How OhioHealth Surpasses Their Associate Volunteering Goals

OhioHealth doesn’t see itself as a separate entity from its community. With a system of more than 28,000 physicians, associates, and volunteers, they’re an integral component of their community.

I initially heard from Todd Anderson, OhioHealth’s Client Relations Manager at VolunteerMatch, that the company managed to increase volunteer participation rates by over 4,000 hours in just one year. To be specific, they set a goal to track 18,500 volunteer hours in 2016 — a goal which they met and then surpassed by reaching 22,618 volunteer hours.

I wanted to know how they did it. So, I went straight to the source — Meghan DiSanto, OhioHealth’s Community Relations Manager.

As OhioHealth’s Community Relations Manager, Meghan DiSanto oversees Mission Matters — the company’s volunteer program, managed with the help of YourMatch™ by VolunteerMatch.

Mission Matters is a relatively new program — it was first implemented in 2014. During the first year of the program, OhioHealth tracked 17,000 volunteer hours. Meghan attributes this initial success to strong support from a variety of internal groups, including HR, IT, and senior leadership.

Meghan also promotes Mission Matters throughout the organization.

How? By marketing the program on OhioHealth’s intranet, educating associates (“associates” is OhioHealth’s word for their employees) about the benefits of the program, and driving all volunteer inquiries to the Mission Matters homepage. This is one way in which they continue to grow their program year after year.

“We market Mission Matters as an easy-to-use online tool to promote, identify, and track volunteer engagement opportunities for associates in the communities in which OhioHealth serves,” says Meghan. “We also highlight volunteer stories on our intranet page to showcase the great work that our associates do throughout the community, which encourages other associates to become involved in volunteerism, too.”

OhioHealth associates can participate in Mission Matters through a variety of capacities: as individuals; as part of their team, department, business unit, or care site; and through national service days offered by the organization. OhioHealth encourages its associates to volunteer and track their hours for both work-sponsored and personal volunteer opportunities.

Meghan ensures that there are opportunities for involvement at all levels by partnering with a large and diverse group of local organizations. “This gives us better insight and understanding of how to best support the needs of our communities,” says Meghan.

In addition to listening to their communities, OhioHealth also knows how to listen to its associates.

“OhioHealth associates were asking for a tool to be able to search for local volunteer opportunities in their communities,” says Meghan. “We listened … which is when we partnered with VolunteerMatch to create Mission Matters.”

Since its inception, Mission Matters went above and beyond to prove its relevance. OhioHealth is continually recognized in Fortune 100’s Best Companies to Work For. Meghan believes volunteerism plays a big role in this.

“One of the many reasons OhioHealth is able to continue to obtain this prestigious honor for 10 years in a row is by understanding the importance of giving back to the community and highlighting the great work our associates are doing,” says Meghan.

Thank you to Meghan and OhioHealth for letting us share your success story! Ready for your own success story? Learn how YourMatch can take your company or organization’s volunteer program to new heights.

About OhioHealth: OhioHealth is a non-for-profit charitable, healthcare organization. Based in Columbus, OH, OhioHealth is currently recognized as one of the top five large health systems in America.