3 strategies to unlock your CSR participation potential

A successful workplace giving program should be a win-win-win, benefiting your business, employees, nonprofit partners. Companies with strong CSR commitments see higher retention rates, better market value, and greater revenue than their competitors. Employees involved in giving feel a stronger sense of purpose, belonging, and satisfaction. And for nonprofits, workplace giving provides a steady revenue stream, which can double or even triple with an employer match.  

But all these benefits hinge on one thing: employee participation — and right now, it’s lagging. The CECP 2022 report found that participation dropped from 29% in 2019 to just 17% in 2022, with no signs of bouncing back. Plus, matching gift dollars continue to go unclaimed with $4–7 billion left on the table each year. 

So, what’s getting in the way? In this blog, we’ll delve into the biggest roadblocks to maximum participation and share expert tips for overcoming them, including how Bonterra’s Employee Engagement software can help. 

Want even more tips on building an engaged workforce? Download our full guide.  

Challenge #1: multiple systems

The problem

Without a central hub for your giving and volunteering efforts, managing these programs and boosting participation can become a real challenge. 

When employees have to jump between different systems to log volunteer hours, donate, or request a company match, the process gets frustrating fast — and that can lead to drop-offs. This is especially true for matching gifts, where having a simple, straightforward process for submitting match requests is key. If it’s too complicated, potential donations could get left on the table, reducing nonprofit funding and your company’s overall impact.  

For program admins, launching new campaigns becomes a time-consuming task when you’re managing updates across multiple platforms. And if vendor support or technical expertise is required to make changes, it can cause further delays, making it even tougher to quickly activate programs — especially during a disaster or crisis when time is critical. 

The solution 

To make it simple and easy for employees to participate as well as cut down administrative work, it's best to create a central platform for all your programs — from matching gifts to volunteer time off. Bonterra’s Employee Engagement software unites corporate giving initiatives and offers key benefits for both CSR leaders and employees.  

Benefits for CSR teams: 

• Manage all engagement programs from a single admin portal to reduce manual work. 
• Easily design branded giving and volunteer campaigns without needing technical skills. 
• Send automatic reminders to encourage employees to participate and use available matching gift funds. 

Benefits for employees: 

• Create a personalized donor portal that reflects your employees’ specific giving and volunteering preferences. 
• Make it fast and easy to check matching gift eligibility and submit claims through Bonterra’s Employer Matching Integration. 
• Get in-app suggestions and reminders to stay informed about outstanding matching gift balances.  

Challenge #2: global giving 

The problem 

Corporate giving programs can pose significant reputational and regulatory risks, especially if they unintentionally fund the wrong nonprofit. These risks grow even more with international giving, where sanctions, complex regulations, and limited data make vetting nonprofits extremely difficult.  

But here’s the catch: not offering international giving options can hurt your engagement efforts, affecting your company’s productivity, retention, and profitability.  

Today, the lack of global giving is already impacting CSR, with non-U.S. employees being 30% less engaged than their domestic counterparts. Similarly, 30% of employees won’t donate through company initiatives if the nonprofits they care about aren’t included, and 97% of U.S.-based workers want to give to international causes. So, leaving out global employees and causes from your programs puts participation rates and overall employee engagement at risk. 

The solution 

Your company needs a corporate giving solution that allows you to offload the legal risk and administrative work associated with international giving. As a result, you’ll be able to confidently expand your programs to international employees and global nonprofits. 

With Bonterra Employee Engagement, you’ll gain access to our international credit card giving capability which allows CSR teams to tap into three key benefits: 

1. Increase retention: Provide giving and matching gift programs to all employees, regardless of geographical location. Plus, U.S.-based employees can easily give to their favorite international causes. Together, these capabilities lead to higher engagement rates and increased retention across your company’s entire workforce. 
2. Reduce regulatory risk: Tap into a database of 300,000 nonprofits across more than 100 countries and let the Charities Aid Foundation handle risk management and vetting for your global giving. This way, you can confidently enable your employees to support the causes they care about most. 
3. Minimize administrative complexity: Managing programs and reporting impact can be tough for CSR leaders, especially with the complexities of international disbursements. Bonterra Employee Engagement makes it easier by bringing together all aspects of program management, analytics, and disbursements into one unified platform.  

Challenge #3: reporting impact 

The problem 

Employees want to see what happens after a donation has been made and its impact on communities. If you can’t provide that information, you risk losing their trust and decreasing the likelihood of future participation. Impact data is also critical for program admins who rely on it to see top causes supported, participation trends, and more. Without these insights, it’s difficult to leverage findings from past campaigns to optimize future ones for maximum participation and impact.  

But measuring program outcomes and leveraging the data effectively is easier said than done. CSR leaders need a purpose-built tool that offers real-time updates, customizable dashboards, and data visualizations. By extracting insights from key data points, your teams can more easily identify trends, measure effectiveness, and determine the true impact of your efforts. 

The solution 

Bonterra’s native reporting tool, Insights, provides CSR teams with real-time updates, allowing them to optimize programs along the way and gives employees visibility into the immediate impact of their efforts. With access to turn-key dashboards, automated reports, and support from Bonterra’s team of industry experts, you’ll have everything you need to report true program outcomes and optimize your engagement programs. 

Here’s how Insights helps transform your initiatives for maximum participation:  

• Access standard dashboards and self-service analytics that offer actionable insights across your entire portfolio of giving and volunteerism programs. 
• Start reporting impact immediately with 15 out-of-the-box dashboards designed to measure program outcomes and easily meet common regulatory requirements. 
• Translate program data into compelling impact stories that highlight how your employees’ donations and volunteer hours made a difference.  
• Gain insight into how different segments of your workforce participate and the causes they want to support. With the ability to understand these preferences, you can better tailor future programs to meet their needs, translating to increased participation in the long run. 

Employee engagement software for leading corporations 

The best workplace giving programs make participation easy, accessible, and rewarding for everyone involved. By simplifying donation forms and event sign ups, enhancing global giving options, and reporting program outcomes, you can deliver a CSR strategy that benefits your business, employees, and nonprofit partners.  

Ready to elevate your CSR strategy and boost participation like never before? Discover how Bonterra Employee Engagement can make a real impact. Schedule a demo with one of our experts today and unlock the full potential of your giving programs.