The Association of Corporate Citizenship Professionals (ACCP), a membership organization for companies committed to good corporate citizenship, and Fidelity Investments recently released a study that found workplace giving programs growing in popularity and acceptance as companies look for more ways of investing in communities that are key to their business.

The Fidelity/ACCP study, Doing Well by Doing Good, was designed to provide valuable insight into how and why companies create and manage these programs, which typically enable employees to donate their money and/or time to charities as a benefit of employment. These workplace giving programs are reportedly responsible for $5 billion in donations to charities yearly.

According to the study’s findings, 75 percent of companies surveyed indicated that giving back to the community was the most important reason to offer a workplace giving program with 46 percent stating that such programs are consistent with their company’s values and nearly 40 percent citing employee retention and engagement as a top reason, particularly for millennials and younger professionals.

“Companies understand that now more than ever, social and economic issues are important to their workforce and other stakeholders,” stated Carolyn Berkowitz, president and CEO of ACCP. “In just the first six months of this year, we’ve seen an unprecedented level of support and engagement for these issues, and companies want to create that connection with their employees, customers and communities.”

As these workplace giving programs continue to expand in popularity, 76 percent of companies surveyed have either increased or maintained funding for their programs in the past two years. When asked about future plans, over one-third stated that they plan to increase their funding in the next two years and nearly one-third said that they would be implementing new tools and strategies to track the impact of their programs. 

The study found that incentives play an important role in driving employee participation, citing matching employee contributions as the most popular way of encouraging engagement. Service awards and providing additional time off were also cited as important incentives for recognizing and rewarding participation. Additionally, the study’s research showed that robust internal communications results in greater employee engagement in these programs.

Finally, setting goals for the number of employees who participate or the amount of funds a company hopes to raise during a year can help drive engagement and aid in the tracking and reporting of results. Like the old adage says, what is measured gets managed, so establishing metrics and tracking results often is the way to ensure a successful and impact program for both the company and the community.