CEV General Assemblies > 2009 - May (Prague, Czech Republic) - Developing Employee Volunteering...

The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has made a steep career over the last years. It has become fashionable or even indispensable at least for big companies to be able to demonstrate to the wider public to be good “corporate citizens” and to do business “responsibly”. The topic has also reached the European policy agenda with the European Commission’s communications on a “business contribution to sustainable development” or “making Europe a pole of excellence on CSR”. Big businesses have also created CSR Europe alliance at European level. However, there is some scepticism that the concept of CSR remains an empty shell and merely consists of a public relation exercise for the sake of business reputation. What does it take so that CSR makes a real difference? Is CSR more than PR?

Employer supported volunteering is one way of making CSR concrete: Employees engaging in their communities to mentor disadvantaged youth; to engage in environmental action; or to offer their skills to local organisations can give a face to CSR. Successful collaboration between companies and volunteer centres and volunteer development agencies, however, still seems to be rather the exception than the rule when setting up employee volunteering schemes.

Is successful collaboration between companies and volunteer organisations a mission impossible? What is in it for both sides to collaborate?

This CEV conference was a forum for an audience of 150 delegates from the voluntary sector, companies, public institutions and international organisations, to

• Promote contact making between corporate and volunteer organisations from over 20 European countries
• Discuss the added value for both companies and volunteer organisations to get involved in partnerships 
• Explore good and bad practices concerning collaboration between the corporate sector and volunteer organisations
• Empower volunteer organisations and companies to speak the same language – or at least to be able to understand each other
• Discuss policies that promote employer supported volunteering

The results of the conference will feed into a publication of CEV widely disseminated amongst stakeholders all over Europe and globally through IAVE.

Should you have any further questions, please contact CEV Secretariat on communication[at]cev.be or +3225117501                       

 

 

 

Workshop Presentations:

Workshop I: Double Pleasure Countrywide project: employee and student volunteering

Workshop II: Measuring the impact of the employee volunteering on the company and the local community

Workshop III: Employee volunteering in the public sector: Tel-Aviv Jaffo Municipality - case study

Workshop IV: Sucessful employee volunteering schemes: the business case: Leopold Kronenberg Foundation and Vodafone CZ

Workshop V: Volunteer organisations working with Corporations - what does it take?: Volunteer Centres Ireland and BTCV

Workshop VI: The "Marketplace" and other innovative models of public-private partnership

 

 

 

Programme of the conference

Picture Gallery

Final Report

 

 

This conference was organised in collaboration with Hestia, national volunteer centre, Dobrovolnické Centrum Usti nad Labem, and IAVE under the patronage of the Lord Mayor of Prague and  with the support of the European Commission, the Metropolitan University Prague, the Czech Donors Forum and T-Mobile.