Case Study: Corporate Volunteer Programs at AAA Northern California, Nevada, and Utah Insurance Exchange

This is the second in a six part series on building better employee volunteer programs, presented by MicroEdge, the leading provider of software and services to the giving community worldwide. Follow the rest of the series here.

How better tracking and management increased employee volunteer participation by 900% and paid big dividends for company morale and reputation.

AAA Northern California, Nevada, and Utah Insurance Exchange’s Challenge

AAA Northern California, Nevada and Utah Insurance Exchange (AAA NCNU IE), a major provider of AAA-branded insurance, has a strong track record for helping others. Still, historically the organization maintained an average employee participation rate of about 10.5% and it didn’t have the tracking and reporting capability to effectively evaluate and manage its volunteer program. AAA NCNU IE was looking for a strategic solution to manage its volunteer efforts. Using an internally built system with limited functionality, AAA NCNU IE hosted 40-45 projects annually and engaged 625-675 employees. Initially, the company was searching for a more effective way to notify employees about volunteer events. Typically, the company relied on things like posters in the break room and email blasts.

At the time, AAA NCNU IE had more than 6,000 employees; the company knew that more employees were willing to get involved and that, with better systems in place, it could increase the measurable impact of its employee volunteer program.

The results…
In April 2004, AAA NCNU IE revamped its efforts and adopted AngelPoints Volunteering as the cornerstone of its volunteer program. Within six weeks, AAA NCNU IE was able to effectively use the solution’s robust event management, targeted communications and reporting tools that enabled the company to focus on the strategic rather than tactical operations of its volunteer program. AAA NCNU IE was now able to shift its efforts from volunteer recruitment and tracking, to the measurement and benchmarking of its initiatives.

Matching employees to events leads to increased levels of engagement
One of the more powerful features of AngelPoints Volunteering is the Profile tool. Roger Hancock, Corporate Volunteer Manager at AAA NCNU IE, highlights the company’s Junior Achievement program as a prime example. Prior to adopting AngelPoints Volunteering, when AAA NCNU IE tried to recruit volunteers for Junior Achievement, only a handful of employees signed up. After implementing AngelPoints, AAA NCNU IE put the profile tool to good use; it identified employees with an interest in education, youth and in improving their public speaking skills. Sixty employees at the company fit the profile and – within an hour of sending out an email targeting those employees – 30 employees signed up to teach Junior Achievement.

Generating feedback and measuring impact
AAA NCNU IE highly values its image in the community. When results of company’s volunteering efforts are reported to the Board of Directors, they use the AngelPoints Volunteering surveys to gauge the impact volunteering has on the company’s image. In eight to nine quick questions, the Board can understand whether its volunteer programs help employees feel engaged (94% agree or strongly agree), feel like they are living the company’s values (95% agree or strongly agree), and feel that AAA NCNU IE’s participation in volunteering activities helps to improve the organization’s reputation in the community (97% agree or strongly agree). Based on the overwhelmingly positive results, AAA NCNU IE enjoys tremendous senior and executive management support, enabling the company to focus on and grow its volunteer efforts as it moves forward.

The bottom line
AAA NCNU IE was able to exceed its original goals of increasing the measurable impact of the company’s volunteers. Employee volunteer participation exploded over 900% and its program experienced a triple digit increase in volunteers, volunteer leaders, and the number of events AAA NCNU IE participates in each year.

As a result of this measurable success, the company was awarded the prestigious honor “Excellence in Workplace Volunteer Programs” by the Points of Light Foundation in 2007. And after more than eight years using AngelPoints Volunteering, AAA NCNU IE employees’ commitment remains strong.

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About MicroEdge

Established in 1985, MicroEdge, LLC is the leading provider of software and services to the giving community worldwide. MicroEdge solutions deliver a powerful, integrated, and open framework for efficient and effective charitable giving. The company is committed to providing the best technology toolset for foundations, corporations, government agencies, donors, advisors and financial institutions. Together, these tools help organizations to work with one another to raise, invest, manage and award charitable currency.