Employer Supported Volunteering can take many forms, but here at the Volunteer Centre, this project focuses on arranging team challenges. These are carried out by a group of volunteers from a local company and mostly take the form of practical tasks such as gardening or painting. It usually takes place over one day. This scheme has now been running for over three years and in this time, we have successfully worked with many local companies and arranged over 25 projects.
 
ESV can be hugely beneficial to all involved; charities, companies and employees.   

Benefit to charities - Successful volunteering partnerships can lead to longer-term, broader support for charities and organisations such as donations, gifts in kind, donated professional services etc. For the charities, they can get some much-needed work done quickly and at little or no cost to themselves.  

Benefit to companies; Companies can gain a huge amount from ESV as they can increase their reputation in local area, it can help recruitment and retention and it can benefit inter-departmental cohesion and can be an excellent team building exercise.  

Benefit to employees; Employees have the chance to develop personal skills, have the opportunity to work in different environment and can gain a sense of personal fulfilment and self-worth. There is also the opportunity for media coverage with this scheme and this will benefit all involved.