The added bonus to volunteering

What do Verizon, CarMax, and State Farm all have in common? They all offer volunteer grant programs.

Volunteer grant programs, also known as “Dollars for Doers” programs, are charitable giving programs set up by companies to reward employees for giving back to their communities.

Companies provide monetary donations to eligible nonprofits like Play Like a Girl as a way to recognize employees who volunteer. These grants enable corporations to give back to their communities and support organizations that employees are already passionate about.

Although volunteer grants are a relatively new form of corporate giving, they’re widely offered among Fortune 500 companies and are catching on at smaller companies, too. For instance:

  • Verizon’s Volunteer Program provides $750 grants for 50 volunteer hours.
  • State Farm’s Good Neighbor Grant Program recognizes employees with a $500 grant for 40 volunteer hours.
  • CarMax’s Volunteer Grant Program awards $10 for every hour volunteered up to $10,000.

In fact, hundreds of companies offer volunteer grant programs with donations generally ranging from $10-15 per hour volunteered. Basically, this means that Play Like a Girl will not only receive the help provided by our amazing volunteers, but we’ll be given monetary support from their employers as well!

How do volunteer grant programs work?

Volunteer grant programs are an easy way for volunteers to secure an additional monetary contribution for our organization without having to take out their checkbooks.

Volunteer grant programs consist of five steps:

  1. Employee volunteers with Play Like a Girl!
  2. Employee volunteers determine if their company offers volunteer grants — you can search for your employer’s volunteer grant guidelines at iplaylikeagirl.org/double-your-donation/ to find company-specific program guidelines, requirements, and forms.
  3. Employee volunteers submit the grant request, either electronically or using a paper form.
  4. Nonprofit validates the grant request — we confirm for the individual’s employer that the individual is in fact a volunteer with our organization.
  5. Company sends us a check.

If you’re already volunteering with us, please take a few minutes to check if your employer (or your spouse’s employer) offers volunteer grants: iplaylikeagirl.org/double-your-donation/ — grants that could equal hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars for us to put toward furthering our mission.

Want to help?

Last year we received over 100 matching gifts and volunteer grants, which helped us raise nearly $20,000. Our goal is to raise $25,000 this year. If we meet our goal, we’ll be able to better make good on our mission to level the playing field for girls and women everywhere.

You can immediately gain access to detailed program guidelines offered by your employer and assess your eligibility by searching our database of companies that offer volunteer grant programs.

We’ll provide you with as much of the following as possible:

  • Up-to-date, company-specific program guidelines
  • Minimum volunteer hours required to qualify for a matching donation
  • Links to the online matching gift request forms or downloadable PDFs offered by your employer
  • Our contact information (Tax ID, address, fundraising contact), which you may need for your matching gift request

If your company isn’t listed, make sure to check with HR as there are many additional companies out there who offer volunteer grant programs.

We wish we could submit the required form for you, but unfortunately the employee must submit the volunteer grant request to their employer directly. We appreciate you taking a few minutes to double your impact!