Gcsv2011 skills based volunteering-alan witchey

Skills Based Volunteering

Facilitator:
Alan Witchey, Volunteer Center Director
United Way of Central Indiana Volunteer Center

Addressing today’s needs. Reducing tomorrow’s.SM 1

Introductions
• Your Name
• Your employer
• One thing you would like to gain from
the training today

Overview of Session

• Welcome & Introductions
• Overview Of Skills Based Volunteering
• Corporate Volunteerism
• Skills Identification
• Micro Volunteering
• Final Thoughts

Activity: Volunteer & Staff Roles

Answer the question:
• How do you draw the line between what
nonprofit staff are allowed to do and what
volunteers are allowed to do?
• Complete the checklist of activities/tasks
within an organization that might be done
by volunteers or paid staff

Nonprofits and Skills Based Volunteerism
Source: 2006/2007 Deloitte/Points of Light IMPACT Studies

Nonprofit Organizations & Skill Based Volunteerism
62% of nonprofits do not work with corporate volunteer
programs
12% of nonprofits assign corporate volunteer roles by
volunteer skill sets
19% of work place volunteers report that their primary
volunteer activity is not using their work place skills
56% of nonprofits think that the best contribution a company
can make to a nonprofit is money – only 1% of nonprofit
funding comes from companies


Defining Skills
Based Volunteering


Defining Skills Based Volunteers

• Skills based volunteerism uses individual or collective
volunteer and/or corporate expertise to assist a nonprofit
• Traditional skills based volunteerism utilizes the skills,
experience, talents and education of volunteers to directly
meet the needs of nonprofits
• Most skills based volunteers use their work experience as
part of their volunteer work
– Pro bono work (free services to nonprofits) is a subset of
skill based volunteering where volunteers contribute the
core business service directly to a nonprofit’s internal
operations, strengthening the infrastructure and capacity
of the organization

Skills Based Volunteering Defined

Skill based volunteerism uses the volunteer’s:
• Work related experience
• Professional skill sets
• Educational background
• Other abilities developed through practical experience
Examples:
• HR professional might write an employee handbook
• An IT person might install a new server or updated software
• A lawyer might provide legal services for free
• A graphic designer might design a brochure
• A corporate executive might conducts a strategic planning
process

Skills Based Volunteerism Defined

• Finds the intersection of corporate values and skills and
then matches them to the needs of local nonprofits
• Shifts the focus from the nonprofit setting the agenda to a
mutual strategy developed between the volunteer (or
company) and the nonprofit
• Is affected by the skills, interests and values of the
volunteer (or company) as well as the recipient of the
volunteer effort
• Is usually project based and time-limited


Skills Building

• Skills based volunteering can also refer to volunteerism
that seeks to increase specific skill sets of volunteers
• Some volunteers have a foundation of skills and are
seeking to expand their experience through a volunteer
project that they are unable to get through work
• It’s important to remember that the volunteer does have
some skill sets already relevant or that can be built upon
and is not coming to the project with a clean slate


Types of Skills Based Volunteers

• Companies/businesses – many companies allow whole
departments, teams, or specific individuals to participate
• Teams – Some professional groups, colleagues seeking to
work together, or teams within a company participate
• Individuals – some individuals who may be working,
between jobs, or retired participate


Transferring Skills From the Corporate
World to the Nonprofit


Typical Skills Based
Volunteer Activities
Strategic Planning Legal Advice and
Representation
Information Technology
Assistance Graphic Design
Web Site Creation and Market Research
Maintenance
Human Resources
Financial Management
Accounting Services
Property Management
Training & Skill Development
Facilities Planning
Executive Mentoring
Electrical
Board of Directors Membership
Architecture
Medical/Nursing
Construction
Marketing

Strategically Matching Skills With Needs

Departments Skills/Functions Needs of Nonprofits
Accounting/ Budgeting/forecasting Budgeting
Finance Accounts payable Fiscal planning
Billing & collections
Cash flow analysis

Advertising/PR Media relations Media exposure
Communications strategy Event planning & production
Event planning & promotion Reaching target audiences
Message creation Fundraising
Audience segmentation


Typical Skills Based Project

1. Assessment of Nonprofit Need
2. Connecting/Selecting Nonprofit and Volunteer(s)
3. Agreement of Scope of Work and Timeline
4. Project Management with Ongoing Check-ins
5. Altering Scope of Work as Needed
6. Evaluation of Project Success
7. Celebration of Project Success


Corporate and Nonprofit Intersections


Corporate Shifts In Volunteerism

• Many companies understand the value of volunteerism and
community engagement
oIncreased employee satisfaction and loyalty
oRecruitment strategy for young and highly skilled
oImproved community image

• Companies want to:
oHave stronger ROI (Return On Investment)
oHave more meaningful opportunities
oLeverage their business/employee skills better


Nonprofit Levels of Volunteerism

Board &
Committee
Skill Based
Volunteers
Mission Critical
Volunteerism
Dedicated – low
commitment
Administrative Volunteers

One-time Large Group


For-profit Volunteerism

Board & Governance

Skills Based Volunteering

Hearts &
Hands
Volunteering


Spectrum of Community Engagement

Company/Business Benefits

• Offers inexpensive (or free) professional
development programs for employees
• Allows employees to “loan” existing skills to
nonprofits
• Can build critical business and leadership skills
among employees which may enhance
performance at work
• Provides companies with more concrete,
measurable outcomes of volunteer activities
• May match closely with the company mission
• May offer team building opportunities

