Columbia Bank believes when your community thrives, we all thrive.
96%
Combined engagement rate
200+
Volunteer events in 2022
Connects ESG, DEI & CSR
For nearly 100 years Columbia Bank has been serving communities within the tristate area. Their company-wide volunteering program, Team Columbia, has a 96% engagement rate which is the highest among companies with 0-1,000 employees in the 2023 CSR Industry Report. The Team Columbia program has a strong focus on giving back to the community whether that is through traditional volunteer activities with a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit, volunteering in schools or participating in community parades and events around the holidays. We interviewed Minoska Mateo, Vice President, Community Development Officer at Columbia Bank to learn more about their program’s success and how the company embeds community service into their culture.
We know Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is increasingly aligned with employee engagement, Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI), and sustainability initiatives at companies. Tell us a little bit about how that is accomplished through your employee volunteering program.
Our volunteering program creates opportunities for employees to donate their time throughout the year. Through our events we can support specific causes that the Bank has identified as focus areas, as well as organizations that our employees are passionate about. By identifying areas of focus and engaging our employees, we find that it creates a cohesive program that not only makes our team excited but also supports DEI and sustainability initiatives.
Currently our areas of focus include opportunities that support affordable housing, community service, economic development and opportunities that revitalize and stabilize communities. We ensure that this is well-known throughout the company so that when we engage employees, they always have these goals in mind.
To support DEI, we leverage our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) to recommend initiatives that matter to them and their cohort. By leveraging our own diversity, we’ve been able to make an impact through reading to minority students at urban schools, coordinating Women’s Build Days, supporting a Pride Month community block party and more.
Additionally, we’ve continued to promote sustainability throughout the Bank. We believe that before we ask others to consider sustainability, we must first do the same. At the Bank we’ve reviewed our recycling program and products we use, installed electric charging stations, and rolled out a hybrid work program – all to support environmental sustainability. In turn, this sparked ideas for our volunteers, and we launched our first ever clean ocean event, where volunteers worked to clean debris off beaches. Since then, we’ve helped clean parks, planted trees and more. In short, your company must practice the change you want to see. We find that when we set the example, it helps invigorate employees, so they are always engaged and have our areas of focus in mind.
The image shows Columbia Bank employees planting trees in their local community.
With 96% of your employees participating in volunteering, how do you find efficiencies in running this program? How do you find all the opportunities to engage your employees throughout the year?
We gather employee feedback and communicate.
We ask our employees for feedback every year, and then we ask for event suggestions. By incorporating our team into the process, they feel excited and eager to volunteer for something they care about. Additionally, this creates ambassadors for the program as they may talk about a good experience or rally peers to volunteer for a cause they suggested. Additionally, we send out a monthly newsletter that serves as a reminder and showcases the upcoming opportunities.
We have standardized processes.
We have a formal vetting process and a form that we ask each nonprofit to fill out. This allows us to create the volunteer event in the YourCause CSRconnect platform and fill in appropriate details regarding the requested event. By standardizing this process and getting the information directly from our partners, we ensure our teams receive accurate information and show up prepared. We also have some repeat volunteer events that we do every year in conjunction with our established nonprofit partnerships. By repeating popular events, we create a buzz and feeling of camaraderie.
Do you have any tips for companies looking to go from a day, week or even month of service to a program that has ongoing volunteer opportunities and engagement from employees all year?
Make it a part of the culture.
From the very first day our new hires start at Columbia Bank, they learn about our volunteering program as well as how important it is to our company. To get them familiar with the process, we ask new hires to volunteer within the first 60 days of employment. We make it clear that giving back is the job of everyone, which is why we allow employees to volunteer on company time.
Set a goal.
We have a goal of 100 events per year. We divide that by 12 and set a monthly goal for the number of events we would like to complete.
Last year we were able to exceed that goal by participating in 215 events.
Allow for open communication.
Our nonprofit and community partners feel comfortable and know they can come to us with volunteer opportunities. These opportunities range from simple events to something we may have never done before. By building true relationships with our partners, they feel comfortable with pitching us unique ideas and sharing their true needs.
Terms to Know:
Engagement Rate – Measures percent of employees participating over the total employee population