As we reflect back on Pro Bono Week, we couldn’t be prouder of what we’ve accomplished together! In October 2021 alone, we worked with over 1,400 volunteers on 40 pro bono projects to generate nearly $500K in value for more than 50 nonprofits!
For Common Impact, Pro Bono Week is always an especially inspiring time of year. At the end of each large-scale skilled volunteering initiative, training, and panel, we have an incredible opportunity to reflect on the “why” behind our work and appreciate the impact it has on nonprofits and communities.
Thank you to everyone who lent their time and talents to help social impact organizations tackle important business challenges this Pro Bono Week. They’ll need our support as much as ever in 2022, so let’s keep the momentum going!
Skills for Cities
Our Pro Bono Week 2021 Skills for Cities was our largest ever flagship event with 180 participants from 17 nonprofits and 16 companies, representing four countries. Together, we generated over $165,000 for BIPOC-led, racial equity, and digital inclusion nonprofits in just one day. The cross-company volunteer teams collaborated with nonprofits across the country to address capacity constraints, pivot strategies, and reinforce their confidence in their work. We were blown away by the deliverables we saw and the outpouring of support we heard for the nonprofits and for skills-based volunteering.
You could see the joy that people got putting in the work. We were at work, but this didn’t feel like work. It was fun and I loved using my skills differently. I wish we could do this every day!
Skills for Cities corporate volunteer
I was very impressed by the level of expertise of the volunteers and the insight they provided to the problem we presented. They really gave me a starting point, and that’s what I was looking for, so I’m grateful.
Skills for Cities nonprofit participant
As part of the event, CEO Danielle Holly moderated a Community Conversation exploring the role cross-sector partnerships can play in addressing the digital divide and advancing racial equity. We were fortunate to be joined by Angela Siefer of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, Dan Noyes of Tech Goes Home, and Latricia Boone of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Equality of Opportunity Initiative, who talked about the social and economic imperatives for digital equity, the business community’s responsibility to take action, mistrust in government and corporations as an obstacle to progress, diversity and representation in the tech sector, and how community-centered solutions can be a powerful force for meaningful change. Listen to the discussion in full and subscribe to the Pro Bono Perspectives podcast to hear Danielle and Dan’s post-panel deep dive.
Look out for details on our next Skills for Cities, which will take place in April 2022 for National Volunteer Month!
Special thanks to our co-host, Verizon, and Foundational Sponsors: Boston Dynamics, Equitable, Hewlett Packard Enterprises, John Hancock, and Truist.
That’s not all! Here are more ways we celebrated Pro Bono Week…
Over the course of October, we partnered with NVIDIA on five events totaling over $58,500 in social value: four flash consulting projects and a 19-volunteer pitch competition.
During Pro Bono Week, NVIDIA’s skilled volunteers supported Make-A-Wish Greater Bay Area, Dreams for Schools, and Still Serving Veterans. The Make-A-Wish volunteers conducted an assessment of peer organizations’ virtual fundraising programs to help identify opportunities to enhance the Make-A-Wish chapter’s own strategy as online fundraising continues to be a vital revenue source. Those on the Dreams for Schools project developed a financial modeling template for the STEAM nonprofit to use as they consider how investments in staff and benefits will impact its future financial health.
For Still Serving Veterans, three small teams of NVIDIA volunteers completed a website assessment, then pitched their recommendations to representatives from the nonprofit. They were thrilled with the results, saying, “This will help us so much and cut 50% of our development time and costs. We have gotten more value out of this experience than we did out of [a recent paid consultation]. This has been fantastic!” The volunteers were equally moved with one calling the event, “one of the most enriching and fulfilling volunteer experiences” they’ve had.
And there was much more still for the month of October! During Nielsen’s Global Impact Day, 54 volunteers gave their all in a whirlwind five-nonprofit pitch competition, as did 25 PHLY volunteers in their own event. 17 TIAA volunteers supported two nonprofits in a flash consulting day of service. And, as part of our collective efforts to encourage long-term relationships and lasting service, we delivered introductions to skills-based volunteering for nonprofit partners of the Community Foundation for a Greater Richmond and to CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield employees as part of the company’s Week of Equity and Action.
From the entire Common Impact team, thank you for your service and support!
