Merrill Lynch : Volunteering information

The website makes a dynamic contribution to a company's charitable activity.

The Site

Merrill Lynch, the global investment banking group, provides details about and for its employees involved in voluntary work in the community.

Merrill Lynch has a Global Philanthropy mini-site which includes a Volunteer section that has featured case studies on the voluntary work carried out by employees as groups and individuals. However, the section also has several features aimed at employees. These include Volunteering Tools & Resources, which offers Materials, Volunteering Ideas and Volunteer Roles.

A related links panel on section pages has options for Volunteer Match, an independent not-for-profit site that allows users to find volunteering opportunities near to them, and the group’s intranet, WorldNet, where employees can find Merrill Lynch specific opportunities. There is also a link to the Our Programs section, where detailed background information is available about Merrill Lynch’s philanthropic endeavour.

The Takeaway

Merrill Lynch’s emphasis on employee volunteering in the community is characteristic of the approach taken to corporate responsibility by enterprises based in the US, both in their activities and the reporting of them. What marks it out is the element of recruitment and support that the website is used to provide, primarily to employees but also, cleverly to site visitors.

The Volunteer section thus becomes not just a way of showing what Merrill Lynch and its employees are putting into their communities, but also a resource to bring about action. That sends out a powerful message to employees and the general online public about a commitment that goes beyond photo opportunities and showing how much has been slipped into the collection box.

First published on 07 February, 2008