Leaders in Employee Community Engagement Set to Convene at VolunteerMatch Client Summit

(3BL Media / theCSRfeed) March 29, 2011 - VolunteerMatch, the Web’s most popular volunteering network and a leading resource for companies, schools, and brands engaging volunteers, will host its annual Client Summit on May 12-13 at The Art Institute of Chicago.

Since 2002, the VolunteerMatch Client Summit has brought together experts and practitioners from the VolunteerMatch Solutions family of clients to share successes, network with peers, and learn how leaders in volunteering and corporate social responsibility are innovating in the field. This year’s Windy City theme, It’s In The Air, reflects rising interest in volunteer engagement among today’s leaders in corporate social responsibility, as well as the growing strength and diversity of the VolunteerMatch community, which currently numbers more than 140 companies.

Highlights of the 2011 VolunteerMatch Client Summit include:

• Professor Kellie A. McElhaney, PhD, Faculty Fellow of Corporate Responsibility and Founder of The Haas Center for Responsible Business at UC-Berkeley, will present the conference keynote address, “Global Trends in Corporate Responsibility.” Among the topics Dr. McElhaney will explore are how companies can use social technology for good; why engagement and empowering employees is hyper-critical today; and what frameworks are available for improving corporate engagement.

• A headline panel, moderated by Dr. Vesela Veleva, ScD, Research Manager, Carroll School of Management Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College (BCCCC), will discuss approaches for “Measuring The Business Impact of Community Involvement Programs.” Dr. Veleva will lead the discussion with program administrators from Underwriters Laboratories Inc. and Amway Corporation.

• Attendees will participate in Best Practice Café workshops led by experts from Taproot Foundation, BCCCC, Mission Measurement, and VolunteerMatch, among others. Topics will include Pro Bono & Skilled Volunteering, Social Media, Communications and Engagement, Nonprofit-Corporate Partnerships, and Impact Measurement.

• Presentation of the 2011 VolunteerMatch Corporate Volunteer Awards. The awards, which honor excellence in corporate volunteer engagement programs in local communities, expand this year to include a new category for newly launched programs. At last year’s Summit, award recipients included Exelon Corp. (Employee Volunteer Program – Large Company), Hagerty Insurance (Employee Volunteer Program – Small-Midsize Company), and team members from UnitedHealth Group (Champions of the Year).

Generous sponsors of the 2011 VolunteerMatch Client Summit include Exelon Corp. (Executive Sponsor), Allstate Insurance (Supporting Sponsor), and Choice Hotels International Foundation with the Inn of Chicago, An Ascend Collection Hotel (Hotel Sponsor).

To learn more about the 2011 VolunteerMatch Client Summit, please visit:
http://www.volunteermatchsummit.org

To learn more about VolunteerMatch Solutions, please visit:
http://www.volunteermatch.org/corporations

About VolunteerMatch

VolunteerMatch is a national nonprofit dedicated to strengthening communities by helping great people and great causes to connect. Its award-winning online service, http://www.volunteermatch.org, makes it easy to find a way to make a difference by location, expertise, or availability. VolunteerMatch provides many of the nation's most recognized businesses, campuses and organizations with Web-based solutions to facilitate and track volunteer engagement at local and national levels. The VolunteerMatch network regularly welcomes more than 190,000 visitors each week and has become the preferred volunteer recruiting service for tens of thousands of participating nonprofits.

Press Contact:

Robert Rosenthal
Director of Communications
415.241.6865
news@volunteermatch.org
Twitter: @VolMatch

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