Community Engagement within UVA and UVAFinance: a Cornerstone project on growing volunteerism

In 2019, UVA staff used only 9% of the volunteer/public service leave hours UVA provides.

Kristie Sojka and Shannon Wampler

This finding and others regarding volunteerism and community engagement were part of a capstone project presented at the September graduation of the latest cohort of UVA’s Cornerstone Program. This project was proposed by Carolyn Dillard, the University-Community liaison, Louis Nelson, Vice Provost for Academic Outreach, and Kevin McDonald, Vice President for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Community Partnerships, in response to President Ryan’s Strategic 2030 Plan.

The Cornerstone project team working on the project consisted of UVAFinance’s Kristie Sojka and Shannon Wampler, along with Cecil Banks of University Advancement and Cheryl Gearhart of ITS. The group also reported that so far in 2020, staff are on track to use less than half of the volunteer leave hours used in 2019 (4% vs. 9%), likely due to the pandemic.

More than just exploring current staff trends in volunteerism, the project team also made recommendations on how to facilitate and increase community engagement:

• Utilization of a registry where staff and non-profits can be matched based on skills and needs.
• Using that registry to empower volunteerism by showcasing the possibilities and celebrating staff volunteerism.
• Creating structured opportunities such as a service/engagement fair (either in person or virtual) for staff and working with schools and units to cultivate best practices for engagement and providing volunteer opportunities.

Click image for a larger view

Although the project is complete and in the hands of its sponsors, Sojka and Wampler are excited to share the findings with their UVAFinance colleagues. They’ll be working with the UVAFinance Culture Crew and VP for Finance Melody Bianchetto on increasing community engagement within our team.

Do you have ideas on how to increase volunteerism?  Comment below, or email your thoughts to culturecrew@virginia.edu

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Read more about engagement and service goals in the 2030 Strategic Plan .

Download the “One Community Engaged: A study of UVA staff Volunteerism” white paper (LINK)