Exploring the whole value of corporate volunteering

Abstract

There is a worldwide need to measure and assess the social impact of volunteering. The designated corporate volunteering, or employer supported volunteering programmes, in particular, are developed by more and more companies, investing millions of dollars and with little knowledge of their value. This master's thesis explored the value generated by a corporate volunteering programme. The analysis was based on a new valuation model - the ‘Whole Value Model’ - that results from the adaptation of the model advocated by Andrew Haldane in 2014. The analysis followed the single case study method focusing on the corporate volunteering programme of the EDP Group, which is present in 14 countries. The results obtained were compared with the few existing adequate reference values and are in context with them. This analysis showed that the EDP programme was estimated to generate an average of at least 3,55 € for every 1 € invested, if assumed that the whole generated value is a sum of several different values. The potential return on volunteer hour granted by EDP was 5,75 higher than its costs. In this case study the whole generated value was estimated to be 22 times larger than just the economic value, showing that economic value is a very small tip of the iceberg of the whole value that corporate volunteering generates. The results were considered a conservative estimate of the whole value generated. The study enabled the application of the new model for value analysis of corporate volunteering, providing a basis for its application to other companies.

Date of Award	15 Dec 2016
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Susana Silva (Supervisor)