OUR PUBLICATIONS
Research Reports
The Secrets to Building an Effective and Sustainable Employee Relief Fund
Covid-19 hit and the world changed. As more and more people were impacted by the pandemic, the number of Employee Relief Funds (ERFs) exploded. Even companies that had funds in place began to revisit parts of their programs to make sure that they were being responsive to the type and volume of requests.
This study looks at the world of ERFs, moving from how to set up an effective and IRS compliant ERF to dealing with their challenges/solutions and ending with best practices. It is unique in that it focuses on the impact of Covid-19 on these programs.
Regardless of whether you are considering starting an ERF, have just created one, or have a mature program in place, this study will provide you with helpful information on how to make it even more efficient and impactful.
This report would not have been possible without the support of our sponsors:
Platinum: Emergency Assistance Foundation, Inc.
Gold: Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, LLP
Silver: Andy’s Outreach Fund
Bronze: NRG Energy, Trane Industries
Pro Bono Today: What’s New, What’s Working
We know why we do pro bono–to help nonprofits thrive and to develop employee talent. What LBG Associates and LBG Research Institute wanted to know more about was how we do pro bono today.
So we went to the companies with reputations for having solid pro bono programs. We interviewed the company and a nonprofit partner to hear both sides. The result is a 60-page report that reveals all the ways that companies are moving the practice of pro bono forward.
The report covers the trends, practices that address barriers to pro bono for nonprofits, the elements of success, and 10 case studies of successful projects.
This report wouldn’t be possible without the support of our sponsors:
Gold: Andeavor, Booz Allen Hamilton, JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Silver: Macquarie Group, Target
Bronze: PIMCO
Balancing Pro Bono Supply and Demand: Challenges and Solutions From the Nonprofit Point of View
While pro bono is the fastest growing employee engagement program, according to CECP’s 2015 Giving in Numbers report, anecdotally it appears that the supply of volunteers is outpacing the demand for their services. If corporations want the promise of pro bono to be fulfilled, it is critical that the companies that supply these volunteers understand why nonprofits don’t take advantage of corporate talent.
LBG Associates and LBG Research Institute went directly to nonprofits to ask them why. With the support of corporate sponsors, including Platinum Lead Sponsor JPMorgan Chase, LBG surveyed nonprofits about their experiences with pro bono volunteers, what the challenges were and the solutions they had found for these challenges.
The study identified five top challenges nonprofits face when taking on a pro bono volunteer and suggests solutions that corporations can employ to help the nonprofit use their volunteers more effectively and guarantee the creation of a successful pro bono program for itself.
Global Employee Engagement: Challenges and Solutions
LBG Associates has completed an important research study that does what no previous study on Global Employee Engagement has done–tell you how real companies solved real problems they encountered taking their employee giving and volunteer programs overseas. This 57-page report reveals the three biggest challenges of global engagement and the solutions multinational companies employ to minimize them.
The report is FREE thanks to the generosity of Microsoft Corp.
Global Employee Engagement: Challenges and Solutions was made possible by the generosity of these sponsors:
Gold: Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Moody’s Corporation, Morgan Stanley, VolunteerMatch
Silver: Macquarie Group Ltd., JK Group, UnitedHealth Group
Bronze: Abbott Laboratories, AmeriGives, IBM, McGraw-Hill Financial, RBC, Truist
Sponsors: NVIDIA, Timberland
Corporate Pro Bono Readiness Report
Wondering if your company is ready to start a pro bono program? The Nonprofit Collaborative, composed of Taproot Foundation, Common Impact, and Points of Light, asked LBG Associates to conduct a survey to assess corporate readiness for pro bono services with the intent to increase the effectiveness of these initiatives. This free report will help you evaluate whether it is time to begin a formal pro bono program and what you need to be successful in that endeavor.
Advancing CSR Without a Corporate Responsibility Officer
Top corporate citizenship executives got together to talk about the state of corporate social responsibility and corporate citizenship as a profession under the auspices of LBG Research Institute’s Thought Leader Forum. See what they had to say about how companies without CROs can still advance their CSR agenda.
Employee Engagement: Volunteerism
How do companies use workplace and corporate giving to engage their employees? LBG Associates conducted a focus group on this topic at the Charities@Work conference in April 2012. This free white paper summarizes the findings and gives insight into what is popular and successful right now.
Employee Engagement: Workplace & Corporate Giving
How do companies use workplace and corporate giving to engage their employees? LBG Associates conducted a focus group on this topic at the Charities@Work conference in April 2012. This freewhite paper summarizes the findings and gives insight into what is popular and successful right now.
Building Blocks of an Inspired Employee Volunteer Program
In this series of three white papers, LBG Associates explores three crucial building blocks–the three “R”s–of an employee volunteer program:
- Recruiting
- Recognition
- Reporting
We surveyed 47 major U.S. companies to find out what is working in each of these areas today. These white papers will show you how to build (or renovate) your EVP for maximum success.
Together they will answer these crucial questions:
- What is the most effective way to get employees to volunteer for the first time?
- What makes them want to volunteer again?
- What recognition tactics really get employees excited about volunteering?
