Hack:
Unleashing Passion in Our Businesses: Create a Community Time Bank and Engage the Community.
January 20, 2011 at 9:44pm
Moonshots
Summary
Create a positive vision of your business by banking employees’ volunteer hours in their community with a Time Bank. Hours are exchanged with local service/product providers for participating individuals. Employee banks x hours with nonprofit and can exchange these hours for a bouquet, school supplies or other community need.
Problem
Businesses tend to isolate themselves from their community. This is counter-productive. A business viewed positively by its community shows increased self-esteem of employees, lowers a need for marketing dollars, interacts with local citizenry to create partnerships and most importantly helps build community. Local citizens and employees working together can do wondrous projects and events. Tracking those volunteer hours in a special Community Time Bank provides an unexpected resource to the employee. An example: expending 3 hours of volunteer service allows an employee to send a bouquet to his/her spouse. 40 hours of non-business, employee community service time could be exchanged for a mini-grant of $250 to the local school for classroom supplies. People identify with their jobs and their business and when a business rewards their good actions, the result is a very positive image of the business in the community. A positive image of the business will mean that people want to work for that company and will want to spread the message of its good works, and they purchase and promote the products and services of that company. The possibilities for good works and community building become unlimited through creating such community partnerships. Instead of acheiving no benefits through isolation, the business grows its clientel, its business outreach and its good name.
Solution
Create a Time Bank. Employees report their volunteer time with two references from the participating charity or nonprofit. The hours are banked under their name. The business reaches out to local service and product suppliers to create partnerships in the community and asks employees how they'd like to use those hours or what they would like them to be used for: maybe for a regular haircut, maybe school supplies, maybe for ramp to make a house accessible. The business will publish the list of volunteer hours and the community projects supported, also those businesses willing to trade products or services for those volunteer hours.
Practical Impact
Businesses who support their employees gain an edge on the market. They are perceived as a leader in new and special ways. Employees have greater self-esteem and are proud of their business, as a result they are energized. The business is the talk of the town. Philanthropy and volunteerism is not only supported in a new and creative process but encouraged and tracked. Local businesses will want to become allied with the X Business Time Bank because their children get the school supplies purchased through the X Business employees volunteer hours or a spouse who is battling a serious illness gets a bouquet of flowers sent by X Business on behalf of their employee. Community building occurs thus strengthening the business and providing great press and free marketing about X Business. The business becomes an integral part of the community and increased sales of products and services occur because X Business is turning around and investing in its employees and their passions. Passion brings passion.
First Steps
Invite key business employees within X Business to participate in and establish a focus group about creating the X Business Community Time Bank. Describe the idea as presented in the Management Innovation eXchange and ask for the groups feedback with lists of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Ask each focus group participant to describe on one or two pages the best case and worst case scenarios for creating such a Community Time Bank by X Business and what those results might look like. Compile a report with an executive summary but include all data compiled about the groups process and review. Provide the report to the X Business's HR Director and Director of Operations and ask for them to provide a two-page executive response within a certain time frame, maybe one month. Schedule the focus group to meet again, this time with the HR Director and Director of Operations, to discuss thoughts about the findings and review. Take a vote as to whether to start such a program or not, then proceed along appropriate channels and guidelines.
Credits
My name is Michael Roth. I am a technical writer focusing on business and economic projects. My background is in nonprofit management where I specialized in creative program development and fund raising. I wrote a book called The Guide to Business Giving in Oregon, now out-of-print. In my research on this book I found that it is an established fact that many of the most successful businesses, as well as many of the businesses rated as the best places to work, have very active gifting and volunteer programs. Partnerships with the local community help to grow a business, as well as provide self-esteem for employees and their programs in the areas present amazing creative potential for community building.
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