Company: Deloitte & Touche
Agency: Cone Inc.
Timeframe: 2007
Taking its philanthropic endeavors to a new level, Deloitte & Touche launched a program nine years ago that made volunteerism the chief attraction; however, in the last two
years, the program underwent a notable shift from traditional hands-on service to skills-based volunteering--an evolution that required it to be repositioned and reinvigorated to
enhance the new attributes.
Every June, the company's volunteer program is celebrated with "IMPACT Day," when the 40,000-plus Deloitte staffers are encouraged to make the community their client by
volunteering with nonprofit organizations working to address significant social issues.
Deloitte's refurbished volunteer program set out to:
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Identify important community needs and make a meaningful impact; and,
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Reinforce Deloitte's reputation as a strong corporate citizen and business leader with intensive problem-solving capabilities.
Media relations was also critical in the preliminary planning of the program. After considerable brainstorming, the Deloitte team established several key goals:
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To reinforce Deloitte's role as a thought leader in workplace volunteering;
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To reinforce the firm's pledge to help the community solve problems through skills-based volunteering;
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To position Deloitte's regional and office manager partners as leaders in the community; and,
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To secure national and local media coverage in major markets.
Linking Up For Impact
Deloitte did not approach these objectives without help. For the past three years, the team has worked closely with Cone Inc. on the program. According to Lori Grey, senior
manager of public relations for Deloitte & Touche, the collaboration came about as a result of a long-standing relationship that evolved over time.
"I started talking to them about what we could do [with them regarding IMPACT Day]," she recounts. "The relationship now encompasses larger aspects of our community involvement
program."
Thanks to Cone's involvement, Deloitte developed a comprehensive media and communications plan. "They really helped us think strategically about how all of our various pieces
fit together," says Grey. "The volunteer IMPACT campaign is a big piece of a larger communications strategy."
The first thing on the agenda was to identify the desired outcomes.
"It was about setting very clear goals at the outset and then developing a program that was very targeted and designed to achieve those goals," explains Amy Russ, account
director for Cone.
Numerically Speaking
To flesh out the details, the Deloitte team implemented research that measured critical aspects of corporate community involvement. In 2006, a survey revealed that, despite the
fact that nonprofits and volunteers place a high premium on the contribution of workplace skills, those skills are under-used in volunteer situations. In fact, while 77% of
nonprofit executives agreed that their organizations could benefit from corporate volunteers focusing on business practice improvements, only 12% actually assigned volunteers to
such tasks.
In 2007, another survey was conducted, and this time there were compelling findings. One conclusion from the survey was that companies that help Gen Y employees volunteer their
workplace skills to nonprofits could gain recruiting advantages. Also, nearly two-thirds of Gen Y employees surveyed prefer companies that let them volunteer their skills, but
less than one-third of these employees think their companies have strong volunteer programs.
These findings solidified Deloitte's new approach to IMPACT Day. It also developed a new set of tactics for the Deloitte volunteer program that was implemented for 2007. They
intended to:
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Reinforce Deloitte's skills-based volunteering approach internally and gain commitment from senior leadership, regional community involvement managers and other
employees;
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Extend the media relations window by creating an external communications campaign, beginning in April during National Volunteer Week and concluding with IMPACT Day on June
8, to position Deloitte as a thought leader and demonstrate the company's ability to translate thought into action;
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Target media relations activity to national business outlets, local general interest print and broadcast media, local business journals and CSR/philanthropy trade media;
and,
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Sustain Deloitte's position as a thought leader on skills-based volunteering through longer-term communications activities (post IMPACT Day).
For the 2007 program culminating on IMPACT Day, the team players began working in December 2006, planning the survey before releasing the findings in April 2007. This all led
to IMPACT Day and the follow-up. According to Grey, the timeframe for the annual program was six or seven months. The budget, which included research, planning and press materials
development, was approximately $100,000.
Nuts And Bolts
To prepare for the June 8, 2007, IMPACT Day, the Deloitte/Cone team executed a number of tactics that helped the campaign meet its goals. They enlisted internal champions to
generate support and spread the message about IMPACT Day throughout the organization.
They also developed a PR toolkit comprised of press materials and media pitches for IMPACT Day both locally and nationally. Findings of the Deloitte Volunteer IMPACT survey, as
well as highlights of IMPACT Day, were aggressively pitched to media.
