The study highlights the benefits of corporate volunteering, which include brand value and reputation, the development of current and future employees, operational efficiency, the reduction of occupational risks, a direct financial impact, organizational growth and business opportunities.

In addition, it shows that active engagement and support at executive level is essential to the development and sustainability of volunteering initiatives in companies, such as partnerships with NGOs.

The book features volunteer actions by Telefónica, IBM, Samsung, UPS, C&A, Vale, Tata, Standard Chartered Bank, Eli Lilly, Ford, GE, Kraft Foods, Pfizer, Ska, National Australia Bank, etc.

The need for a conceptual framework for corporate volunteering and future challenges

Establishing a conceptual framework for corporate volunteering as a global activity, sharing knowledge to enable companies to work more effectively, and identifying the critical aspects that shape corporate volunteering are the three aims of the book, which provides a guide to best practices for volunteer projects aimed at strengthening companies’ work and an opportunity to “create the moment and stimulate the dialogue”, in Allen’s own words.

For Kenn Allen, corporate volunteering is “not unlike a circus that has a wide variety of acts, performing simultaneously, so that wherever the spectators look, there is something to enchant them.” Allen traces the origins of volunteering to 200 years ago in the United States. Later it spread around the world in three stages: in the first, US companies expanded their programmes discreetly; in the second, corporate volunteering was started in overseas branches, and lastly, the third phase which continues to this day, coincided with the globalization of business.

The Big Tent: Corporate Volunteering in the Global Age is freely downloadable from our website.