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Best Practices In Employee Volunteering & Giving With Google.Org & Submittable

Google has long been at the forefront of technology, and the company’s philanthropic arm, Google.Org, has long been on the cutting edge of corporate social impact, philanthropy and volunteering. From direct cash grants before they were popular to robust skilled volunteering programs like no other, Google.org is an organization to watch and learn from. And, the organization has won four Halo Awards

In today’s episode, EFG’s Alli Murphy is joined by Jen Carter, Google.Org’s Global Head of Technology and the founder of the Google.org Fellows volunteer program, where Googlers work alongside nonprofits and civic entities full-time for 6 months. 

She’s also joined by Sam Caplan, Submittable’s VP of Social Impact. The trio talk about the role of corporations in the CSR space, Google’s spectrum of volunteer opportunities and the future of employee volunteering and giving.

In today’s episode, we’ll explore:

  • How Google approaches philanthropy as impact first, long-term investments that are “risk capital”
  • Google’s spectrum of volunteer opportunities, from GoolgeServ to the Google.org Fellows volunteer program
  • The rise of stakeholder capitalism and how it’s impacting our space
  • How to increase employee volunteer and giving participation
  • The genesis of the GoogleFellows program and how it has evolved
  • Sam and Jen’s advice for building your own transformational volunteer programs
  • How to center end users in your program design and determine your leading indicators for program success
  • The importance of solving for the fundamental problems that are blocking progress

This episode is brought to you by Submittable.

Links & Notes

Elevate Your Social Impact

  • (00:00) – Welcome to Engage for Good
  • (02:10) – Introducing Jen Carter and Sam Caplan
  • (05:02) – The Google.org CSR Strategy
  • (08:02) – Trends Forcasting
  • (14:56) – Stakeholder Capitalism
  • (17:34) – Google Fellows
  • (23:20) – Creating Innovative Volunteer Programs
  • (27:00) – The Submittable Perspective
  • (29:34) – Lessons Learned
  • (33:26) – Sam’s Advice
  • (34:48) – Jen’s Advice
  • (36:16) – Learn More

Your resource for all things corporate social impact, CSR, and brand purpose.

Join Alli Murphy as she interviews top corporate leaders, nonprofit pros, and people who help them advance their careers and organizations. You’ll be inspired by the strategies change-makers follow to build win-win partnerships and campaigns and their actionable advice for advancing your career and developing your social impact team. Subscribe now to learn from the best and get ideas you can implement today!

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