Pilot program will pay CSU employees for up to 8 hours of volunteer work each year

Sixteen local organizations that rely heavily upon volunteers are getting a big boost this fall from a pilot program at Colorado State University that will pay employees for up to eight hours of volunteer work per year.

More than 8,000 CSU employees based in Northern Colorado are eligible for the Volunteer Service Hours program, said Eric Ray, CSU’s vice president for human resources.

“We’re extremely excited about it," said Kimberly Schilke-Pinckney, the human resources and volunteer manager for the Food Bank for Larimer County. “They’re one of the Food Bank’s oldest partners, so we really love them.”

Schilke-Pinckney said volunteer slots at the Food Bank started filling up quickly when CSU announced the program last month, and she anticipates a continued boost throughout the year. CSU is the largest employer in Larimer County.

CSU students and staff volunteers, she said, were instrumental in helping the Food Bank meet the increased demand it faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Demand has gone up again, she said, since Colorado made post-COVID reductions in March to its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for low-income families.

“We desperately need them, because we’ve gone up by 10,000 clients since the SNAP benefits have been reduced,” Schilke-Pinckney said. “So, we need all the help we can get.”

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A similar program available to OtterBox employees for many years has provided a huge boost to the Food Bank, she said.

Lani Williams, assistant to the dean of libraries at CSU, first pitched the idea of the Volunteer Service Hours program to the university’s Administrative Professionals Council. CSU’s Faculty Council and Classified Personnel Council were in favor, as well, she said.

“One of Colorado State University’s principles of community is service, where we give of our time and talents and resources to improve the well-being of each other and to make a difference in our community,” Williams said. “So, I wanted to create a program that was a tangible way for employees to honor that principle of community.”

There are 16 organizations that have been approved for CSU employees to serve their paid volunteer hours in the program’s initial year. They include food banks and school districts in both Larimer and Weld counties; Habitat for Humanity organizations in Fort Collins, Loveland and Greeley-Weld, Boys & Girls Clubs of Larimer and Weld counties; Larimer Humane Society; and United Way of Weld County. United Way of Larimer County doesn’t use volunteers directly, Williams said, but instead serves as a clearinghouse, sending them to other organizations under its umbrella, and therefore is not included in the CSU program.

The initial organizations were selected based on recommendations from CSU employees who were already involved in volunteer work with each, she said. Additional nonprofit organizations can be added through a process initiated by employees.

Williams met in advance with each one before the program was launched to make sure they could handle an increased volume of volunteers. All were on board, she said.

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“We don’t know the exact results, since this is a really big move that is unprecedented,” said Nicholas Peterson, community and business coordinator for the Poudre School District. “We have ideas in the future about some large, coordinated volunteer projects, but we are just excited to get this first phase off the ground and see what comes of it. This could be just the beginning of something very special.”

Poudre School District had 4,377 registered volunteers perform 107,848 hours of service in its schools during the 2022-23 school year, Peterson said Thursday through a PSD spokesperson.

Eligible CSU employees can access the benefit the same way they request other paid time away from work, Ray said. Full-time employees can use all eight hours at one time or incrementally throughout the year up to the 8-hour limit. The program is also available to part-time employees, but for fewer hours each year. Supervisors must approve the requests in advance, he said.

The program is cost-neutral to CSU, Ray said, noting that the employees would otherwise be performing their regular duties for those same eight hours of pay. It could be expanded to CSU employees based outside of Northern Colorado in future years, he said.

“One of the missions of CSU is service, and I think you see that,” Ray said. “A lot of our people throughout the university were already active in this space, but there’s some that aren’t active for various reasons and hopefully this can give them an opportunity to find an organization where they can be active. Find a cause and find a connection, here with the university and with the community.”

Reporter Kelly Lyell covers education, breaking news, some sports and other topics of interest for the Coloradoan. Contact him at kellylyell@coloradoan.com, twitter.com/KellyLyell or facebook.com/KellyLyell.news.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: CSU offering employees up to 8 hours of paid time for volunteer work