Publications

Common Impact and Capital One Make the Business Case for Skills-Based Volunteering in New Report

Title: Measuring the Results: The Business Case for Skills-Based Volunteerism
Source: Common Impact, November 2011
Author: Common Impact Team
Website: http://www.commonimpact.org

This report marks the culmination of a three-year, multi-part study of nonprofit operational effectiveness and provides an in-depth look at the key success factors for skills-based volunteering (SBV) success that nonprofits must embrace before partnering with a corporate SBV team. SBV partnerships, the report finds, require a strategic approach that align the intended outcomes of an SBV engagement with both short-term and long-term organizational goals.
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Common Impact & Capital One Publish Handbook to Give Nonprofits a Roadmap to Success
Title: Skilled-Volunteering 101: Is Your Organization Ready to Engage?
Source: Common Impact, June 2011
The Skilled-Volunteering 101 handbook is part of a three-phase research study on the capacity challenges that nonprofits face. Skills-Based Volunteering 101 is a key component of the third phase of the research, which aims to help nonprofits assess their readiness for skills-based volunteering, as well as tools for measuring the impact of SBV initiatives.
Skilled-Volunteering_101_Handbook.pdf

Common Impact & Capital One Publish Research Report on Capacity Constraints in the Nonprofit Sector
Title: Redefining the Solution: Doing More with Less
Source: Common Impact, June 2010
This is the second in a series of three reports identifying common capacity constraints in the nonprofit sector, assessing trends in capacity investment, and exploring the relationship between nonprofit capacity building and greater effectiveness.
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Common Impact Publishes Research Report on Nonprofit Operational Areas
Title: Assessing the problem: Underinvestment in Organizational Infrastructure
Source: Common Impact, July 2008
Nonprofits are working harder than ever to solve homelessness, create new educational opportunities, and improve healthcare in communities across the country. Yet as they work to solve social problems, nonprofits also face growing competition in a sector that has nearly doubled in size over the past decade. In this increasingly crowded marketplace, nonprofits must focus on delivering high-quality programs, building strong organizations that will be sustainable over the long run, and raising enough money to support their work.
In the first of a series of three reports, Common Impact surveyed over 125 nonprofits to understand their greatest challenges beyond programming and fundraising. The results paint a sober picture: nonprofits are significantly underinvesting in organizational development, creating a sector that addresses today's problems but may not be sustainable to meet tomorrow's.
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