Crowe LLP has grown from a two-person firm into “one of the top accounting, consulting, and technology firms in the U.S., serving clients globally,” and they’ve proudly done it “through a foundation based on values.”

Those values were on full display during the firm’s first annual Crowe Cares Day, as Crowe shut down operations to allow employees in 40 offices across the U.S. and at overseas locations the opportunity to volunteer for causes in their local communities. More than 5,000 Crowe professionals—75% of the firm’s workforce—took part.

“In one day, we collected 20,500 plus volunteer hours,” explained Purpose & Sustainability Manager Jacquelyn Hood, “making a direct impact to the 110 organizations where we volunteered at.”

How did their small but mighty Purpose & Sustainability team at Crowe’s foundation pull it off? “I want to first give kudos to the YourCause CSRconnect tool,” Hood said, “because that really helped enable our success for this event.”

YourCause CSRconnect is an intuitive software platform that keeps employees engaged in an organization’s volunteering and giving initiatives, mobilizing them for maximum impact. When paired with Blackbaud’s YourCause GrantsConnect platform—which Crowe used to donate $650,000 in grants to organizations helped on Crowe Cares Day—it can be even more powerful.

Launching Their Powerful Stewardship Portal

“I geek out over YourCause from Blackbaud and the tools it has given me to make my work life easier,” Hood said.

Her team’s YourCause success story began about two years before the first Crowe Cares Day as they worked closely with their marketing and communications colleagues to roll out their refreshed core purpose—Shaping Your Better Tomorrow Together Today—and values of Care, Trust, Courage, and Stewardship.

The rollout synced with their official launch of CSRconnect. With the flexibility to whitelabel the platform, they presented it to the firm as Crowe’s “Stewardship Portal.” “We want our people to know to go to our Stewardship Portal for everything related to being good stewards in their communities,” explained Associate Director of Purpose & Sustainability Crystal Adams.

During a companywide live webinar, Crowe’s CEO and COO introduced the refreshed purpose and values along with the Stewardship Portal, Crowe’s new Give Back Bucks campaign, and a summer volunteering event that the firm would continue to build on.

At the start, the Give Back Bucks campaign provided each employee the opportunity to donate to a nonprofit of their choice with a $250 matching donation from Crowe. The “bucks” donated through the Stewardship Portal totaled $851,250 in the first year and grew to $920,000 the second when the donation offer was renewed.

Similarly, the number of employees registered in the Stewardship Portal started strong at 85% within just two weeks of launch, grew to 88% the second year, and has continued to grow as high as 96% into the fourth year as giving and volunteer opportunities have expanded.

Extending the Team’s Reach

YourCause CSRconnect and the platform’s CSR Help Center provide a variety of features that Adams and Hood have come to rely on. That includes a library of how-to videos, email templates, homepage pop-ups, and other engagement elements. Plus, the platform provides an intuitive reporting tool with a built-in data hub capable of providing dashboard insights at a companywide level and for Crowe’s individual offices.

“The YourCause CSRconnect reporting tool is easy to use and allows us to collect data and gather insights,” Hood said while demonstrating the platform.

CSRconnect helped make the companywide Crowe Cares Day a reality in their third year by empowering the team to fold in “stewardship ambassadors” who helped organize hundreds of volunteer events. “We extended the reach of our team with our stewardship ambassadors— individuals in each office who lead our volunteer and giving initiatives,” Hood explained.

They taught the ambassadors how to use the Stewardship Portal, while giving them access to templates, graphics, and other resources, and then rewarded them with special brand apparel and recognition from Crowe’s C-suite. The ability to tap a select group of ambassadors with “super admin rights” was “extremely helpful to us,” Hood said.

Synergy with Integrated Grants Software

Data available through CSRconnect about what causes are important to Crowe’s employees can help the Purpose & Sustainability team plan future volunteering and giving initiatives. The team is also expanding its use of GrantsConnect.

“We initially used it to process grants,” Hood said, “but now we are also using it to help facilitate our local office community impact and sponsorship budgets.”

The integration of GrantsConnect and CSRconnect provides Crowe with a consolidated one-stop-shop for community impact. For example, when considering an organization for a grant, the team can call up Crowe’s past employee giving and volunteering support for the organization, to help guide their decisions.

“The type and quality of data we can gather from CSRconnect and GrantsConnect together is a big advantage. We work with accountants, so data is important, and having data-driven insights allows us to make strategic decisions to enhance and grow our programs. It also gives the data we need for fact-based storytelling to share our successes with our firm leaders, employees, and communities,” said Adams and Hood.