Increase employee morale, the company’s bottom line & better your community with a corporate pro bono program

This past 4^th of July was break from the norm for me, but it was not the same as Independence Days of my past. As I got together with friends and family a few common themes made themselves known. Not surprisingly job-loss, underemployment and a lack of satisfaction with work were some of the most prominent.

As many industries are facing a decline the nonprofit industry is growing, necessarily so. But as nonprofit and charity organizations start-up, grow and expand they face many challenges as they work to meet a diverse set of community needs. These challenges arise in part because many nonprofits lack certain professional skills needed to operate as efficiently as possible. At the same time many organizations with highly skilled employees are facing challenges as employee morale, benefits and salaries are on the decline.

The President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation initiated the A Billion + Change program with goal of leveraging $1 billion in skilled volunteering and pro bono services from the corporate community.

Pro bono service is a very specific type of charitable giving. The Summit on Corporate Volunteerism defines pro bono service this way: “Pro bono is the donation of professional services that are included in an employees’ job description and for which the recipient nonprofit would otherwise have to pay. It is a subset of skilled volunteering that gives nonprofits access to the business skills and experience they need to develop and implement sound business strategies, increase their capabilities and improve their organizational infrastructure,” (pg. 1). 

Through pro bono service it is clear that nonprofits benefit. But at the same time corporations benefit by increasing employee morale, teamwork and enthusiasm about the company when they allow employees to volunteer on company time. Employees themselves benefit by gaining a sense of pride and good will when they are able to use their skills and professional abilities to help others in a way that their day to day job might not allow and they also gain the benefit of doing charitable work on company time.

So as you are returning to work after this holiday weekend take some time to think about the skills that you, your co-workers and employees have that would benefit nonprofits in your area.

If your organization is already involved with pro bono work think about how you can expand employee participation or how you can take the partnership to the next level. If your organization is not involved in any sort of corporate volunteerism or pro bono program create a plan outlining how you could work to get one started and then act on that plan.

It doesn’t matter if you are the CEO, a manager or in an entry-level position you can be the one to initiate action in your organization. Partnerships between the corporate and nonprofit worlds provide a unique way for people to get involved with community enhancement and lead to lasting, effective change.

-Nina

Interested in starting a corporate pro bono program with Habitat for Humanity of Omaha? Give us a call at (402) 457-5657.

Learn more about A Billion + Change.

Not everyone is on board for a pro bono partnership? Get help making your case.

General pro bono volunteering resources.