The signature virtual skills-based event will connect Texas corporate volunteers and key nonprofits to find solutions to their most pressing capacity challenges
Brooklyn, NY – April 6, 2023 – Common Impact, a leader in skills-based volunteering, will host its flagship event, Skills for Cities, on April 20. This signature event will bring together Texas-based nonprofits working to further social equity with volunteers from leading corporations to find ways to solve their most critical capacity-building challenges.
Texas is home to an exciting growing hub of nonprofit innovators, social entrepreneurs, and community builders fighting for social equity. However, like many nonprofits nationwide, they lack the resources and tools to build these capacities needed to deliver on their missions. On average, nonprofits spend less than 10% on essential infrastructure like finance, human resources, technology, strategy, and marketing, while corporations tend to spend double or even triple this amount.
Skills for Cities is an opportunity to utilize cross-sector collaboration to address pressing capacity changes faced by nonprofit organizations. This signature skills-based volunteering event will join dozens of volunteers from companies across sectors, with large and growing footprints in the region, such as PayPal, Ameriprise, Truist, Wayfair, and PIMCO, with the leaders of several nonprofits, for an intensive, one-day virtual flash consulting event.
“Common Impact has done tremendous work with our skills-based volunteering initiatives, which have helped to build strong cross-sector partnerships and create lasting impacts in communities nationwide. We are very excited to bring our signature event, Skills for Cities, to Texas, a region that is seeing a new wave of innovation in entrepreneurship and technology,” said Leila Saad, CEO of Common Impact. “Our event will aim to apply this wealth of corporate knowledge, skills, and enthusiasm to help advance the remarkable efforts these key nonprofits have made to advance social equity throughout the state and beyond.”
Four nonprofits with mission areas focused on social equity and community improvement will participate, including Inclusive Communities Project, Austin Recovery Network, Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston, and Financial Health Pathways. Teams of volunteers across companies will work together with nonprofit leaders on initiatives that will help improve website usability and boost audience engagement; develop financial visualizations to help with program planning and grant pitching initiatives; create a framework for a holistic employee wellness plan; and identify best strategic growth and expansion practices.
Skills for Cities will also feature a special Community Conversation with local Texas nonprofit leader Zion Escobar, the first Executive Director of the Houston Freedmen’s Town Conservancy, which aims to preserve and protect Freedmen’s Town for future generations. Zion will discuss what the past, present, and future can teach you about equitable development and partnerships.
Nonprofits and corporate volunteers have noted the transformational impact of Skills for Cities events on their team members, organizations, and communities. Nonprofits have benefitted by learning new strategies and approaches to serve their communities better. Corporate volunteers have been able to grow their professional skills and gain a better understanding of the nonprofit sector. More details on Skills for Cities results can be found in the most recent report here.
For more information on Skills for Cities, please visit Common Impact’s site here.
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About Common Impact
Common Impact is a national nonprofit that works to build a society in which individuals and businesses invest their unique talents towards a shared purpose: strengthening the local communities in which we live and work. Founded in 2000, Common Impact has partnered with Fortune 500 companies and hundreds of the country’s leading nonprofit organizations to create transformational change through skills-based volunteering. Learn more about Common Impact’s services, impact, and clients.
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