We know that corporate volunteering is on the rise around the world, but with the development of several international corporate volunteering networks, it’s actually flourishing faster than ever.
By Sabrina Viva
What is Voluntare?
Voluntare is an international network that promotes corporate volunteering. With more than 20 members and 2,600 users, this participatory space allows users to share experiences and information through collaborative discussions and webinars. You can also find volunteer organizations interested in Corporate Volunteering, and download reports on best practices and research in the field.
Voluntare and Realized Worth Partnership
Over the past year, Realized Worth has partnered with the Voluntare network, an alliance of multiple corporations such as KPMG, Telefonica and Iberdrola and non-profit organizations such as Fundacion CODESPA and Fundacion Correspondables. For a full list of partners and info on how to join, take a look here.
From Spain to Central and South America, these organizations work to promote corporate volunteering throughout Latin America. Being from Argentina myself, I have been the lucky one on the team that gets to nurture this growing partnership and learn firsthand about the progress being made in these countries.
Building the business case for corporate volunteering in Latin America continues to be a work in progress, as many corporations and non-profits are weary of the benefits it offers. Voluntare offers a platform for organizations to network, support and strengthen the business case to develop and/or promote transformational corporate volunteer programs and pave the way for others to follow.
How it all began …
In the summer of 2012, I made one of the best connections from a simple, “Hola” on Linkedin. Juan Poyatos, from Valencia, Spain, was on the other end of that greeting. After several Skype calls in Spanish, we realized that there was a lot of potential to work together in the future. Shortly after that, we finally met Juan at the first Corporate Volunteering Conference in Bogota, Colombia, where both he and Realized Worth were presenting.
Juan Poyatos
Juan is the General Coordinator of Voluntare. He has been responsible for ENGAGE Valencia, an Employee Volunteering Project working directly with more than 30 companies. He also serves as a Senior Consultant for the European Volunteer Center as the Coordinator of the Employee Volunteering European Network (EVEN).
In April of 2012, Realized Worth presented at the “Making Things EVEN” conference in Dublin, Ireland, hosted by the European Volunteer Centre and Volunteer Ireland. Take at a look at a video here. The conference focused on Capacity Building for Employee Volunteering. The result of the event was the establishment of the Employee Volunteering European Network launched with the support of its founding members: FASVOL, Fundacion Telefonica, and Intel.
Global Partnerships
As the Realized Worth Global Partnership Team (and friends list) expands, we are excited to work with Juan and the EVEN and Voluntare networks. Here are some upcoming events to bookmark and join if you can:
- Two Voluntare Webinars facilitated by Realized Worth – October & November 2013
- Voluntare working group roundtables and final research findings – December 2013
- EVEN Webinar facilitated by Realized Worth– November 2013
- EVEN Annual Conference – Sarajevo – October 2014
- Online CSR course at the University of Madrid facilitated by Realized Worth – Spring 2014
And much more in the works that I’m not at liberty to mention just yet!
Do you know of any other International Corporate Volunteering Networks? Comment below or contact us if you’d like to talk further. If you want to get in touch directly, call us at 855.926.4678, or email us at contact@realizedworth.com.
Want to join Voluntare or EVEN? Take a look here: Voluntare / EVEN
Or connect with Juan Poyatos on Linkedin or Twitter.
Sabrina Viva
Project Manager