According to a 2003 Corporation for National and Community Service survey, 63.8 million Americans volunteered through their companies.

Whether they work for large or small businesses, employees reap rewards when they volunteer. By offering their expertise, volunteers are able to refine and enhance their job skills while increasing networking opportunities; this is particularly pertinent for recent college graduates. AAA of Northern California has found a positive correlation between employee promotions and those whom volunteer. The company attributes this relationship to increased visibility of employee skills to management. (Stannard--Friel, “How Employee Volunteers Multiply Your Community Impact,” On Philanthropy, 12/2/05).

A business also benefits from promoting volunteerism. According to a survey of 248 employee volunteer managers, 97% felt employee volunteering provided a way to improve teamwork; 4% believe volunteering raised employee moral, 58% use the volunteer program for recruitment and employee retention, and 100% thought volunteering improved the company's image (Points of Light, 2000). Most importantly, companies that engaged in corporate social responsibility show a ten-year return on equity that was 10% higher than their competitors (Graves and Waddock, 1994).

Larger corporations typically establish a Community Giving department or assign responsibilities to their Human Resources division to organize, administer, and track outreach efforts. These departments start by making sure that the outreach effort aligns with the company's mission. For example, a wholesale grocer may only allow volunteerism that promotes hunger eradication.

Local communities benefit enormously from the assistance of small business owners. Some of these contributions are nominal, such as supporting a local athletic team, providing food for community events, supplying products for raffles, and donating office supplies and equipment to nonprofits.

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