Working on the surveys has been a collective effort. "A lot of people are involved with it," says Grey. "We use the brain power of the agency. We have a research arm here at
Deloitte--we involve them. We have a sophisticated HR function, so when we're talking about recruiting, we talk to those people as well. We are consultants and business advisers,
so we serve clients in the area of human capital--their work is to help our external clients. We leave no stone uncovered. Synthesizing a lot of different viewpoints is
challenging."
Measuring The Impact
The ROI for last year's program was overwhelming. Participation on IMPACT Day in 2007 rose to 76% for employees. This set a record, representing a 40% increase over the prior
year. Also, about 25% of the 600 plus IMPACT Day projects across the country incorporated skills-based components, far surpassing the original goal.
Media coverage garnered more than 22 million impressions on both a local and national level. Among the outlets that covered IMPACT Day and Deloitte's skills-based volunteering
program were the Chicago Sun-Times, Crain's Cleveland Business, Dallas Business Journal, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Time, the Washington
Post and the Detroit Free Press. IMPACT Day also generated more than 25 broadcast stories.
A post-IMPACT Day analysis revealed that the majority of the news coverage emphasized Deloitte's commitment to the community, while 40% concentrated on Deloitte being a thought
leader. By reinforcing its view as a leader on the cutting edge of corporate community involvement, one of the campaign's prime objectives was achieved.
Also, the strategy to begin the campaign six weeks prior to IMPACT Day (during National Volunteer Work) was another boon.
"One of the keys to the success of the program was the decision to try to stretch the timeframe of the overall IMPACT campaign," says Russ. "In April 2007, we launched the
research results, which allowed us to create momentum and drive media coverage of IMPACT Day. By coupling these two pieces, we created a six-week window of rolling media
coverage."
Consequently, early pitching of the Volunteer IMPACT survey stirred media interest. Also, the skills-based volunteer toolkit is being developed for wider external release.
The research findings have also elevated the profile of the campaign. And last year's program was no exception to the rule. In fact, interest in the research skyrocketed.
"It provides a wonderful vehicle throughout the year," says Grey. "We find that it's referred to with tremendous frequency. We get tons and tons of requests for our research
from companies, students, nonprofits and people who are interested in the field. I've even come across it referenced in opinion pieces. It's a great communications tool."
The quality of the research that acted as the underpinning of the program gave it a pronounced "media hook" that both Deloitte and Cone will continue to leverage in subsequent
years, says Russ.
Choosing which projects to highlight for the program's media outreach efforts was a lesson learned for the Deloitte team because it forced them to be selective, focused and
clear in the messages they wanted to convey to reporters.
For Grey, the lessons learned have stemmed from how to implement the program on both a national and local level.
"One size does not fit all," she admits. "It's really important to provide a framework for consistency, but you have to allow for local flexibility to maximize results.
Programs are going to be different in L.A. than they are going to be in Chicago or New York. We've learned it really does make sense to involve as many people as you can. And by
doing that, they come to appreciate the value of what we're doing. As a result, they became highly creditable spokespeople for it." PRN
CONTACTS:
Lori Grey, [email protected]; Amy Russ, [email protected]
Focus On The Outcome
For other companies wishing to launch a skills-based volunteering program similar to Deloitte & Touche's, Lori Grey, the firm's manager of public relations, has this
advice:
"Build your story about the outcome you're achieving versus what we refer to as the 'input,' which is the number of people who are volunteering. Focus on what you are achieving
for a nonprofit and what you're helping them to do. That's where the story gets interesting, and it's more interesting to the media; otherwise it's kind of self-serving."
Capturing The Bigger Picture
With any campaign, no matter how fluid, there will always be snags. Lori Grey encountered some while working on the IMPACT program for Deloitte.
"One thing we really believe is that community involvement should have broader business implications," she says. "In order to make the research relevant not just to corporate
philanthropy, we challenge ourselves to identify business issues. Last year it was recruiting ?Gen Y people. This year it's looking at training and development. It's definitely
challenging to figure out what is a business issue and how can we connect intelligently to it, as well as to develop a survey that's going to uncover good information."
Getting media coverage for this type of program can also be problematic due to a cynical perception that it may be self-aggrandizing, says Amy Russ, account manager for Cone.
However, because Deloitte's campaign is so "significantly steeped in research," with a strong emphasis placed on its business value and social impact, the company has been able to
overcome this hurdle and is "really taking a leadership position in trying to advance strategic involvement in the community. That played a role in the success of the
program."