acted as a real stimulus to future projects.” Abbey Park School

Providing communities with the support they need to succeed

In the current economic climate, many community groups and schools are struggling just to ensure they can give the basic services and educational support for which they exist to provide. Creating more inspirational and positive environments for their service users and pupils, and providing access to the world of work, is often unachievable without the support of volunteers from local organisations.

• Improved physical space (71%)
• Raised service users/pupil aspirations (61%)
• Improved confidence of service users/pupils (46%)

“Connecting employers with our service users was a very positive experience for our clients and hearing advice and information from an external and well established employer added more weight to our career guidance services” RETAS Leeds

“The Teamwork/ communication activities were particularly good. It gave the pupils a real insight into the world of work.” Manchester Academy School

“The children could link the project with a current class theme and use their knowledge to support the development of the art work. The pupils thoroughly enjoyed taking part and were amazed by the change to out outdoor environment. It was a fantastic experience.” Graig Y Rhacca Primary School

“Our clients do not get to hang out with many adults who are this positive and successful. This was great role modelling of citizenship.” Grimsby YMCA

“Students were able to interact with people working in sectors which they might have not considered for future employment. Students were able to learn employment skills from 'real' employers.” Bordesley Green Girls' School

“I feel that the school environment has been enhanced and therefore the pupils' pride in their surroundings has risen. This in turn creates an ethos of continual improvement within the school community.” St Mary's Star of the Sea Primary School

“Same again next year?!” Gay Elms Primary School

“It was inspiring to meet the children and to spend time with them as they interviewed me about my time at school / work. It helped me realise how such a small amount of my time can make such a big difference to them and their school learning facilities/environment/future.” Employee Volunteer, Provident Insurance plc

Stepping outside of the familiar, adapting to new challenge through personal and professional development

Volunteering can provide employees the opportunity to apply their skills within a new context, work together on unique challenges and create stronger relationships with their colleague and potentially collaborating clients and suppliers.

99% of employee volunteers reported the day was beneficial to their skills development, in particular: Team building (98%), Communication (90%), Decision making (83%), Influencing (82%) and Leadership skills (79%). In addition employees felt the experience challenged them to adapt to an unfamiliar environment (89%), as well as offering them a chance to network (86%) and be creative (83%).

“Not just seeing others benefiting but I also learnt from it too. So literally Give & Gain.” Employee Volunteer, Fremantle Media

“It was a lot of fun and felt good to provide a service for a good cause while maybe gaining experiences that could improve my skills within my job” Employee Volunteer, Public Health Agency

“Opportunity to learn a valuable lesson about myself that I doubt I'd been able to see within by day-to-day role - key to helping me to progress.” Employee Volunteer, Provident Insurance

Employee advocacy and satisfaction

Give & Gain Day activities enable employees to step out of their day to day roles and have fun while supporting the communities in which they live and work. By giving employees the time to volunteer, an employer helps demonstrate their values to both their employees and the public, strengthening their relationship with their employees and their reputation as a responsible organisation.

• 99% said the day was beneficial as it gave them a sense of achievement
• 95% felt it was important their employer support employee volunteering
• 87% said their perception of their employer had improved as a result of their support
• 80% said they also felt more committed

“It was a fantastic opportunity to interact with the students on the day - all took part and all seemed to enjoy and hopefully benefit by the experience - there was a great display of team work by them and it was a totally fun day, but I do hope the students learnt something along the way - I know I certainly did - many thanks for the opportunity !” Employee Volunteer, Yorkshire Bank

“Working together towards a common goal with a group of people I hadn't met before. The sense of personal reward & satisfaction in what was achieved during the day.” Employee Volunteer, KCOM Group plc