- What incentives increase reporting volunteer hours the most?
- How should I structure my Dollars for Doers program for maximum success?
Download the white papers below:
Secrets to Creating High-Impact Strategic Partnerships
LBG Associates defines a strategic partnership as a mutually beneficial relationship and investment of resources between a nonprofit and a company that results in a community involvement program that aligned with the company’’s corporate citizenship strategy, brand, and business goals.
Is having a strategic partnership for you? The answer is most likely YES. Even with limited resources, CI professionals can produce programs that make positive changes in the community and build business value.
This report lays out LBG Associates’ recommendations for building a strategic partnerships, outlines the key steps to follow, and provides best practices to enhance success. The report includes 24 case studies of successful partnerships with insight from both the corporations and their nonprofit partners. Learn from IBM, Moody’s, American Express, AMD, Seventh Generation, Verizon, Western Union, Merck and 16 others about the challenges they faced and how they overcame them.
There is no other report that can guide you through the process. The report includes the 13 Steps to Success and a checklist to guide you on the journey and help avoid missteps and mistakes.
Workplace Giving Works! Make It Work for You
LBG Associates and LBG Research Institute surveyed more than 50 companies to find out what makes a workplace giving campaign work. Work for your employees, work for your company, and work for your community. This research report from LBG will guide you in making your workplace giving program best in class. Find out:
- The type of program that sends participation through the roof;
- If your donor rates are above or below average;
- How companies like yours measure success;
- What matching workplace gifts can do to results;
- The impact of the economy on workplace giving;
- PLUS a special section on what nonprofits think about workplace giving campaigns;
- And much more!
Pro Bono Service: The Business Case
Research commissioned by Capital One in partnership with the Taproot Foundation and conducted by LBG Associates reveals a solid business case for pro bono service, presenting evidence of the benefits that pro bono service programs bring to companies, their employees, and nonprofits. The highlights of the findings among employees, their managers, and senior executives are presented in this free document.
ISSUE BRIEFING: Disaster Relief
To help prepare your company for the full scope of disaster relief, LBG Associates has prepared this free issue briefing that provides an overview of disaster management and relief; discusses trends that we’ve found from our research during the past 15 years; and outlines our guidelines for disaster relief best practices.
Motivating Volunteering in Tough Times
In these tighter times, many companies are viewing employee volunteerism as a cost-effective way to continue to make an impact in their communities. But what is motivating employees to volunteer right now? If you don’t know, or haven’t checked in with your employees to find out, you may have some surprises in store.
We understand that there’s an urgent need to help companies make crucial decisions about ways to bring their volunteer programs more in line with today’s economic realities–and employees’ needs and desires. This research study from LBG Associates and LBG Research Institute is designed to provide you with that help, by answering the following questions:
- Are employees more driven to volunteer during this recession, or are they so depressed that they are in a state of inertia?
- Are employees afraid to use workday-based programs, such as skills-based, pro bono, or paid time off, for fear of losing/jeopardizing their jobs?
- Just what is inspiring employees to volunteer during these challenging economic times?
LBG’s research report is unique in that it includes both the voice of the employee volunteer manager and the employee. By comparing research from both groups, this study provides a much-needed and robust view of today’s volunteering landscape.
The Green Effect: How Community Involvement Is Embracing Environmentalism
LBG Associates’ research report, The Green Effect: How Community Involvement Is Embracing Environmentalism, reveals the top environmental trends and practices among 51 of today’s leading corporations—and includes a unique self-diagnostic tool that helps determine if a company is a Peridot (becoming green); a Jade (green in many business and community involvement practices); or an Emerald (extremely green). It also includes eye-opening findings on perceptions of for-profit/nonprofit partnerships, based on in-depth discussions with nine green NGOs.
This report presents a wide range of research findings from the participating companies, addressing topics such as:
- Whether respondents believe being green is part of their corporate culture;
- What metrics are being used to measure companies’ environmental footprints;
- How product design and manufacture have been greened;
- How environmental practices vary among the Peridot, Jade, and Emerald companies;
- How charitable giving is affected by the green movement;
- Median green giving levels;
- The critical role employees play in promoting environmentalism;
- How companies are communicating their environmental activities.
The Green Effect also includes more than 25 case studies showing how research participants are “walking the talk” and executing their environmental commitments—in both operations and community involvement activities.
With its landmark research findings, case studies, and proprietary self-diagnostic tool, The Green Effect: How Community Involvement Is Embracing Environmentalism is a much-needed, one-of-a-kind resource guide for the next step in community involvement: going green.
Trends & Best Practices in Corporate Community Involvement
Trends & Best Practices in Corporate Community Involvement presents the extensive findings of a comprehensive survey of the community involvement programs of 35 major U.S. corporations. Originally designed to update LBG Associates’ 1998 Best Practices in Corporate Community Relations report, this landmark community involvement study goes well beyond the 1998 report, and is unprecedented in its scope, detail and analysis.
