Wolf’s Finance World

CREVE COEUR — As if bringing in a slew of nonprofits to work wasn’t enough, Monsanto went a little further Thursday, dangling a financial carrot to encourage its employees to volunteer.

The agribusiness giant is offering to match an employee’s 20 hours of volunteer service with a $250 grant to charity and to donate $500 for 40 hours. A team of four can work together to generate a $5,000 gift.

"People are always interested, but it’s hard to get them to take that first step," said Mindy Whittle, 49, an industry affairs specialist at Monsanto and a student mentor at Discovering Options, one of the nonprofits that was part of the lineup.

The groups, from the St. Louis Area Foodbank to Neighborhood Houses, which serves inner-city youth, welcomed the attentive audience at Monsanto’s headquarters in Creve Coeur. They gave each worker a stamp for stopping by to inquire about opportunities, and anybody who got six stamps qualified for a Monsanto door prize.

"They are stepping up," said Joe Blanchard, of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwestern Illinois. "Not only are they having us here, they are really encouraging their employees to come out and visit us."

Browsing his booth was Lori Ortbals, 58, a senior administrative assistant in the global environmental safety and health division.

"Because the community supports us, we need to support the community. We need to have a partnership," she said. "I hope everyone takes it to heart."

Monsanto held similar events at its other local sites and throughout its North American locations.

Monsanto Chief Executive Hugh Grant said volunteering has been part of the company’s culture for years but that this recognizes what workers are doing and inspires others to join.

Major companies routinely have some sort of volunteering program because employees like the opportunity to serve, and companies "appreciate the good will it generates, both internally and externally," said Mark Kramer, co-author of the Harvard Business Review article "The Competitive Advantage of Corporate Philanthopy."

But he added: "The most thoughtful and advanced companies have found ways to engage their employees in making real social impact by leveraging their skills, not just by volunteering for a day at a nonprofit."

For instance, he said, Ernst & Young uses its accountants to help families fill out forms to get financial aid for college. Wal-Mart uses its logistics team to help foodbanks manage food collection and distribution more efficiently. Monsanto has provided help to community-based gardens.

Monsanto’s latest push comes in the same week that a report ranked St. Louis 10th out of 51 cities for volunteerism. The report found that nearly one-third of St. Louis area residents volunteered in 2009, with fundraising and food drives being the most common forms. The volunteers served an average of 37.6 hours a year.

Nationally, 63.4 million people volunteered in 2009, 1.6 million more than 2008, the largest spike since 2003.

"Given that we are in a recession, more people are turning to volunteering to address critical needs in their communities," said Heather Peeler, with the Corporation for National and Community Service, the agency that did the study.

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Filed under: money by Wolf