Although the number of firms adopting corporate volunteerism programs
is rising steadily, very few firms are assessing the benefits of such
programs on target groups, such as employees and nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs), and identifying the conditions underwhich benefits
to the various groups are maximized. This study addresses both by examining
the conditions of employees’ corporate volunteer assignments
that lead to increased employee engagement, sustainability of the volunteers’
project within the NGO, capability development for the business
unit, and employees’ continuation of volunteerism. Using a longitudinal
and multisource design, responses from 116 corporate volunteers
from a global pharmaceutical organization are matched with responses
from their NGO managers and their business unit managers at 3 points
in time: at the start of the volunteer assignment, at the end of the assignment,
and 6 months after the completion of the assignment. Across
these outcomes, we found that employees’ volunteer assignments are
most valuable when they are international, when the volunteers perceive
that their projects contribute meaningfully the NGO’s functioning, when
volunteers have professional skills (and are able to use them), when there
are opportunities for skills to be developed that can be applied in the volunteers’
regular work role, and when the NGOs have tangible resources
to sustain the volunteers’ projects.