It’s that time of year again – time for the 2012 VolunteerMatch Client Summit! Each year we convene our corporate clients to take part in a day and a half of learning, sharing and collaborating with one another. In a nutshell, we come together to bridge our knowledge and share best practices of our individual CSR communities.

This year’s event will feature a keynote presentation by Carol Cone, Global Vice Chair of Edelman Business + Social Purpose. We’ll also welcome a variety of speakers to lead Best Practice Café sessions, including Megan Strand of the Cause Marketing Forum and Chris Jarvis from Realized Worth. Each speaker will bring expert insights that will inspire us all to make a bigger impact.

Central to the annual VolunteerMatch Client Summit is the 2012 VolunteerMatch Corporate Volunteer Awards ceremony. On May 17, 2012 winners of the following categories will be announced:

• Employee Volunteer Program of the Year – Large Size Business:
  Awarded to a client with outstanding performance in corporate volunteer engagement, determined by performance against four benchmark measures.

• Employee Volunteer Program of the Year – Small-Medium Size Business:
  Awarded to a client with outstanding performance in corporate volunteer engagement, determined by performance against four benchmark measures.

• Champions of the Year:
  Awarded to individuals representing VolunteerMatch clients that display outstanding teamwork, leadership, accomplishment, dedication and spirit.

• Breakout Performance:
  Awarded to a new VolunteerMatch client that has showed significant success for a newly launched program.

You can check out the 2011 VolunteerMatch Corporate Volunteer Award winners on the event website.

In the coming weeks, we’ll be profiling the 10 finalist for the two Employee Volunteer Program of the Year awards, to celebrate the success and dedication of each. We’ll also be sharing more information about each of the VolunteerMatch Client Summit speakers – so stay tuned for more juicy details!

This year’s event is generously supported by Gap, Inc., Charles Schwab and 3BL Media.