Getting Started with Pro Bono Volunteering

Pro Bono Week, an annual celebration of the talented volunteers who share their skills with nonprofits around the world, is about to kick off during the third week in October. For companies that have not yet thought about how their employees and their unique skills sets can contribute to pro bono volunteering, here’s a primer on getting started.

First, what is pro bono volunteering?

Often referred to as “skills-based volunteering,” pro bono applies the talents of professionals to challenges in communities or gaps in the skills and services needed by nonprofit organizations. Pro bono service is actually a type of skills-based volunteering (SBV) wherein volunteers contribute their professional skills — typically the same exact skills they use to perform their job every day. Pro bono volunteers provide expertise that directly supports a nonprofit’s internal operations, which strengthens the infrastructure and capacity of the organization, and becomes a powerful driver of social impact. By leveraging all types of workplace skills — from IT support and strategic planning to marketing and HR consulting — pro bono volunteering helps nonprofits expand their reach and become more sustainable, while allowing employees an opportunity to build and practice their skills.

Where can you start with pro bono volunteering?

1. Assess Your Business Needs and Competencies

The right place to start is with a thorough internal review and discussion about what makes sense for your business and your colleagues.

• Which unique skills and competencies do your employees possess and which might need shoring up? Although you may be in the marketing industry, consider the broad array of skill sets that professionals at your company can offer—ranging from HR and strategic planning to marketing and IT support.
• How much time and resources do you have to manage and support a new volunteer program?
• Will you have internal buy-in from management? If not, what might you need to obtain this?
• Would employees volunteer on an ongoing basis or, perhaps to start off, should you consider a well-defined timeframe during the year?
• Would the preference be to align your pro bono volunteer program with a strategic area of focus for your business (such as education, nutrition or healthcare), or would you allow employees to determine which causes they volunteer for?
• Should you start small? Even some of the most successful pro bono programs at the largest corporations start modestly. If your business has a presence in multiple markets, think about piloting a project in one market and build from there.

2. Determine Nonprofit Partner Needs and Readiness

Next, begin to identify nonprofits that might be a good fit with your company’s goals. You might consider working with a member of

Points of Light’s Global Network

to connect you with an appropriate nonprofit, or you might partner with nonprofits your company or foundation already supports with contributions.

• Once you’ve connected, ask the organization’s team if they have a need for the skills that you’ve identified as the right ones for your company to offer. This might be an area that is essential to the nonprofit’s mission but may be underfunded or under-resourced. Always let your partners guide the discussion around their needs rather than imposing your priorities on them.
• Then, help your nonprofit partners increase their readiness to make the most of a skills-based project. Share the organizational readiness assessment with them available through Capacity Commons provided by Common Impact and the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation. It’s a free, online tool with extensive resources to help build nonprofit capacity to navigate skills-based volunteering, including pro bono efforts.

3. Develop a Scope of Work

Once you’re collaborating with the right partner, you’ll need to work together to determine the project or projects you’ll be working on.

• Agree to a set of deliverables, timeframe, project leadership and points of contact, and support for both the nonprofit and employee volunteer(s). Document them.
• Work with the nonprofit to create agreed-upon expectations.
• Mutually define what success looks like.
• Determine how the project’s success and impact will be tracked and measured. Consider the difference the project will have on the nonprofit and the community they serve, as well as employee volunteers.
• Discuss and draft a post-project support plan. This step will help ensure the sustainability of your efforts and will help the nonprofit maintain your pro bono recommendations or services after the project has ended.

4. Implement the project

You’ve got the right understanding of your employer’s goals, the skills you can provide, the right nonprofit partner(s) on board and projects mapped out, but now the real work begins.

• Match volunteers to projects based on their interests and skill sets. A great way to do this is to develop a “job description” that will help volunteers better understand the skill sets and expertise, time commitments and leadership roles needed to complete the pro bono project.
• Set expectations with partners and volunteers upfront and manage expectations throughout the project.
• Organize regular check-ins with your partners and volunteers to discuss progress, challenges and future deadlines.
• Monitor project milestones. Reassess and adjust the project’s scope if necessary.

5. Evaluate and celebrate success

Once the project is completed, measure the project’s success against the indicators and metrics outlined in the scope of work.

• Issue a survey to your employee volunteers to gauge the outcomes and impact of their volunteer assignments on business priorities like skill development, leadership development and other factors important to your employer.
• Issue a similar survey to your nonprofit partner to assess the outcomes of the volunteer assignment on the effectiveness of the collaboration, the efficiencies gained, how it will help them increase their reach and other factors important to them.
• Reflect on what went well and what didn’t go well in the project and determine how that can be improved in the future.
• Take time to recognize and celebrate employee volunteers for their work and the project’s results. Consider a pro bono volunteer spotlight in internal or external communications or as part of your employee volunteer recognition strategy.

