South African large companies are continuing to maintain or grow their employee volunteering programmes (EVPs), sustaining momentum from the post-pandemic recovery. Enduring EVPs are become increasingly embedded within corporate culture as companies recognise its value for employee engagement, skills development and meaningful social impact.
This year’s Trialogue Business in Society Handbook research reveals that over three-quarters of companies (78%) have established employee volunteering programmes, mirroring 2023 levels.
What emerges from this year’s findings is a picture of increasing professionalisation within the employee volunteering sector. Companies are dedicating more resources to programme management, with 80% now having dedicated staff to oversee their EVPs – a significant increase from 65% in 2023. This shift toward more structured programme management may reflect growing recognition that effective employee volunteering requires deliberate strategy, adequate resources and professional oversight to maximise impact for both employees and beneficiary organisations.
The research also highlights an important dynamic between corporate offerings and nonprofit organisation (NPO) preferences. While companies continue to favour company-organised volunteering initiatives, with 95% offering these programmes, nonprofit organisations consistently express stronger preference for funding-related initiatives. This disconnect points to an ongoing opportunity for companies to better align their programme design with NPO needs and preferences, potentially unlocking greater impact for both employee engagement and social outcomes.
Read more about this year’s findings.
EVP policies and budgets
- Over three-quarters of companies (78%) had employee volunteering programmes (EVPs) in 2024. Of the 58 companies that reported having an EVP, 59% had a stated EVP policy and 63% had a separate budget for EVP.
- Twenty-six companies provided budget information on employee volunteering in 2024. Most of these (61%) allocated between 1% and 5% of their CSI budget to EVPs. One-third (31%, or eight companies) allocated between 6% and 10%, and two companies allocated more than 10% of their CSI budget to EVPs. The average CSI budget allocation to EVPs was 6%, while the median was 5%. The lowest allocation was 1% and the highest was 20%.
- The proportion of NPOs with a budget for managing volunteers and volunteering programmes remains low (16% in 2024 and 12% in 2022). Of the 18 NPOs that provided budget data, a high 61% allocated more than 5% to volunteer management.
EVP staffing
- In 2024, 80% of companies with EVPs had one or more internal staff members appointed to manage volunteering in a full-time or part-time capacity, higher than in 2023 (65%). Seventeen percent of companies had no one dedicated to managing employee volunteering, a notable decline from 35% in 2023.
- More than half of NPOs (59%) have one or more people appointed in a full-time or part-time capacity for managing employee volunteering, despite only 16% of NPOs having a budget for volunteering.
Types of EVPs
- In 2024, companies offered four types of employee involvement initiatives on average.
- Most corporate respondents with EVPs offered company-organised volunteering initiatives (95%), fundraising/collection drives (71%) and time off for individuals during work hours (63%). In the US in 2023, 94% of all companies offered matching-gift programmes to their employees, compared to 49% of South African companies in 2024.
- Whereas the majority of surveyed companies organise staff volunteering initiatives, far fewer NPOs (40%) were recipients of these. They also remain among the top three least-liked type of initiative for NPOs (13% of NPOs selected this as their least desirable), with only 7% selecting it as most desirable.
- NPOs most liked initiatives that involve funding – give as you earn, collection drives and matched funding. Give as you earn remained the most liked EVP in 2024, selected by 20% of NPOs as their preferred EVP type.
- NPOs least liked family volunteering, individual volunteering in work hours and company-organised volunteering initiatives.
- The most received type of initiative was fundraising/collection drives (47% of NPOs), which was also the second most liked (17% of NPOs selected it as their most desired type of EVP).
