Giving back why: Business volunteerism can be a quadruple win. Everyone involved has something to companies that provide the employee volunteers, the organizations where employees volunteer, the wider community and the employees themselves. Such efforts offer a low-cost, low-risk, high-impact way of bringing the knowledge, skills and experiences of the business sector accessible to the non-profit sector. It also builds understanding, employee skill and community goodwill. Touching Lives Experts agree that business professionals who volunteer find their education, protection and treatexperiences inspiring, empowerment of hearing loss. ing and sometimes life changing. They are giving the opportunity to practice service and compassion for those who need it most. For example, look at Orion Associates, a Minnesota social services agency and Headwaters Relief Organization, the nonprofit the Orion organization established to promote and support volunteerism. The agency has always sponsored group volunteer projects and provides paid time off for volunteerism. addition to our disaster relief work, our emAs part of commitment to corporate responsibility, one of its corporate missions is to in and engage with communities where they live and In ployees volunteer regularly through other agency the past year, the Tartan Evolution team at Cargill has chosen on two occasions to sponsored group volunteer projects, including Toys for Tots, Feed My Starving Children, the Susan G. volunteer at Read Indeed, counting, sorting and packing books. teams at Cargill, including my team, have made a commitment to partici- Komen Race for the Cure and Multiple Sclerosis pate in several service projects each says Angelica King, senior IT consultant says Cheryl Vennerstrom, chief operating at Cargill. personally believe that volunteering benefits each of us individually and officer, at Orion Associates and Headwaters Relief our team as a whole. Each of us has learned more about literacy and the importance Organization. Several years ago Orion established an agency of literacy in building strong communities. Moreover, while volunteering at Read Indeed our team has found a double benefit of giving back and team building. The goal of 90 percent participation of its management environment at Read Indeed allows team members to work together in an open en- and administrative employees in volunteer activities. Employees can participate in agency sponvironment conducive to trying new tasks, talking with each other and having From 3M to Target and General Mills, businesses of all shapes and sizes have sored events, disaster relief or projects and events donated their time, collected books and donated funds to Read Indeed, helping hun- of their own choosing. 2011, 97% of our employees engaged in a dreds of thousands of young children. Starkey's mission is awareness, minnesota BUSINESS May 2012 ta a i at i From collecting books to fitting hearing aids to packaging meals that will be shipped to all corners of the world, Minnesota companies and their employees are doing great deeds for those in need.