Articles

Building Stronger Communities Through Corporate-Nonprofit Partnerships

Title: Building Stronger Communities Through Corporate-Nonprofit Partnerships
Source:BCLC Blog.com, July 2009
Author:
Website: http://bclc.chamberpost.com/2009/07/building-stronger-communities-through-corporate-nonprofit-partnerships.html

Theresa Ellis was recently a contributor to the Business Civic Leadership Center (BCLC) Blog. BCLC is an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Her blog post appears below:

Nonprofits and corporations alike are feeling the recessionary pinch. The impact on corporate giving is that many companies are reducing grants and matching programs and are looking for creative new ways to make an impact in their communities.

As nonprofits slash non-core operational expenses such as marketing, finance and IT support, a huge opportunity is opening for corporations and nonprofits to collaborate on pro bono partnerships.

The recent 2009 Deloitte Volunteer IMPACT Survey found that of the companies surveyed, only half donate their employees' skills and expertise while 80 percent said they contribute funding to nonprofits.

The promise of pro bono partnerships is enormous -- imagine the impact corporate employees would have on local nonprofits if 100 percent of those companies donated pro bono skills. Investing in human capital, not just financial capital, builds the infrastructure nonprofits need to provide services in education, health, homelessness and the environment.

One example is Capital One, whose skilled pro bono volunteers provided more than $2 million in professional services last year to help nonprofits grow stronger in core business functions such as Brand Marketing, HR, IT, Finance, and Legal. The Fortune 500 company has received several awards for its smart approach to volunteerism, including the 2009 Points of Light Corporate Engagement Award of Excellence, one of the nation's oldest and most prestigious awards honoring outstanding employee volunteer programs, and the 2009 Washington Business Journal's Community Impact Philanthropy Award.

Capital One also is the primary sponsor of a major study of nonprofit operational effectiveness, the first phase of which was completed in July 2008. The study found that more than half of surveyed nonprofits spent less than 12 percent of their budgets on operational areas such as marketing, IT and HR. Capital One is underwriting phases two and three of the study through a $150,000 commitment to the project, which is being run by Common Impact.

Like Capital One, dozens of leading companies like CA, Cisco, State Street, Fidelity and others are working with Common Impact to help nonprofits get stronger from the inside out through their employees' expertise. We think pro bono programs are the key to building stronger communities across the US by engaging companies with nonprofits in new, productive and mutually rewarding ways.

So what are you seeing in your communities? Do pro bono programs have a role to play in the giving strategies of businesses where you live?

Should they?

Common Impact is a nonprofit organization that connects skilled professionals from global companies to high-potential local nonprofits. This innovative approach to corporate community service enables companies to realize a positive return on their social investment while building stronger teams and developing employee skills. Further information.

About Common Impact

Founded in 2000 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Common Impact develops and implements skills-based volunteering programs that pair business professionals from leading companies with high-potential local nonprofits addressing crucial after-school, housing, and community health care needs. Through its innovative model, Common Impact channels untapped resources into the nonprofit sector and fosters relationships that bridge the for-profit and nonprofit worlds.

Since its founding in 2000, Common Impact has worked with leading companies including Fidelity Investments, BEA Systems, CA, Cisco Systems, and State Street Corporation, achieving a 7:1 social return on investment.

For more information, please contact Meghan Gardner, Public Relations Specialist
(e-mail: mgardner@commonimpact.org, phone: 857-222-2864).