On the occasion of the European Year of Volunteering, the association IMS-Entreprendre pour la Cité launched the first edition of the Mecenova Challenges. Thirty companies and their 500,000 employees are mobilizing across France to carry out solidarity actions for the benefit of associations!
In Nice, one hundred and forty-five participants from twelve companies* and fifteen associations met this Monday at the Acropolis for a speed-dating event allowing employees to find their associative soulmates and associations to strengthen their volunteer teams!
“Today we saw how passionate business leaders are about the associative world, and how motivated employees are by our mission,” rejoices Alain Robert, President of the Cannes Voice Donors Association, which records novels and magazines for visually impaired people. “The chair we brought symbolizes our volunteer needs: we need volunteers so that people with motor disabilities can access everywhere in any circumstance,” recalls Denis Taccini, Departmental Director of the French Paralyzed Association.
For its part, the association Graines de Fermiers presented an insect shelter to symbolize its actions, while Jean-Pierre Fortet, representing the Food Bank, emphasizes “we are a bank that has no money. Our mission is to collect and distribute food. This bag is distributed empty at the entrance of supermarkets and we do everything to make sure it comes out full.”
“Against all odds, it is in companies that the most engaged volunteers are found,” mentions Estelle Lauvergne, Corporate Relations Director at IMS-Entreprendre pour la Cité. “We conducted an unprecedented study among 3500 employees in France and found that 54% of active people are volunteers in an association, – one in two employees is therefore a volunteer! -. This rate is higher than the volunteer engagement rate of the French population, which is 36%.”
But what does volunteering bring to employees whose hours are often counted?
Odette Lanteri, working in the Studies Department of the remote management company WIT located in Saint-Laurent-du-Var, testifies: “I drove an ambulance for Doctors of the World in the evenings for seven years. It allowed me to create many links with other volunteers, but also with the homeless who were treated by the doctors. Initially, I thought I was just giving, but in reality, I received a lot. I never would have thought that I would receive as much as I gave.”
Approving nod from David Froude, technician at Galderma laboratory and trainer for Civic First Aid with the Red Cross. Joël Lequette, Marketing Manager at Schneider Automation, a company manufacturing industrial products, chose to bring his professional skills to the associations he is involved with: “I went to Tanzania with the support of the Schneider Electric Foundation to bring my expertise to the automation training school.” Anne Cagnard, production manager at the Convers Telemarketing call center and volunteering with IMS in supporting long-term unemployed individuals, indicates: “as an employer, we are regularly led to recruit.
We, therefore, have something to offer to help job seekers regain confidence in themselves and assist them in returning to employment.”
Outcome of the meeting?
A lot of enthusiasm expressed both by the associations and the employees! 31% of the employees engaged immediately during the speed-dating with one or more associations, and 62% will reconnect very soon to formalize their commitment!
91% of employees surveyed after the event are satisfied with their company’s involvement in this project.
100% of the employees will recommend their colleagues participate in the next edition of the Mecenova Challenges.
See you in a year for the 2012 edition!
* Albax, Banque Populaire Côte d’Azur, Convers Telemarketing, Galderma R&D, Nice Acropolis, Le Groupe la Poste, KONE, Marineland, Le Palais de la Méditerranée, Schneider Automation,
Texas Instruments and WIT.
APF, Association Valentin Haüy, Sound Libraries – Voice Donors Associations, French Red Cross, Graines de Fermiers, IMS-Entreprendre pour la Cité, ISI, La Maison du Bonheur,
Le Secours Populaire Français, Food Banks, Pink Blouses, Restaurants of the Heart, Méditerranée 2000, Mosaïcités, Rêves
