With an increasing number of companies investing in international corporate volunteerism programs, it is surprising that more don’t track results, said Farron Levy, president of True Impact, a consulting firm focused on impact measurement.
While Levy praised companies including Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline and IBM for measuring their corporate volunteerism programs, Levy said that other companies can spend millions on a program “almost on a prayer.”
“Organizations generally eye measurement warily,” said Levy, who spoke with Devex Impact on the sidelines of the fourth annual International Corporate Volunteerism conference in Washington D.C. this spring. He said individuals within a company may fear that measurement will reveal a program’s flaws.
Levy said what program managers often don’t realize is that measurement can become a tool to improve corporate accountability. “If you find that something is not working, then you change and make it work,” said Levy. “Then you’re no longer wasting valuable resources.”
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About the author
Andrea Useem
As former associate editor and content director for Devex Impact, Andrea created and managed cutting-edge content on the intersection of business and international development. An experienced multimedia journalist, Andrea also served as leadership editor at the Washington Post and spent three years as a foreign correspondent in Eastern Africa reporting for publications including the Boston Globe, Dallas Morning News, and San Francisco Chronicle.