Remember, you don’t have to go down the pro bono route alone. There are several great organizations that specialize in skills-based and pro bono volunteering like

Taproot Foundation

,

Common Impact

,

Pyxera Global

and

Catchafire

. And if Points of Light’s Corporate Solutions team can be a resource to you as you think through how, why and when to mobilize your colleagues in pro bono volunteering, don’t hesitate to reach out. Happy Pro Bono Week!

3 Business Trends That Your CSR Strategy Can’t Afford to Ignore

Corporate social responsibility. We hear the term all the time, but what does it really mean, and why is it so important in today’s business landscape? CSR is the concept that companies can—and should—use their capital, resources and influence to support, benefit and work with the communities in which they operate, to add value that reflects the community itself. It’s rooted in the idea that businesses are about more than making money and answering to shareholders; they have an equal responsibility to the societies of which they are a part. Subscribing to this concept and actually having strong corporate social responsibility strategies is more important than ever in a world embattled by poverty, political conflicts, economic crises, climate change and intensifying natural and human-made disasters. In fact, our own

civic engagement research

shows that more than 80% of respondents around the world expect companies to address the social ills in their countries. CSR can act as a ray of hope amidst societal challenges; businesses have the resources and commitment to take on the most important issues of our day and work to create a better world for us and future generations. Here, we dive into three critical trends affecting business and show you how to effectively incorporate them into your company’s CSR strategy.

Business Trend 1: Stakeholder Pressure for Strong ESG Practices

Stakeholders don’t want to hear vague statements about companies “doing good.” They want to know the specifics of what companies are doing to address the climate crisis and major social issues of our day, how they are making and carrying out these decisions and the real impact they are creating. This is ESG: environment, social impact and (corporate) governance. ESG is rapidly becoming a focal point of CSR, even a practical stand-in for the broad term. The stakeholders homing in on ESG include:

• Investors, who are increasingly seeking out and prioritizing companies that are committed to creating a net positive by doing good and/or minimizing harmful business practices.
• Customers, who more and more commonly choose to buy from companies they see as having a positive impact.
• Employees, who are progressively opting to work for companies with stronger CSR policies, sometimes even taking a pay cut to do so.

According to the

2023 Edelman Trust Barometer Global Report

, 69% of employees agreed that having societal impact is a strong expectation or deal breaker when considering a job. These expectations are even more pronounced among younger generations. Cognizant’s report

The Purpose Gap

found that eight in 10 Millennials and 84% of Gen Z respondents say “responsible and ethical business practices are extremely or very important to them when choosing an employer.”

CSR Strategy Solution: Double Down on ESG—Especially Social Impact

“As investors and consumers continue to prefer businesses with the right environmental and social credentials, companies in 2023 will need to make sure their ESG processes are moved to the center of their strategy,” says the

Association of Corporate Citizenship Professionals

(ACCP). Savvy companies should take note and double down on their ESG practices, particularly the “S,” social impact. Within social impact and racial equity are essential areas to focus on. “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) principles promote the equitable treatment and participation of all people with a focus on the underrepresented and those subjected to discrimination due to their racial and ethnic background, gender identity, disability, etc. Organizations are increasingly expected to apply these principles throughout the development of all their activities,” says Jerome Tennille writing for

Optimy

. After the murders of George Floyd and countless other Black Americans in and around 2020, many companies spoke up on the brutal consequences of racism and turned inward to establish or enhance their DEI initiatives. For some, that meant analyzing their internal diversity, leadership opportunities for employees from underrepresented backgrounds, hiring practices and more. For others, it was a time of increased diversity pledges, donations and partnerships with organizations led by and/or dedicated to supporting people who have historically been discriminated against. Since 2020, however, too many companies have

not fulfilled their DEI promises

. It may not be the prime news story anymore, but companies still have a responsibility to deliver on their DEI goals and foster more equitable company cultures and communities. Take this as an opportunity to consider how your company can reinvigorate its DEI efforts through fundraising, grants (unrestricted ones are immensely helpful), volunteering or partnering with organizations that further its racial equity goals.

Business Trend 2: Employees Speaking Out on Work and Purpose

In recent years, changes to the employer-employee dynamic have shifted power to employees in new ways. During the pandemic, overwhelm and burnout fueled the Great Resignation and widespread movement toward freelance work, self-employment and entrepreneurship instead of full-time work for a company. Employees voiced – and continue to voice – their frustration with traditional corporate work culture, though sometimes not with words but actions, like actively disengaging from work or leaving companies altogether. On the purpose front, some employees have been taking part in a movement to bring their whole self to work. They are increasingly vocal about the causes that are important to them, their need to express these concerns at work and their desire for their companies to show solidarity and take a stand.

