Skills-Based Volunteering Projects Spark New Initiatives at Heights Philadelphia
Christen Johnson’s work at Heights Philadelphia is all about opening doors—to education, to careers, and to opportunities that change lives. As associate vice president of advancement, she plays a key role in strengthening the nonprofit’s connections with corporate partners, alumni, and volunteers, ensuring that more students have access to the resources they need to thrive. Heights Philadelphia is dedicated to guiding students from middle school through college and into their careers, providing the support, mentorship, and pathways to success that so many young people in the city need.
Christen is no stranger to skills-based volunteering (SBV). In fact, she’s a long-time participant in SBV projects, tapping into corporate professionals’ expertise to strengthen Heights Philadelphia’s programs and impact. In this blog, we’ll explore the powerful work her organization is doing and how tapping into skills-based volunteerism has helped Heights Philadelphia expand its reach, strengthen its initiatives, and create lasting change for students and their futures.
As a nonprofit, having access to a team of brilliant minds tackling complex challenges, ones that may be beyond our internal expertise or simply beyond our capacity, is an absolute game-changer.
Heights Philadelphia’s vision is to transform educational and career pathways. What are some of the most significant impacts the organization has made in the community?
One of the most powerful aspects of our work at Heights Philadelphia is our commitment to shifting economic mobility outcomes for the entire city. That kind of transformation requires scale. I’m incredibly proud to be part of a team that has expanded our reach, now serving over 3,300 students in 2024—a significant increase from the 2,000 we previously supported prior to 2023. This number reflects the total number of students we engage, not just new participants each year. And we’re not stopping there. We aim to serve 5,000 students by 2029, ensuring that more young people across Philadelphia have access to the resources and opportunities they need to thrive. This kind of sustained impact is essential in our mission to break the cycle of poverty and create real pathways to economic mobility for Philadelphia’s youth.
One way we’re doing this is by ensuring students have access to high-quality educational opportunities. 87% of the 8th graders we worked with in 2024 applied to and were accepted into criteria-based high schools. We know that when students have the power to choose their high school, their chances of graduating, attending college, and completing their degrees increase dramatically.
Could you share a story or example that illustrates Heights’ real-life impact on a student or community?
A great example of this is our partnership with Temple University to launch and amplify their Temple Promise program. Temple made a remarkable commitment to the city of Philadelphia, ensuring that students who meet certain economic qualifications receive financial aid to cover their full tuition. It’s an incredible investment in the city, designed to open doors for local students to attend a university right in their own backyard. But the challenge? Many students simply didn’t know this opportunity existed.
That’s where Heights Philadelphia came in. Because we’re embedded in schools across the city and have advisors working directly with students, we brought Temple admissions officers into high schools and facilitated on-site admission days. Students received their acceptance letters in person from the admissions officers, transforming what once felt like an unattainable dream into a tangible reality. Many of these students pass Temple’s campus every day, never imagining it could be an option for them—until now.
How has working with Common Impact and skills-based volunteers helped strengthen your organization’s mission? Were there any recommendations or strategies that particularly resonated with your team?
Every engagement with Common Impact brings such incredible value to our organization. As a nonprofit, having access to a team of brilliant minds tackling complex challenges, ones that may be beyond our internal expertise or simply beyond our capacity, is an absolute game-changer.
The insights, strategies, and solutions they provide often address challenges that would have taken us months or even longer to navigate on our own. The results are not only high-quality but also deeply meaningful to the work we do.
Has Heights Philadelphia implemented any recommendations from the Common Impact SBV projects they participated in?
One of the biggest successes was an idea sparked by an SBV pitch event: bringing our corporate partners together not just to learn about our work but to actively contribute insights and recommendations for our student programming. That idea became our Industry Think Tank series, which we officially launched in the fall of 2024.
Within the series, we invited professionals from our business-sector partners from key industries such as tech and business and hosted an event at one of their offices. It was an incredible opportunity for our partners to share hiring trends, industry concerns, and insights on how we should prepare students for careers 5, 10, or even 15 years down the line. Beyond that, it gave them a chance to connect with peers, explore different ways they’re making an impact, and truly ground themselves in the reality of our work.
Too often, corporate initiatives for local impact aren’t as closely connected to the communities they aim to serve. They’re well-intentioned but can miss the mark because they aren’t rooted in direct experience with schools, students, or neighborhoods. This event helped bridge that gap, providing real-world context and fostering meaningful conversations. The response was overwhelmingly positive. Attendees were asking if we could do this every month! It sparked new partnerships, brought a new board member to our organization, and even led to additional grant funding.
This initiative was a direct result of our engagement with Common Impact. The common impact team was able to engage directly with our corporate partners, helping shape an approach that has already proven to be a game-changer for us.
How do partnerships like this one with Common Impact and corporate volunteers support Heights Philadelphia’s broader goals for sustainability and growth?
As someone responsible for stakeholder relationships, the first major benefit is exposure. By the time I finished speaking to the volunteers tackling our challenge, they weren’t just ready to dive in; they were enthusiastic supporters of our work. In just one hour of sharing our mission, I gained almost 50 new champions who can now help amplify our message. That kind of organic advocacy is invaluable.
The second benefit is industry expertise. Nonprofit professionals are deeply skilled in their mission areas, but you need to engage experts in that field to gain the best insights from a specific industry. When they apply their knowledge to our challenges, we get solutions that are not only strategic but also meet professional-level standards.
Finally, there’s the power of fresh perspective. When you’ve been immersed in a challenge for a long time, it’s easy to miss solutions that might seem obvious to an outsider. Bringing in a new set of eyes, especially from professionals with different expertise, can uncover opportunities and ideas that wouldn’t have surfaced otherwise.
Those three benefits, exposure, expertise, and fresh perspective, are what make engagements like this truly invaluable.
Is there anything else you’d like to share about your experience with SBV or the impact of Heights Philadelphia’s work in the community?
SBV engagements allow us to tap into volunteer support in a much more strategic and impactful way. Volunteerism can be from the perspective of stepping into roles that staff are already experts in: teaching children, caring for animals, or delivering services directly. But the skills-based model shifts that dynamic. Instead of trying to do what nonprofit professionals do best, volunteers apply their own expertise, whether in business, marketing, strategy, or another specialized field. Essentially, to strengthen the nonprofit in ways that align with its mission.
This approach was eye-opening for our team. We realized that we need to be intentional about how we engage volunteers. If we have concerns about training or the ability to do direct service work, that’s exactly why we have dedicated staff. However, Common Impact and the skills-based volunteers have a wealth of knowledge and experience in areas that complement our work and help us grow. They are an invaluable resource, and I’d encourage other organizations to embrace Common Impact’s model and skills-based volunteerism.
Ready to learn more about skills-based volunteering? Reach out.
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