My Frustration Went Away

We have worked with bigger volunteer programs in the past, but none provided the "high touch", comprehensive approach that BBI does. Our employees are happier and more productive, the social investments that we make are having more success, and our public affairs staff has a strong program for community engagement - all within our limited budget.

After almost four years of cost cutting, GlobalCo was facing lower budgets for employee development and social investment. The US economy had improved slightly since our major layoffs in 2000. We had to strengthen our revenue generating units to increase profitability. At the same time we wanted to hold true to our commitment to support the communities where our offices were located. We had fewer dollars to be spent on social investments and more expected from our shareholders and the public.

At that point we found BuildingBlocks. The concept of having one or more of my best employees spend 4-6 months or even part of their work week doing something other than generating revenue was tough to fathom. But the fact is, it works. BuildingBlocks collaborated with our HR and volunteer groups to scour our staff for promising managers that wanted to volunteer. They helped us develop policies and processes to make tough decisions about who to send into the local community - in places from the US to Latin America to India. BBI uses their local knowledge and connections to find civil organizations that are ready and willing to utilize our staff well. They trained our managers to make the most impact and provided support for them during the experience. Ultimately, BBI helped me sell the program to our shareholders and public stakeholders by providing the evaluation data to support our belief that employee engagement programs have a business as well as social benefit.

Quick Summary

We are thrilled. In each of our national and international offices we have a stronger public image and stronger relations with the local community and local government. Moreover, our employees have become company ambassadors in local communities. A public relations campaign couldn't have done more.

BBI - What We Do : Process

• We recruit, assess, and prepare organizations to work with corporate volunteers.
• We recruit, assess, and prepare corporate volunteers to work with NGOs and education organizations.
• We regularly evaluate the benefit and skill development of each NGO, each employee, and each BBI corporate social investment.

What We Did for Mary

Mary had carried her company through a recession by focusing on short-term revenue generation. She was now ready to develop underserved markets, strengthen her rising leaders, and invest in local communities. We provided Mary with a link to successful NGOs in communities around the world and a tested, comprehensive program for building leaders through public service. Not only did her employees reap the benefit, but our evaluation of the business and social impacts of GlobalCo.'s NGO partners provided her with the proof she needed to tout her success to the press, customers and internal staff.

Mary was able to ramp up her leadership development and community engagement programs at a lower cost than developing an international community engagement program in-house.

A Better Way

With our lean, experienced staff we focus on marginalized communities served by BBI or one of our international partners. This allows us to serve international communities and maintain the capacity to grow with the need.

Global Help: Best PR for US Corps!

There is no better foundation for building relationships than the goodwill created by corporate employees who are local ambassadors for your company. There is no better way - especially in cultures driven by relationships - to enhance the community and global perception of your company.

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(*) Mary is representative of corporations that show interest in BBI.