CSR Strategy Solution: Employee-Driven CSR Programs and Volunteer Opportunities

Employees are no longer satisfied just knowing about their company’s CSR efforts; they want to be given meaningful opportunities to participate in and shape impact strategies. They value having a voice and seat at the table in deciding what these opportunities are, such as corporate fundraisers, employee donation matching programs and volunteering. Some employees are also passionate about having a say in the company’s CSR strategy itself, from the causes the company dedicates its time and resources toward to which community partners it aligns itself with in order to carry out this work. Consider taking a bottom-up approach to your company’s CSR strategy that listens to what employees have to say, takes into account their priorities and gives them agency in how they participate. You can learn what issues matter most to employees through (non-mandatory) company-wide meetings, digital polls or surveys, for instance. If your core CSR strategy and issue areas are already set, provide an outlet for employees to do things on their own through volunteer time off and rewards programs like matching gifts and dollars for doers, or create opportunities for employees to voice which specific nonprofit organizations, foundations and community partners they want the company to work with in alignment with those set issue areas and/or their preferred tactics for supporting a cause (e.g. volunteering, mentoring, advocacy, fundraising and donations).

“When you’re looking to level up your social impact program, business integration is key,” advises Points of Light Chief Global Corporate Solutions Officer Katie Stearns. “Invite your HR and DEI colleagues to the table and explore how your goals and roadmaps integrate. Perhaps participation as a volunteer champion becomes part of an employee’s performance evaluation, or your company’s DEI commitments can be reflected in your grantmaking process. Weaving CSR, HR and DEI work together makes it all stronger.”

Employee-led CSR strategies and programs aren’t just about making employees feel good; they have been proven to increase trust in companies, a hard-won and valuable thing in uncertain times like we’ve experienced the past few years. Eighty-five percent of employees and 84% of customers are more likely to trust businesses that involve them in charitable giving decisions, according to Benevity’s

The State of Corporate Purpose 2022

report.

Looking for more direction? Check out Points of Light’s 5 Questions to Jumpstart Your Employee Volunteer Strategy and Program Design.

Business Trend 3: Potential Recession-Driven Spending Concerns and Budget Cuts

“2023 will put CSR to the test. During recessions, corporate social impact is even more important, as it has the potential to strengthen your business in the short term and solidify relationships with stakeholders over the long term,” says

True Impact

. “Customers, investors and employees alike look at corporate purpose when making decisions, and cutting commitments to the community may affect their desire to support your company.” Whether or not a recession actually occurs, the value-add of a strong CSR strategy remains. It can insulate companies against a number of other precarious situations we’ve already witnessed in this decade like inflation, the Great Resignation, global economy-affecting wars and the pandemic. Doubling down on purpose is a proven way for companies to build resilience against major events like these.

CSR Strategy Solution: Right-Size Your Impact

When it comes to recession-proofing employee engagement programs, social impact professionals can look to

right-size

their work to ensure initiatives are effective, efficient and aligned with company goals. Use a recession as a time to hone your measurement practices and work collaboratively with HR and other departments to tell the full story of why its not just good for communities but for employees and the company itself. In addition to contributing to important causes and making the world a better place, studies have found that volunteering has meaningful benefits for corporate volunteers (employees) themselves and the companies that host corporate volunteer programs. For example, employees who are engaged in corporate social responsibility programs show markedly lower turnover rates, dropping by 57% in employee groups most deeply connected to their companies’ giving and volunteering efforts, according to

Benevity

. Additionally,

Purpose Under Pressure

found that 91% of employees say their company’s purpose makes them feel like they are in the right place through tumultuous times, like economic instability and the pandemic.

Get more specifics on how to mobilize your team with Points of Light’s 5 Ways to Encourage Employees to Volunteer.

Points of Light condensed years of research and CSR best practices into our easy-to-use

Social Impact Playbook

to help community engagement practitioners and purpose-driven professionals unlock their company’s full potential for doing good. Regardless of company size or industry, the playbook’s framework and tactics can serve as a roadmap to drive your business’s social impact more strategically and holistically in your community and organization.

