Case Studies, White Papers, and Toolkits

Download these free case studies, white papers, toolkits, and guides for best practices and "how-to" information about workplace giving, employee engagement, volunteer management, and related topics. Each white paper incorporates real-life examples and proven practices from the field. 

Help Employees Overcome Unexpected Financial Hardships and Stress with Employee Assistance Funds

No matter the scale or severity of the crisis, employee financial stress hurts companies and their employees. An Employee Assistance Fund (EAF), also known as an Employee Relief Fund, Employee Crisis Fund, and a host of other names, allows your company to help employees overcome unexpected financial hardships and demonstrate your commitment to responsible corporate citizenship.

There are different ways to administer an EAF. The best method for you will ultimately depend on factors such as the size of your company, how you will fund the EAF, and the complexity of your program.

This guide, along with our 15-minute video, featuring America's Charities President and CEO Jim Starr, and EAF Program Manager Katie Kern, will help you learn all about the whats, whys, and hows of starting, expanding, or outsourcing your EAF program.

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How to Elevate Employee Engagement and Community Impact through Workplace Volunteer Programs

Whether your program was started ten months or ten years ago, it's important to step back periodically to take stock of your corporate volunteer program. 

For businesses with an existing employee volunteer program, this guide is designed to help you develop and carry out a strategy that embeds social purpose throughout your organization, empowers employees to be change agents in their community, and enlists the right partners and technology to derive meaningful and measurable impact through your employee volunteer program. 

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Matching Gifts: The Definitive Guide for Employers

A successful matching gift program can help your company attract and retain employees, showcase your corporate values, enhance your employees’ experience, and — most importantly — make a difference.

But while workers clearly value matching gift programs, a surprising number of companies have yet to join the party. 

Thankfully, it’s not too late — nor is it too difficult — to add a matching program to your company’s workplace giving menu. This guide will show you how. GET YOUR COPY

Switching Workplace Giving Providers: Your Guide for Choosing a New Partner for Your Employee Giving Program

Changing providers and platforms is a multi-step effort that involves soliciting bids, reviewing proposals, interviewing candidates, making your selection, negotiating a deal, and getting approval from your top executives. But while the process can seem daunting, there are times when the pain is worth the gain. This guide will help you understand how to navigate this process so you can make a smart, informed choice — and so you can be fully aware of how to prepare to make the transition once you make that selection. GET YOUR COPY

Fees in Workplace Giving: Selecting the Right Technology and Service Provider

Is your company's employee giving ROI as good as it could be? Whether you’re a large corporation or a small company, a few simple questions can help you understand the technology, services, and fees associated with employee giving and engagement technology and services. This guide will help you make more informed choices about the value of your purchase so you can get the most bang for your company’s buck. ACCESS GUIDE

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Charitable Funds Management Case Study: How One Fortune 500 Company Scaled Its Impact and Cut Costs by More Than $225,000

Is it better to manage charitable funds distribution in-house? One Fortune 500 company was stunned when it calculated the cost of managing its company’s in-house system for processing employee charitable payroll contributions. The company assumed it was making a fiscally prudent decision by managing this process itself. However, after analyzing what it took to manage its homegrown system, the company quickly learned its assumption was false. Read more about this company's experience and what it did to scale its impact and cut costs by more than $225,000. ACCESS CASE STUDY

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The Ultimate Guide to Year-round Employee Giving

Many companies offer employees the chance to take part in seasonal giving campaigns or in an annual day of service. But for companies that are truly committed to building a culture that is focused on giving back, a once-a-year event or campaign often isn’t enough. Year-round employee giving programs offer companies an opportunity to increase employee engagement, build their public reputations, and make a larger philanthropic impact. ACCESS GUIDE

Case Study: How Optimizely Increased Its Employee Giving Results Sevenfold

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John Leonard, Program Manager at Optimizely, knew his co-workers were very generous, but he didn't realize just how generous until he saw the results of the company's most recent annual employee giving campaign. After working with America's Charities' team of experts to come up with a customized strategic plan to guide the program and putting America's Charities' recommendations into action, Optimizely's employee giving results increased sevenfold with more than 50% of employees participating. ACCESS CASE STUDY

Building Buy-in From Leadership

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A powerful social mission infuses company environments with positive opportunities to engage and retain employees. But how do you develop a culture of engagement through employee giving and connect results to your company's employee retention and recruitment goals? ACCESS BRIEF

​Exceptional Storytelling Made Easy 

With myriad channels to leverage, storytelling is more important than ever when it comes to inspiring employee giving. If your company is looking to more effectively tell its story to employees and customers — or if your nonprofit is looking to provide your corporate partners with ready-made stories that will help inspire more giving — this guide can help. ACCESS GUIDE

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Powerful Metrics & Methods for Measuring Effective Social Impact

Your company likely has a number of motivations for its corporate philanthropy, employee giving and employee volunteering programs. And you — and your nonprofit partners — want to make an impact and improve the lives of the people you’re trying to help. But are your efforts truly hitting the mark? Use this guide to effectively measure your organization's social impact. ACCESS GUIDE

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Employee Donor Cultivation Toolkit​

Workplace giving donors give on average five times more and provide nonprofit organizations with sustainable, unrestricted funds. Use this guide for best practices, rules, and tips to nurture relationships and retain sustainable, financial support from employee donors. ACCESS GUIDE

​Five Key Steps to Starting an Employee Volunteer and Skills Giving Program

Through employee volunteer and skills giving programs, companies and their employees have the opportunity to strengthen nonprofit capacity and efficiency and form truly strategic relationships that bring value to everyone involved. Where should your company even start, and how can you be sure your employees will participate in your program? ACCESS GUIDE

​Giving Tuesday Corporate Giving Guide: Employee Fundraising and Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is a form of peer-to-peer (P2P) fundraising.  If you have ever participated in an event like Relay for Life where individual fundraising is combined with team fundraising, you have participated in a crowdfunding event.  What if your company could apply the concept of crowdfunding to its employee giving program for #GivingTuesday or another holiday giving campaign? You can, and this guide will show you how. ACCESS GUIDE

​7 Tips for Resonating with Millennial Employees & Their Desire to Do Good

As studies such as Achieve’s Millennial Impact Report have revealed, “Millennials don’t check their interest in causes at the door; they bring these passions to work.” Leveraging those passions - both causes they care about and skills they bring to the table - and resonating with this generation is becoming crucial for any organization. Get started with these seven tips. ACCESS GUIDE