Managing Home Depot's 'Volunteer Army'

Quote: Managing Home Depot's 'Volunteer Army'Working locally, the Home Depot Foundation develops affordable homes in league with nonprofit groups, Kelly Caffarelli tells Patricia O'Connell HD) in 2002 with the mission of building affordable homes for working families while improving community health. The foundation's volunteer force—Team Depot—is made up of tens of thousands of Home Depot associates in North America and China. According to Kelly Caffarelli, the foundation's president, it is well ahead of the 10-year plan established in 2007. Back then, the foundation pledged to invest $400 million over the next decade to develop 100,000 affordable, healthy homes for working families and to plant three million trees in urban communities. By yearend 2009, $163 million had been invested, 64,000 homes built, and 732,000 trees planted. Rather than assign projects, the foundation relies on the stores themselves to choose projects to work on. Each store has a Team Depot captain who coordinates volunteers and helps decide where the community most urgently needs help. Since the foundation switched to this self-directing approach in 2007, Team Depot participation has increased: The budget for the projects has tripled and the program is still oversubscribed. According to Caffarelli, it's no coincidence. "Our associates feel they truly own the projects, and they are deeply proud of the results they achieve," she says. Patricia O'Connell about administering what amounts to a workforce of volunteers. Edited excerpts of their conversation follow. Patricia O'Connell: What do you see as your primary role? Kelly Caffarelli: I think a lot about what we should be doing next. I talk to my team about missed opportunities. No one is going to come and tell us we don't do enough good stuff. My question is always: Could we have done more? What else could we do with the resources we ...
Open whole article (external link)