1. Pick a charity that matches your aims, size and goals. If you are a small business, working with a local charity in your neighbourhood is a start to build relationship, goodwill and create impact that you may be able to track immediately.
2. Find charities that practice transparency or have processes in place that meet that goal. Smaller or poorer charities may need some support with this, and your partnership could help improve that. Commit together so both parties are clear about the approaches in your CSR campaign in an honest and responsible way.
3. Impact measurement is important way of marking your successes and failures of your campaign. Measuring impact is also vital when you report to your investors or stakeholders. Markers can range from number of children going to school, examination results, number of single parents employed or products sold, as a result of the CSR campaign.
4. Work towards a long term relationship, say across six months to a year depending on your project. Hati.my’s feedback from the sector is there are too many one-hit wonders when it comes to CSR or donation campaigns. Charities want to avoid feeling like a dumping ground or just a tick in a box for donors or corporations during their internal audit. Be sincere about your commitment towards the project that will reap in rich rewards and tangible impact for your stakeholders.

1. If you want to get started volunteering, start with identifying who or what you feel passionate with, be it a segment within the community, animals or environment that you would like to be involved in.

2. Find an organisation that’s a good fit for you, and then decide what you have to offer. Then you can apply to volunteer at that organisation and get started in your new position.

3. Check out the following volunteer sites to help you find opportunities in your area: 
NGOs -  NGO hub                                
Campaign based projects - DoSomething.Gd
Paid volunteering - Jooble 

4. If you still can’t narrow down where you want to volunteer, talk to friends and family, as it can make it easier to volunteer with someone you know the first time.

5. Think about what skill sets you can offer to organisations.

6. Be realistic about your time commitment and review your schedule so you do not disappoint the organisation or overextend your resources.

7. Treat the application like a job. Some volunteer opportunities are relatively low-key but be professional. Organisations may need references, or security checks if you are working with seniors or children.

8. If you find that your current fit does not work, feel free to move organisations but be professional and give notice as you would in a job.