In Progress Software’s first six months on Percent Pledge, their employees logged more volunteer hours than in the entire prior three years combined.
Not a percentage increase. Not a meaningful improvement. More hours in six months than in three years.
The number deserves some context.
Three Years of Flat Participation
Progress Software had a volunteer program before Percent Pledge. Employees could sign up for opportunities, log hours, participate in company events. The infrastructure existed. And participation sat where it sat — low, stable, and unremarkable.
This is the modal experience on legacy CSR platforms. Most mid-market companies report volunteer participation in the 10–20% range. HR leaders tend to accept this as normal because it matches what they see across the industry, what they hear from peers, and what the platforms they’re using tell them to expect.
It isn’t normal. It’s what low-friction design failure looks like at scale.
Why They Decided to Change
The decision to switch wasn’t spontaneous. Progress Software looked at what they had and what it was delivering, and the gap was clear. The platform wasn’t driving the participation levels they wanted. The admin work on their team’s side was heavier than it should be. And the experience their employees had was clunky enough that most of them simply didn’t use it.
The hidden costs of legacy CSR platforms are rarely visible on a single invoice line. They show up in hours per week absorbed by admin, in participation rates that stay flat year after year, in a program that technically exists but doesn’t generate energy. Progress Software recognized the pattern and made a decision.
The Switch Took Three Weeks
The thing most companies fear when they consider switching platforms is the disruption. Data migration, employee retraining, the moment when something breaks and the whole team notices.
Progress Software’s migration took three weeks. Their Social Impact Manager handled the integrations, the data migration, and the employee communications. Historical giving data came over. Employee accounts were ready on launch day with their full history intact. No one called confused. No one lost a matching balance.
Three weeks from decision to live. That’s the timeline the migration process is built to deliver. And the reason switching fear is less founded than it feels.
What Happened in the First Six Months
Once the platform was live, the results didn’t take months to show up. They showed up immediately.
The monthly community volunteer events were the most visible change. Instead of a passive portal with opportunities employees could theoretically sign up for, there was a specific event happening on a specific date — one that Percent Pledge ran and managed, that employees were personally invited to, and that their Social Impact Manager made sure people knew about. Attendance was strong from the first event.
The platform UX drove the second wave. Employees who had bounced off the old system found the new one intuitive enough to actually use. Giving. Tracking volunteer hours. Accessing matching. The things that had been friction-filled enough to drive off most of the workforce were now straightforward. The barrier was gone.
The Social Impact Manager drove both. They ran the events, managed the logistics, built the launch communications, and kept the program visible throughout the six months. A platform alone doesn’t generate those results. A program partner does.
The result: more volunteer hours in six months than the prior three years combined. When you understand the context, the number makes complete sense.
What Any HR Leader Can Take From It
The Progress Software outcome isn’t unusual at Percent Pledge. It’s what the combination of the right platform, a Social Impact Manager, and monthly community events is designed to produce. What’s unusual is that most HR leaders don’t know this level of participation is achievable.
The evidence for corporate volunteering’s impact on engagement, retention, and culture is strong. The piece that’s less often discussed is the delivery mechanism: what separates a volunteer program that moves the needle from one that technically exists. Progress Software’s story is a clean answer to that question.
Same employees. Different platform. Dedicated program partner. The hours weren’t hiding somewhere waiting to be unlocked. The friction that was preventing them was removed.
If your volunteer participation is flat, or if you’ve stopped tracking it because the numbers are discouraging, the full account is in the Progress Software case study. If you want to understand what it would look like for your company, book a demo. We’ll show you with proof points from customers whose companies look like yours.
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