Volunteering has long been viewed as a cornerstone of responsible business practice. Companies recognise that engaging with the local community makes good business sense – the business benefits from better staff relations, individuals benefit from new skills and communities benefit from access to free resources and help.

Scottish Business in the Community (SBC), Scotland’s leading voice on Corporate Responsibility, today announces the evolution of business volunteering in Scotland. Launched at a working lunch for leading Scottish businesses, SBC’s new flagship programme “Evolve” creates opportunities for businesses to work closely with social enterprise through team based skill-share workshops and one-to-one mentoring partnerships.

James Tindell, Programme Manager at SBC, said “Traditionally, volunteering has most often been about practical activities such as painting fences or planting trees and while these sorts of projects have been invaluable for those involved, Evolve presents fresh and exciting opportunities. Corporate volunteers can now take the next step in volunteering and choose to share their business skills and experience with a social enterprise.”

He continued “As well as skill-sharing, Evolve is also about changing perceptions on both sides – helping social enterprise to develop their activities with the commercial world in mind and challenging businesses to think more about the social impact of their commercial activities. It retains all the team building, philanthropic and social benefits of traditional business volunteering but builds a lasting benefit for both parties.”

And the timing is perfect. As the Scottish Government steps up its investment into third sector development, the eyes of Scotland’s private sector are turning more and more to the importance of social enterprise in Scotland and the benefits to them in supporting its growth. It is currently estimated that there are around 3000 social enterprises in Scotland (according to data in the Scottish Social Enterprise Strategy). As well as the social benefits created by their activities, the sector generates an income of around £1 billion and employs 20,900 staff with 18,500 volunteers. It is easy to see why businesses are keen to inject their business skills into this growing economy.

Welcoming the launch of Evolve, Naomi Johnson, Executive Director at Firstport said “Firstport is pleased to be working on this exciting and important initiative with SBC. With a rising corporate social responsibility agenda and a desire from social enterprise to better embrace the wealth of experience and knowledge in the private sector this programme has much to offer for all involved.”

Evolve is now fully integrated into SBC’s Employer Supported Volunteering Programme “CARES”. CARES offers businesses advice and support on how to develop an employee volunteering programme and provides access to a wide range of volunteering opportunities. It is a bespoke, flexible and cost effective option for businesses looking to get involved in volunteering. Last year, SBC supported over 7000 hours of volunteering with around 1000 business volunteers through the CARES programme.

For more information on Evolve and CARES, contact James Tindell jamestindell@sbcscot.com 07769727710.