4 Ways to Encourage Deeper Giving with Corporate Volunteers

Corporate volunteers are more than just extra hands—they’re potential champions for your mission. These individuals bring valuable skills, networks, and influence, and when they feel connected to your cause, they often want to contribute even more. But how do you move beyond one-off service days and inspire lasting, deeper giving?

The key lies in intentional engagement. By offering meaningful experiences and clear pathways for continued involvement, you can turn casual volunteers into committed advocates who give both their time and financial support.

In this post, we’ll explore four practical strategies to help your organization deepen relationships and inspire greater giving from your corporate volunteer community. These include:

1. Asking eligible volunteers to request volunteer grants.

2. Inspiring corporate volunteers to organize group events.

3. Hosting skills-based volunteer experiences.

4. Inviting volunteers to give financially.

Ready to deepen corporate volunteer engagement with your cause? Keep reading to explore our top best practices that your team can incorporate.

1. Ask eligible volunteers to request volunteer grants.

Many companies offer volunteer grant programs—also known as “Dollars for Doers”—that reward employees' volunteer time with financial contributions to the nonprofits they support. Yet surprisingly, a large percentage of these grants go unclaimed simply because volunteers don’t know they’re eligible or aren’t prompted to take action.

That’s where proactive communication makes a big difference.

Encourage your corporate volunteers to check with their HR or CSR departments to see if their company offers volunteer grants⁠—or provide an easy-to-use volunteer grant database to simplify the research process. For the best results, make it easy for them by providing tailored step-by-step instructions or links to their employer’s submission portal. In addition, consider highlighting this opportunity in your post-volunteer follow-ups, newsletters, or during volunteer orientations.

Not only do these grants provide critical funding for your organization, but they also deepen the volunteer’s sense of impact. When they see their time turning into tangible dollars that support your mission, it’s a powerful way to reinforce engagement and make every hour count more.

2. Inspire corporate volunteers to organize group events.

One of the most effective ways to deepen volunteer engagement is to encourage corporate volunteers to take the lead in organizing group service events. When employees champion the cause within their own teams or departments, participation rises, company culture strengthens, and your mission reaches new audiences.

By empowering volunteers to organize events—whether it's a day of service, a donation drive, or a virtual project—you’re giving them ownership, visibility, and a sense of leadership. It also creates a ripple effect, and coworkers are more likely to join when the invitation comes from a peer.

To support this, provide volunteers with easy-to-use planning resources like event toolkits, promotional materials, and more. Then, don’t forget to remind them about group volunteer grant opportunities, too!

3. Host skills-based volunteer experiences.

While traditional volunteering—like packing meals or cleaning up parks—has its place, skills-based volunteer events unlock even greater value for both your organization and your corporate partners. These events allow employees to contribute their professional expertise—such as marketing, finance, legal, IT, HR, graphic design, and more—directly to your mission.

For nonprofits, this kind of support can be transformational. A few hours of strategic planning help from an experienced consultant or a redesigned website by a corporate creative team can deliver results that would otherwise be costly or out of reach. And for employees, using their skills in a purpose-driven context creates deeper personal satisfaction and a stronger connection to the cause.

To make skills-based volunteering successful, start by identifying your organization’s most pressing needs that align with common corporate skills. Then, work with corporate volunteer coordinators or employee resource groups to design projects that allow teams or individuals to jump in.

When employees get to do what they do best—and see how it makes a difference—they become not just volunteers, but mission-critical partners.

4. Invite volunteers to give financially.

Corporate volunteers are often deeply invested in the causes they support, and many are willing to go beyond giving their time, too. Thus, don’t shy away from inviting them to contribute financially. In fact, studies show that individuals who volunteer are more likely to donate⁠—and to donate more⁠—than those who don't. Why? Because they’ve seen the mission up close and personally understand the impact.

However, you’ll want to make the ask thoughtfully. Include giving options in follow-up emails after volunteer events, mention donation opportunities during orientations, and highlight how financial gifts directly support the work they’ve been part of. Keep the tone warm, optional, and impact-focused, emphasizing that every contribution, no matter the size, helps further the mission they already care about.

And don’t forget to mention matching gifts, either. Many companies that offer volunteer incentive programs also offer donation matching, doubling or even tripling an employee’s contribution. Encourage volunteer donors to check with their HR or CSR teams to see if their gifts are eligible for a match, or provide guidance and tools⁠—such as through Double the Donation⁠—to help streamline the process.

By inviting volunteers to give and helping them maximize their support, you deepen their connection to your organization and unlock additional resources to power your work.

Deeper giving doesn’t happen by chance; it grows from connection, trust, and shared purpose. When you invest in your corporate volunteers as partners, not just participants, you open the door to more than time—you invite passion, loyalty, and long-term support.

Whether through volunteer grants, skill-based projects, or paid time off, small shifts in how you engage volunteers can lead to significant results. Start by implementing these four strategies, and watch how your volunteer relationships—and their impact—begin to grow.