What Companies Want from Employee Volunteering in 2026

Insights from Our Corporate Pulse Survey

Employee volunteering continues to evolve. Once viewed primarily as a way for companies to "give back" to their communities, it is now increasingly recognised as an important contributor to employee engagement, leadership development, workplace culture and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) outcomes.

To better understand how companies are navigating this changing landscape, Volunteering Auckland recently surveyed businesses about their employee volunteering programmes, the challenges they face and the support they need.

While only a small sample responded, the consistency of their feedback aligns strongly with wider New Zealand and international research, providing valuable insights into where corporate volunteering is heading and how community organisations can respond.

Community impact remains the driving force

Every company that responded identified making a positive difference in the community as one of the most important reasons for supporting employee volunteering.

However, community impact is increasingly only part of the picture.

Respondents also identified employee engagement, leadership development, ESG objectives, alignment with company values and strengthening workplace culture as important outcomes. This reflects a significant shift in how companies view volunteering—not as a standalone community activity, but as an investment that delivers benefits for employees, companies and communities simultaneously.

This mirrors broader international trends. The Association of Corporate Citizenship Professionals found that 61% of corporate responsibility professionals reported increased employee participation in workplace volunteering during 2025, marking the third consecutive year of growth since pandemic lows. Increasingly, companies see volunteering as an important strategy for attracting and retaining employees while strengthening organisational culture.

Companies still need help finding the right opportunities

One of the strongest themes emerging from our survey was that companies continue to struggle with connecting employees to meaningful volunteer opportunities.

The most commonly identified challenges included:

• finding suitable community partners
• identifying quality volunteering opportunities
• measuring community impact
• demonstrating outcomes internally
• sourcing skills-based volunteering opportunities
• finding sufficient time to coordinate programmes.

These findings reinforce an important reality: while many companies want to increase employee volunteering, they often lack the internal capacity, community relationships or specialist knowledge needed to create effective programmes.

This is where volunteer centres play a critical role—acting as trusted connectors between companies and community organisations.

The future belongs to skills-based volunteering

Perhaps the clearest message from both our survey and wider research is that employee volunteering is becoming more sophisticated.

Companies are increasingly looking beyond traditional one-day volunteering events towards opportunities that allow employees to contribute their professional knowledge and expertise.

Rather than simply painting fences or planting trees, companies are seeking opportunities where employees can mentor young people, provide governance support, deliver marketing advice, assist with technology projects, coach community organisations or share specialist business skills.

International research supports this direction. The 2025 Voluntare Study found that growth in skills-based volunteering, stronger partnerships and greater use of technology are among the defining trends shaping the future of corporate volunteering. More than 90% of companies surveyed expect their volunteering programmes to continue growing over the coming years.

For community organisations, this presents an opportunity to rethink how volunteer roles are designed and promoted. Short-term, project-based and professional volunteering opportunities are likely to become increasingly attractive to corporate partners.

Measuring impact is becoming essential

Another strong theme emerging from the survey was the challenge of measuring success.

Companies want to understand not only how many employees volunteered, but what difference those hours actually made.

This reflects the growing importance of ESG reporting and demonstrating social value. Companies increasingly need evidence that volunteering contributes to measurable community outcomes as well as employee wellbeing, learning and organisational performance.

Providing meaningful impact stories, outcome reporting and simple evaluation frameworks will become increasingly important for community organisations seeking long-term corporate partnerships.

Partnerships are becoming more strategic

One interesting finding from the survey was that companies increasingly value advice alongside coordination.

Respondents expressed interest in support with programme design, employee volunteering strategy, community partnership development and ESG planning—not simply organising volunteer days.

This suggests corporate volunteering is maturing.

Companies are looking for trusted partners who understand both the community sector and business objectives, and who can help build programmes that create genuine long-term value.

International evidence points in the same direction. Recent research highlights that successful programmes increasingly combine strategic planning, technology, flexible participation options and stronger partnerships with community organisations rather than relying solely on one-off volunteering events.

Supporting companies to create greater community impact

At Volunteering Auckland, we work alongside companies to make employee volunteering easier, more meaningful and more impactful. Through our Employee Volunteering Programme, we connect companies with carefully selected community organisations, broker volunteering opportunities and provide practical support to ensure projects deliver value for everyone involved.

Our employee volunteering service operates on a fee-for-service model, with income helping to support our wider work promoting, strengthening and growing volunteering across Tāmaki Makaurau. This approach enables us to invest in developing volunteer opportunities, supporting community organisations and building stronger connections between the business and community sectors.

What does this mean for the future?

The way people volunteer continues to change. Volunteering New Zealand's State of Volunteering research highlights that participation remains strong, but volunteers increasingly prefer flexible, episodic and purpose-driven opportunities over traditional long-term commitments.

Corporate volunteering is following the same path.

The future is likely to include:

• more flexible volunteering options
• greater demand for skills-based projects
• stronger alignment with ESG and company values
• better measurement of community impact
• increased use of technology to connect volunteers and community organisations
• deeper partnerships between companies and community organisations.

These shifts present significant opportunities for both sectors.

For companies, employee volunteering is becoming a strategic investment in people, culture and community impact.

For community organisations, it offers access not only to willing volunteers but also to valuable professional skills, expertise and long-term partnerships.

Although our survey represents only a small sample of companies, its findings are remarkably consistent with wider research from New Zealand and internationally. Together they paint a clear picture: corporate volunteering is no longer simply about giving time—it is about creating meaningful partnerships that deliver lasting value for employees, companies and communities alike.

At Volunteering Auckland, we believe these partnerships will play an increasingly important role in building stronger communities across Tāmaki Makaurau. As the expectations of both companies and community organisations continue to evolve, we remain committed to helping create volunteering experiences that are purposeful, well supported and capable of delivering lasting social impact.