Amplify Your Company’s CSR Strategy with Points of Light

At Points of Light, we take to heart

our mission

to inspire, equip and mobilize people to take action that changes the world. We are a nonpartisan, global nonprofit organization that connects people to their power to make a meaningful difference by providing access to tools, resources and opportunities to help individuals and organizations use their time, talent, voice and resources to meet the critical needs of our communities. Points of Light offers a wide variety of

Corporate Services & Solutions

to help level-up your team and increase your impact. Check out our best-in-class tools, frameworks and customized support, including:

• Consulting and Strategic Planning: No matter where you are on your corporate citizenship journey, we can help with designing, expanding and supporting your growth. Utilize our expertise and established processes to evaluate, analyze, recommend, implement and prove the impact of your employee engagement programs.
• DIY Employee Engagement Equipping: We’ll design a customized playbook for your employees or teams to independently plan and manage projects for a specific cause or range of causes that are important to them.
• Direct Employee Engagement: Attain a customized solution to strengthen your corporate employee volunteer and civic engagement program, one that is aligned specifically to your company’s strategic objectives.
• Points of Light Engage^®—The World’s Largest Digital Volunteer Network: Points of Light pulls volunteer opportunities from sites across the web to provide the most comprehensive database of volunteer opportunities around the world. Individuals can search for volunteer projects, nonprofits can post and manage event sign-ups and visitors are invited to start projects of their own – all in one place.

Don’t just take our word for it. Katharine Jensen, head of corporate responsibility at Vertex Pharmaceuticals and executive director of The Vertex Foundation, has this to say about working with us: “It is more important than ever to build a sense of community among our employees, engage them in giving back and provide them with a wide range of hands on volunteering opportunities in the communities where we live and work. The partnership with Points of Light has enabled growth of our annual Day of Service volunteer initiative, and our most successful year yet with more than 50% of our employees volunteering globally.”

Ready to take your CSR strategy and volunteer program to the next level? Reach out to us today to get started!

Virtual Volunteering Best Practices: 4 Ways to Support Remote Employee Volunteers

Use the best practices listed below to determine how you might work with a partner on virtual volunteer projects. The Israeli Council for Volunteering has also published a list of guidance to share with virtual volunteers.

Virtual volunteering has likely become a mainstay within your company’s employee community engagement strategy by now. Perhaps you dabbled in it before the pandemic, but now there’s an increased demand to find ways to involve your remote and hybrid coworkers as well as those who can’t easily make it to an in-person project taking place at a location separate from your offices. As you know, volunteering online is markedly different from participating in volunteering in the traditional sense. For example, there’s usually more flexibility in the use of a volunteer’s time, potentially a greater degree of independence and very little (if any) interaction with various nonprofit staff members or the volunteer’s own colleagues. These nuances might appeal greatly to certain segments of your employee volunteer population. Before you recruit volunteers to help an organization remotely, discuss the project’s description and associated tasks along with outcome expectations with your nonprofit partner. You’ll also need to review any organizational policies that your company and your nonprofit partner have put in place to avoid risks and handle confidentiality of shared information (if applicable).

Considerations for Virtual Volunteering

Determine your volunteers’ readiness

• Do they have regular, ongoing access to the internet?
• Will the company allow them to utilize company-issued equipment to complete the volunteer assignments or sign on to the technology platform that your nonprofit partner provides?
• Depending on the type of virtual volunteer projects you are developing, are employee volunteers comfortable working on their own, without constant or direct supervision?
• Is this the right time for volunteers to take on a virtual project? Make sure you are aware of upcoming milestones or work cycles that might hinder participation, even though it’s virtual. Often volunteers feel great about the timeline to complete a project when they first sign up, but other professional and personal obligations can get in the way of delivering on time. The last thing you want is to leave the nonprofit with unmet needs.

Define a schedule to complete the project

• Will you create a set time of day or week when volunteers will work on virtual assignments? Develop a timeline, however approximate, for volunteers to complete the tasks your organization has committed to do. Obviously, if this is an episodic or time-limited project, it will be a lot easier to manage its completion.

Set up a communications routine with your nonprofit partner

• Report regularly on the progress employee volunteers are making against the tasks assigned. This is especially true if it’s a skills-based volunteer project that involves a team of volunteers representing different business functions. Review what you’ve accomplished, and what your immediate next activities will be. Ask questions! It doesn’t have to be a large, involved report; just a short, friendly update will do.

Find ways to motivate your virtual volunteers

• Should your volunteer project timeline last over the course of several weeks, check in with your employee teams to ensure they’re focused on achieving the outcomes that were agreed upon in conversation with your nonprofit partners. Because these projects are somewhat “out of sight, out of mind,” use varying communication methods and incentives to inspire employee volunteers to follow-through until completion.

Finally, if your employee volunteers happen to be working on a skills-based project on behalf of your NGO partner, make sure you’ve built sustainability into the project’s associated tasks. You want to ensure that your employee volunteers have documented their process or can be reached if troubleshooting is required. Remind your volunteer teams that nonprofits often work with limited resources and they may need to work within confined budgets and with the staff they have on hand. The most important part of the virtual volunteer project is ensuring that what you leave behind works — and can be sustained by your nonprofit partner.