Businesses urged to 'make a difference' through volunteer work

CSV’s Make a Difference Day, the UK’s biggest day of volunteering, is challenging businesses to get involved in its 2003 campaign.

Make a Difference Day is set to provides an opportunity for companies to create or enhance their corporate social responsibility programme, which will ultimately benefit business profits.

Recent research from MORI shows 84% of the British public take a company’s activities in the community into account when forming an opinion of that organisation. However, a new report by the Work Foundation suggests almost six out of ten (58%) of the 277 organisations they surveyed have no strategy for social responsibility or corporate citizenship.

Make a Difference Day is therefore a chance for companies to make a positive difference in their communities. Scheduled to take place on Saturday 25 October 2003 and organised by the UK’s largest volunteering charity CSV, the campaign asks people to give time, rather than their money, for one day.

Make a Difference Day is supported by Barclays community investment programme, as part of the bank’s world-class volunteering scheme. A quarter of Barclays employees take part in volunteering activities, and last year over 8,500 of them participated in CSV’s Make a Difference Day. Numerous other companies participated in the event, including Ford Motor Company, Leeds Housing Federation, Abbey National and Parsons Brinckerhoff. Activities ranged from serving sandwiches to the homeless, donating toys to a children’s ward, to renovating a sports club and helping out at a wildlife centre.

Barry Wade, editor of HR Gateway, said: “Going out and giving something back to your local community boosts staff morale and improves workplace performance, as employees feel good about themselves and their companies – it’s also a great opportunity for team building, without the paint-balling or white water rafting!”