Volunteerism is likely a big part of your bank or credit union’s culture. Most institutions have a solid employee volunteer program, and even if yours isn’t official, there are likely still opportunities for employees to serve in their community.
But not every institution is sufficiently tracking its volunteer hours (if they track them at all). So why is it important to track employee volunteer hours at your bank or credit union? And how should you do it? Let’s find out.
Why Banks Volunteer
First, why do bank and credit union employees volunteer in the first place? Most of them have a lot on their plate, and leaving the branch to serve their community might seem a little out of place.
But the truth is, employee volunteerism is an integral part of your institution’s brand and community efforts. Banks and credit unions are the backbone of any community, and sending employees out to volunteer is one way they make a difference and attract future customers/members.
Here are some of the benefits of employee volunteerism:
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Brand awareness
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Employee satisfaction
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Stronger CRA program
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Institution growth
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Stronger teams
Clearly, asking employees to volunteer in the community is important. But why is it important to track those hours? Do employees really need to report what they do?
Check out this article to learn more about the benefits of employee volunteerism at your institution.
Why You Should Track Employee Volunteer Hours
Honestly, it’s extremely important to track your institution's employee volunteer hours. Here’s why:
Prove your impact internally
Tracking employee volunteer hours helps you prove your impact both internally and externally. Internally, employees want to know that the time they spend serving actually matters. When you can show the total hours volunteered, the number of nonprofits supported, or the lives impacted, you turn individual acts of service into a collective achievement.
When employees see that their institution logged 2,000 volunteer hours this year or supported 50 nonprofits, it reinforces a culture of service. This data shows leadership that community involvement is a part of your identity. That visibility can boost morale, strengthen employee engagement, and even improve retention. People want to work for institutions that live out their values, not just post about them.
Showcase your impact externally
Every bank and credit union is expected to make an impact in its community—that’s just the way these institutions work—but without a way to track that impact, how can you prove that you’ve done anything?
Community members, customers/members, and prospective employees want to see evidence. When you can confidently share that your institution volunteered 4,000 hours last year or served 1,200 individuals through financial education programs, you’re clearly demonstrating that impact.
Showcasing your impact also builds trust. Consumers are more likely to bank with institutions that invest time and talent back into the community. Businesses prefer to partner with organizations that show measurable commitment. And potential hires often evaluate a company’s community involvement before accepting a position.
Check out this article for ideas on how to share your impact with the community.
Strengthen your brand
A brand is more than your institution’s colors and logo. Yes, that’s certainly part of it. But really a brand is so much more, including the impact you make in the community. By tracking your volunteer hours and showcasing that impact, you can strengthen your institution’s brand and set yourself apart from the competition.
By tracking your volunteer hours and consistently showcasing that impact, you give substance to your brand story. Instead of simply saying you’re community-focused, you can demonstrate it with real numbers, real partnerships, and real outcomes. That kind of transparency builds credibility and trust.
Build team relationships
Hosting volunteer events is a great way to build relationships among employees. When you get employees working together to help someone else, relationships are naturally deepened and a bond is formed. This is especially true if you organize institution-wide volunteer days like Isabella Bank, Premier Community Bank, and Fox Communities Credit Union. These volunteer days get everyone involved and tend to have a huge impact in a short amount of time.
By tracking these hours, you can share stats with the team and help them see how big of an impact they had together. Everyone wants to feel like they made a difference, and putting hard numbers on it is a great way to motivate employees in the future.
Drive friendly competition
What better reason to track employee volunteer hours than to drive some friendly competition between team members, departments, and/or branches?
Maybe the department with the most volunteer hours earns a catered lunch party. Or the employee who serves the most gets a nice prize and some bragging rights. Maybe the branch with the most logged hours gets some extra funding for a nice employee gift or activity. How you reward employees is completely up to you, but the general principle of having employees compete against one another is bound to drive extra volunteer hours and create a stronger culture of volunteerism.
It would be pretty difficult to determine who wins these competitions without a solid hour tracking system in place, now wouldn’t it?
Comply with the Community Reinvestment Act
All banks (and some credit unions) are required to comply with the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). However, only intermediate-small and large banks (as defined by CRA asset thresholds) are required to demonstrate their service hours.
If your bank falls in that range, then documenting service hours is actually a regulatory requirement. There aren’t many hard rules on how you do this, but examiners look at this data to help determine if your bank is meeting the needs of your community.
What Happens When You Don’t Track Volunteer Hours
So what happens if you don’t track your institution’s volunteer hours?
For banks required to track services under the CRA, failing to document community development service hours can weaken your overall exam performance. Your CRA exam is all about proving that your bank made an impact in its community, and service hours are a piece of that puzzle.
While volunteer hours alone rarely determine a CRA rating, insufficient documentation can weaken your overall exam performance—especially if community development services are a significant part of your strategy.
For credit unions and banks that are not required to track service hours under the CRA, there aren’t any regulatory consequences. But don’t let that dissuade you from tracking hours. Without a proper system in place, you lose the ability to demonstrate impact internally and externally, strengthen your brand, build employee engagement, and showcase the value of your community involvement efforts.
What You Should Track
Yes, tracking volunteer hours is important. But what exactly should you be tracking?
The answer to that question depends on whether or not your institution is subject to the CRA, and whether or not the specific service hour is likely to qualify under the regulation.
To receive CRA credit for volunteer service activities, your bank must be able to document:
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Employee name, title, and department/branch
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Number of hours
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Organization served
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Organization mission statement and purpose
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Type of service (board service, financial literacy, technical assistance, etc.)
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Date of service
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Ongoing service vs one-time service
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Description of activity
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If it falls under one of the four community development “hooks”
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Affordable housing
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Community services
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Economic development
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Revitalization or stabilization
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Whether the service occurred inside or outside the bank’s assessment area
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Who benefited from the service (LMI vs non-LMI)
Keep in mind that not every service hour will count for credit under the CRA. It’s best to track and document everything now and evaluate activities against CRA qualification standards, rather than scrambling during exam preparation.
If your institution is not subject to the CRA, then the data you track is really up to you. At a minimum, you should consider tracking:
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Employee name, title, and department/branch
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Number of hours
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Organization served
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Date of service
How to Track Employee Volunteer Hours
There are many ways to track and manage your institution’s employee volunteer hours. What you choose depends on your institution’s size, budget, and goals.
The most basic way to track volunteer hours is with spreadsheets. Spreadsheets may be free, but they become complicated quickly. You have to decide who has access to the sheet, how you want to organize it, how to turn that data into reports, etc. While spreadsheets aren’t ideal, at least you have something to track hours.
A better system for tracking and managing volunteer hours is using a software tool built for just that. And the best volunteer tracking tool for banks and credit unions? Well, not to brag, but we’re pretty sure it’s Kadince.
How Kadince Helps You Track Volunteer Hours
Built specifically for financial institutions, Kadince is used by hundreds of banks and credit unions across the country. Kadince makes it easy to track and manage all your community efforts, including donations/sponsorships, events, community organizations, and volunteer hours.
With Kadince, you can:
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Track and manage volunteer activities and logged hours with ease
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Create web-based forms to simplify volunteer hour submissions
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Log volunteer hours after events for accurate reporting
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Assign tasks seamlessly using Kadince workflows
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Measure the impact of your volunteerism and set meaningful goals
If you’re still relying on spreadsheets, disconnected forms, and manual reporting to track employee volunteer hours, you’re not just creating extra work—you’re increasing compliance risk and limiting your ability to tell your impact story.
Schedule a demo to learn more about how Kadince makes it easy to collect and track employee volunteer hours while saving time and minimizing risk.
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