Positioning Corporate Volunteering as a Driver of Business Resilience
The Singapore Business Federation’s Social Impact Action Agenda aims to mobilise businesses to uplift vulnerable communities to strengthen Singapore’s social compact via corporate philanthropy and corporate social responsibility efforts.
In line with these efforts, SBF spearheaded the launch of a new Corporate Volunteering Programme as a nationwide initiative to support mid to large-sized companies in building purpose-driven volunteer programmes.
While corporate volunteering was widely recognised as socially meaningful, many businesses struggled to see its relevance to core commercial outcomes.
In the absence of structured frameworks, initiatives often remained ad hoc, making it difficult to embed volunteering meaningfully into long-term strategy. As a result, although most companies recognise the importance of social sustainability, only a minority actively engage in corporate volunteering, highlighting a gap in capability, consistency and strategic integration across the business landscape.
At a national level, there was a need to better mobilise mid to large-sized companies to contribute meaningfully to community development while strengthening Singapore’s social compact.
SBF required a compelling narrative that could bridge social good with business value, making the corporate volunteering programme relevant, credible and scalable.
SR developed the programme’s overarching manifesto, positioning, name, tagline and a flexible messaging framework.
The programme framed volunteering as a strategic driver of business value, strengthening reputational, human and social capital by activating corporate purpose. Anchored in the idea that “Giving Time & Talent Gives You Resilience,” the messaging system was designed to flex, evolving through the adaptation of the closing noun to reflect different volunteering outcomes.
A distinctive programme name, VolunteerInc., was created to give the initiative a strong, ownable identity and a clear point of differentiation. A play on the word volunteering, “Inc.” signals collaboration with business, while the full stop enabled the application of SBF’s visual identity typographically.
A suite of marketing assets supported engagement and outreach, connecting social impact to business resilience, employee engagement and long-term value creation.
