How to Boost Nonprofit Results Through Employee Engagement

Imagine a workplace where employees aren’t just motivated by their daily tasks but are also fueled by a higher purpose. Such engagement is about creating ripples of positive change that extend beyond office walls and into communities.

Of course, having engaged employees at your nonprofit means better results for your cause, but we’re not only talking about your nonprofit’s employees. If you have corporate partners, engaging their employees can also drive fundraising outcomes and overall nonprofit success.

To draw a link between nonprofit results and employee engagement, we’ll look at two types of employees to engage: your nonprofit’s staff and local companies’ team members. We’ll share tips for engaging the two groups separately and creating intersections where they can unite to fuel greater mission outcomes.

The Benefits of Nonprofit Employee Engagement

It’s no secret that your employees define your nonprofit’s impact. These individuals are on the ground working every day. Focusing on their engagement will empower you to impact your community more.

Specifically, here’s how highly engaged nonprofit employees affect your success:

• Increased Productivity: Engaged employees feel motivated to complete their tasks, leading to increased output.
• Improved Quality of Work: Similarly, engaged employees take greater pride in their work, resulting in higher quality outputs and fewer mistakes.
• Higher Retention Rates: Engaged workers are less likely to seek a new job elsewhere, reducing turnover costs and ensuring you retain experienced staff.
• Increased Fundraising Effectiveness: Engaged employees can effectively communicate your nonprofit's mission and vision, leading to more successful fundraising campaigns.

Whether they’re fundraising, engaging with beneficiaries, or developing new programs, your nonprofit’s employees play a direct role in nonprofit results. As such, you want to keep them engaged.

Linking Corporate Employee Engagement to Nonprofit Results

Now, let’s look at a different type of employee you’ll want to engage: those who work for companies. Today’s businesses are more aware of their duty to give back to society. They support nonprofits for several reasons through corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, whether they want to improve their reputation, help their employees feel more fulfilled, or simply want tax benefits.

Because of this, engaging with corporate employees is in your nonprofit’s best interest. Developing strong relationships with companies will provide support for your nonprofit in several ways, such as:

• Increased Brand Visibility: Between encouraging employees to donate and publicizing the partnership to customers, your corporate partners can help boost awareness of your cause. This will ultimately drive greater mission outcomes through increased funding and general awareness.
• New Supporters: Corporate employees can be reliable supporters. Form company partnerships to kickstart relationships with new donors and connect with motivated volunteers.
• Useful Skills: Employees can offer skills your nonprofit needs, like project management and graphic design. Volunteering will help them hone these skills, which can be valuable for their actual jobs.

Overall, focusing on company employee engagement offers several benefits for companies, nonprofits, employees, and the broader community.

Three Tips to Boost Nonprofit Results Via Employee Engagement

Now that you understand the connection between employee engagement and nonprofit results, you’re ready to build plans to inspire companies’ employees and your nonprofit’s staff. Let’s dive into three tips you can easily implement.

Acknowledge your nonprofit’s employees.

When one of your staff members goes above and beyond, recognize their hard work. You’d be surprised how far a simple “thank you” will go.

For a creative way to motivate employees, try digital greeting cards. You can use them as digital shoutouts. When someone pushes a project forward or makes a notable impact through their work, call them out for it!

An eCard that says, “Thank you for committing to our value: compassion”

eCardWidget’s employee recognition guide covers a few ways eCards can communicate gratitude. For example, you can:

• Reward Achievements: Celebrate accomplishments, whether it’s a work anniversary or a small daily achievement.
• Share Supporter Feedback: If a donor, volunteer, or other stakeholder calls out a specific nonprofit employee, relay that message by sharing the feedback through an eCard.

This strategy can be adapted to recognize anyone outside the office, too. Thank your donors, volunteers, and anyone else who makes your mission possible. You might even encourage companies to use eCards to show employees appreciation for their contributions to your nonprofit.

Organize joint CSR initiatives with companies.

With your nonprofit’s employees inspired, it’s time to focus on employees who work for corporate partners. The best way to do that is to organize CSR initiatives with these companies.

Now more than ever, workers expect companies to actively improve their communities, according to 360MatchPro’s workplace giving strategies guide. Now is the time to focus on corporate giving if you aren’t already! Work with companies to line up:

• Volunteer Days: Create group volunteer opportunities to engage companies’ employees in your cause while also improving their camaraderie. That makes it a win-win for both your nonprofit and the company.
• Matching Gifts: With this workplace giving program, businesses promise to match employees’ donations to nonprofits when they submit a formal request.
• Payroll Deductions: Encourage corporations to allow employees to donate part of their paycheck to your nonprofit automatically. Employees will feel like valued contributors with relatively low effort.
• Corporate Grants: Some companies will offer corporate grants as part of their CSR practices. These financial contributions support specific projects or causes championed by nonprofits like yours.

Workplace giving is one of the easiest ways to engage corporate employees in your cause. Chat with local companies about lining up these opportunities. While their employees will have a newfound sense of purpose in their roles, you can drive great nonprofit results.

Encourage nonprofit and corporate employees to mingle.

You don’t necessarily have to keep your corporate and nonprofit employee engagement tactics separate. Instead, try bringing both sets of employees together.

For example, you might initiate collaborative projects where corporate and nonprofit employees work towards a common goal, fostering unity. You could organize joint workshops where corporate employees learn about nonprofit challenges and vice versa. Or, you can host cross-sector networking events where employees from both sectors share ideas and form professional relationships.

However you go about it, employee engagement goes a long way in boosting nonprofit results. Whether you leverage CSR or focus on inspiring your nonprofit’s internal team, there’s a lot you can do to foster engagement.