Google has long been at the forefront of technology, and the company’s philanthropic arm, Google.Org, has long been on the cutting edge of corporate social impact, philanthropy and volunteering. From direct cash grants before they were popular to robust skilled volunteering programs like no other, Google.org is an organization to watch and learn from. And, the organization has won four Halo Awards. 

In today’s episode, EFG’s Alli Murphy is joined by Jen Carter, Google.Org’s Global Head of Technology and the founder of the Google.org Fellows volunteer program, where Googlers work alongside nonprofits and civic entities full-time for 6 months. 

She’s also joined by Sam Caplan, Submittable’s VP of Social Impact. The trio talk about the role of corporations in the CSR space, Google’s spectrum of volunteer opportunities and the future of employee volunteering and giving.

In today’s episode, we’ll explore:

• How Google approaches philanthropy as impact first, long-term investments that are “risk capital”
• Google’s spectrum of volunteer opportunities, from GoolgeServ to the Google.org Fellows volunteer program
• The rise of stakeholder capitalism and how it’s impacting our space
• How to increase employee volunteer and giving participation
• The genesis of the GoogleFellows program and how it has evolved
• Sam and Jen’s advice for building your own transformational volunteer programs
• How to center end users in your program design and determine your leading indicators for program success
• The importance of solving for the fundamental problems that are blocking progress

This episode is brought to you by Submittable.

Links & Notes

• Google.Org
• Google.Org Twitter
• Jen’s Twitter
• Jen’s LinkedIn
• Submittable’s Website
• Sam’s LinkedIn
• Submittable’s Impact Audio Podcast
• Submittable’s LinkedIn
• Giving In Numbers 2022
• 2022 Best Health Initiative Halo Award Winner
• 2021 Best of the Best Halo Award Winner

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• (00:00) - Welcome to Engage for Good
• (02:10) - Introducing Jen Carter and Sam Caplan
• (05:02) - The Google.org CSR Strategy
• (08:02) - Trends Forcasting
• (14:56) - Stakeholder Capitalism
• (17:34) - Google Fellows
• (23:20) - Creating Innovative Volunteer Programs
• (27:00) - The Submittable Perspective
• (29:34) - Lessons Learned
• (33:26) - Sam's Advice
• (34:48) - Jen's Advice
• (36:16) - Learn More