2012 VolunteerMatch Corporate Volunteer Awards: A Look at Finalist Google

On May 17, 2012, winners of the 2012 VolunteerMatch Corporate Volunteer Awards will be announced at our annual VolunteerMatch Client Summit in San Francisco, CA.

In this series of posts, we’ll introduce you to the facts and folks behind the ten most effective employee volunteer programs in our family of corporate clients compared against our 2011 benchmarks.

VolunteerMatch congratulates Google for its nomination for Employee Volunteer Program of the Year (Large Businesses).

Google runs several volunteer programs that allow employees to serve based on their interests and skill sets.  These programs include:

• GoogleServe - A program that allows Google employees to spend a day volunteering in their local communities alongside fellow Googlers.
• For Googlers by Googlers – A Google employee can suggest a program to assist a nonprofit and they can recruit their colleagues to help in that program
• Dollars for Doers – Google gives money to organizations for every hour an employee volunteers
• Matching Gift Program – Google matches contributions up to $12,000 a year ($6,000 towards any eligible nonprofit, $6,000 towards relief or development nonprofits) from Google employees to nonprofit organizations.

Google also offers services to nonprofits, such as providing Google apps either for free or at a discount to nonprofits, as well as offering grants that allow nonprofits to advertise on Google Adwords.

Other Google highlights:

• Since Google’s employee volunteer site launch in 2007, Google has reached out to nonprofits organizations locally and around the world, such as the The Excelsior Community Food Pantry, The Women’s Community Clinic in San Francisco, Action for Autism in Delhi and The Akshaya Patra Foundation in Bangalore.
• In 2011, Google donated $100 million towards nonprofits, with $40 million contributed towards causes that support girls’ education, empowerment through technology, science and math education and ending human trafficking.
• Google employees from 119 cities in 36 countries participated in 2011’s GoogleServe. This resulted in more than 7,700 Googlers serving their communities across 400 different projects.

Some project examples:

• In the New York Area, Google employees provided resume writing for veterans seeking employment.
• In San Francisco, Google employees provided one-on-one consultations with low income women starting their own businesses with the Women’s Initiative for Self Employment.
• In New Delhi, Google employees assisted in city cleanup.
• In Dublin, Ireland, Google employees assisted in trail maintenance along the Dublin Mountains Way.

We commend Google for its excellent volunteer program and focus on being an active community member!

Stay tuned for more finalist profiles in the coming weeks, and announcement of the winners on May 17, 2012 during the 2012 VolunteerMatchClientSummit.