The report examines the following topics in detail:
- The business case for corporate citizenship;
- Structure and governance of the CI department and the foundation;
- Charitable giving program types and budgets;
- Employee-directed giving;
- Employee volunteerism;
- Sponsorships, memberships, and signature programs;
- Disaster relief;
- Measurement and evaluation; and
- Communiaction
Each section of this report comprises three sections:
- Overview: Provides a broad look at the topic and information about the section’s contents.
- Survey Results: Details the statistical findings derived from the responses to the survey questions for each topic area, including numerous charts and tables that can be easily used for benchmarking a company in very specific community involvement areas.
- Trends & Best Practices: Highlights the significant trends revealed by the survey participants’ responses, plus provides recommended best practices.
With its 130-plus pages of benchmarking data, trend analysis and best practice guidelines, this report is more than a reflection of the state of community relations: It is a tool for companies looking to gauge their CI performance, and a reference that can help elevate community involvement/community relations activities to an even higher level.
Measuring Corporate Volunteerism
Measuring Corporate Volunteerism helps companies determine and improve the success of their corporate volunteer programs by highlighting the issues they need to focus on most.
Specifically, this study:
- Explains how CR/volunteer managers and senior executives define success and how they evaluate the success of their programs
- Outlines the “key components” necessary to build and maintain a successful corporate volunteer program
- Explores the intricacies of many of those “key components” and highlights what, specifically, about each contributes to the success of volunteer programs
- Identifies the value and benefits of corporate volunteerism, from the perspectives of CR/volunteer managers, senior executives and the nonprofit community
- Ultimately, Measuring Corporate Volunteerism identifies those variables or factors that are most likely to impact and predict the success of corporate volunteer programs
The study will prove to be a significant benefit to community relations, public affairs and human resource professionals, as well as volunteer council/committee members, volunteer “champions” and coordinators.
The Standards of Excellence for Corporate Volunteer Programs
The Standards are the result of over four years of intense research and have been compiled with input from hundreds of community relations professionals, corporate senior executives and nonprofit leaders. Comprehensive, yet flexible, The Standards serve as a framework that enable companies to build highly successful volunteer programs; programs which achieve a high level of employee participation and generate specific benefits for companies, their employees and the communities in which they live and work.
The Self-Diagnostic Tool (“The Tool”) allows community relations managers to evaluate their programs against The Standards.
Corporate Volunteerism: Innovative Practices for the 21st Century
Referred to as the “Bible” by CR and volunteer managers throughout the U.S., this informative study focuses on creative, out-of-the-box strategies and programs and provides information on how to incorporate them with/into current initiatives. Corporate Volunteerism: Innovative Practices for the 21st Century goes beyond the “how to” primers or reports that are currently available, by focusing exclusively on best practices.
More specifically, the report provides real-life examples on how leading companies and corporations are successfully and creatively:
- Marketing their programs and recruiting employee volunteers
- Generating senior management buy-in and support
- Tracking, measuring and evaluating volunteer events and activities
- Recognizing and rewarding employee volunteerism
- Developing national volunteer events and activities
- Encouraging corporate volunteerism on a global basis
- Utilizing volunteerism for teambuilding purposes and skills/leadership development
- Overcoming obstacles and challenges affecting volunteer programs
- Provides clear and distinct recommendations on how companies can be more proactive in their approach to disaster relief
Furthermore, the report covers such topics as: the “key components” needed to build a successful volunteer program; developing effective volunteer guidelines and policies, including formal release-time and paid time-off policies; volunteer staffs and budgets; volunteer councils and committees; Dollars For Doers and other recognition programs; and developing employee- and family-friendly volunteer events and activities.
Corporate Philanthropy in Times of Crisis
This study looks at Corporate America’s role in aiding and supporting communities ravaged by the affects of both natural and man-made disasters. Compiled from interviews with nearly 100 corporations and disaster relief experts, including FEMA, American Red Cross, The Salvation Army, NVOAD and others, Corporate Philanthropy in Times of Crisis provides guidance on how companies can better respond to future disasters by working more closely and more effectively with local, state and national emergency management agencies and disaster relief organizations.
Specifically, this study:
- Presents views from the public, private and nonprofit communities on Corporate America’s role in domestic/U.S. disaster relief, from choosing nonprofit partners, to determining the level of assistance and budgeting for disaster relief
- Documents corporate community outreach programs and initiatives related to disaster response and recovery
- Highlights corporate philanthropic trends and practices covering cash, product and in-kind contributions, as well as employee giving and volunteerism
- Introduces some of the “lesser known” volunteer organizations active in disasters and their roles in the response and recovery processes
- Identifies the true needs of disaster relief and volunteer organizations
- Provides clear and distinct recommendations on how companies can be more proactive in their approach to disaster relief.
Best Practices in External Corporate Diversity
Best Practices in External Corporate Diversity examines how companies not only manage diversity within their organizations, but also take diversity to the next level by integrating it throughout their organizations.
Specifically, this groundbreaking benchmark study focuses on how diversity is being integrated into the following external operations, and the benefits they generate:
- Recruitment and retention
- Corporate community involvement
- Supplier diversity
- Marketing and customer relations
- Corporate communications
- Sponsorships and event marketing
Best Practices in External Corporate Diversity 2000 serves as a vital source of information for HR, community relations, and marketing professionals alike.