Company Benefits

• Increases the value of support to community partners while
also increasing the magnitude of impact that community
partners have – “the multiplier effect”
• Exemplifies “strategic philanthropy” by supporting
community partners through leveraging all corporate
assets: funding, skilled service and “extra-hands” activities
• Increase community investment efforts through high-impact
volunteerism vs. high head-count volunteerism


Skills Based Volunteerism
Nonprofit Benefits
• Dramatically increases the value of volunteer service to an
agency. Skills based is valued between $40–500 an hour
depending on the market value of the specific job function.
Current value for traditional volunteering is $20.85.
• Nonprofits are often struggling with capacity or infrastructure
issues and lack the funding to improve them. Skills based
volunteerism offers an alternative to hiring vendors or depending
on staff to fill functions they are not skilled in
• Using skill based volunteerism allows nonprofits to reallocate
budgetary funds to mission critical areas
• Often leads to deeper engagement with a company, including
financial support and other volunteer support


Activity: Pros and Cons of Skills Based
Volunteering

• Why isn’t skills based volunteering more
widely spread through the community?
• What are the pros and cons for nonprofits
to engage in this type of volunteering?
• What are the pros and cons for
companies and businesses to engage in
this kind of volunteering?


Corporate – Nonprofit Dilemma

Corporate Concerns Nonprofit Concerns
Corporate volunteers may feel that Nonprofits may feel that corporate
nonprofits don’t know how to volunteers sometimes treat
effectively manage volunteers volunteerism as a fieldtrip to the
zoo
Corporate volunteers may have Nonprofit staff may have hectic
hectic work schedules that affect schedules that affect ability to help
ability to complete the project oversee and manage the project
timely
Corporate volunteers may try to Nonprofit staff may relinquish all
play the expert and minimize control and power to corporate
nonprofit staff volunteer as “the expert”
Corporate volunteers may have no Nonprofits may not have
real interest in the agency’s organizational support that
mission volunteerism is able to make a real
impact in the organization


Traits of Some Corporate Volunteers

• More concerned about outcomes than traditional
volunteers
• Like training to be bullet points and easy to
understand
• Seek better communication but may struggle to
read emails and training manuals
• May not always understand the need to turn off
cell phones during volunteer activities
• Are often balancing a uncertain and hectic work
schedule so might be less reliable due to
unexpected work circumstances

Making the Connection


Setting Realistic Expectations
Source: Taproot Foundation

Skills Based Statistics
• 75% of nonprofit applicants have unrealistic or unclear
expectations of scope of work or resources needed
internally to complete and implement a skills based project

• 30% of business professionals don’t accurately self-
identify the role they can play on a project

• 65% of projects have a potentially fatal challenge at some
point in the process that requires intervention


Intermediaries and Skills Based
Volunteering

• Skills based volunteering projects are most successful
when a volunteer intermediary is involved, such as a
volunteer center
• Volunteer centers often already have relationships with the
corporate world, skilled individuals, and nonprofits
• The volunteer center often acts as the strategic consultant
between the for profit business and the nonprofit
organization
• Both the nonprofit and the for profit provide ongoing
updates and reports to the intermediary who helps manage
the process


Important Factors To Remember

• Team Approach – team volunteering appears to amplify the
positives of skill based volunteering
• Sound Support Structures – one of the biggest failures in this type
of volunteering comes when the for-profit partner develops the
plan without enough partnership with the nonprofit partner
• Financial Resources – for-profit partners may need to commit
financial resources as well as talent and skills of employees –
(expenses may include software, materials, etc.)
• Process & Outcome Evaluation – It’s important to evaluate both
the process (were employees and the nonprofit satisfied with the
result) and the outcome (type and magnitude of change in the
employees and the nonprofit)


Microvolunteerism
Making volunteerism fit into a hectic work life


Components of Microvolunteering

Microvolunteering is a form of skills based volunteering for
very short periods of time
Microvolunteer projects are often small tasks done via cell
phones or computers for short durations of time
Microvolunteering has four defining characteristics:
• Convenient
• Bite-sized
• Crowdsourced
• Network-managed


Microvolunteering

Convenient
It's volunteerism that fits into your schedule when you have
time - typically (but not necessarily) via an internet connected
device such as a personal computer or mobile phone. In
practice, to achieve this level of convenience, there is often no
training or vetting necessary by the nonprofit.
Bite-sized
Volunteer tasks are broken into small(-ish) pieces, so that you
can complete a task in the time you have available (whatever
that time may be).


Microvolunteering

Crowdsourced
The nonprofit that needs help asks a large(-ish) group for
assistance. Micro-volunteers who have the time, interest, and
skills (ideally), and who may be previously unknown to the
nonprofit, do the work.
Network-managed
The time demands of the manager (e.g. a nonprofit staff
person) are reduced by distributing as much of the project
management and quality review as possible to the network of
micro-volunteers. This work management method differs from
a top-down model of project management.


Some examples of Microvolunteerism

• Language translation
• Logo design
• Graphic design
• Web development
• Social marketing
• Photograph identification
• Editing or proofreading
• Text writing
• Review and feedback
• Brainstorming


Activity: Microvolunteerism

Do you think microvolunteering is an effective volunteer
engagement strategy?
Do you think you or your organization would participate in
microvolunteerism?
What do you think are the benefits and drawbacks of
microvolunteerism?
What specific activities do you think lend to
microvolunteerism?
Do you think this kind of volunteerism will last or is it a fad?
What other changes do you think will affect corporate
volunteerism in the future?


Putting It All Together


Skill Based Volunteering
Best Practices Review
1. Clearly outline what the project will entail and put all
expectations in writing
2. Obtain written approval from a manager or other senior
leader at the company where the volunteer works if the
project is part of a corporate volunteer program
3. Stay within your approved scope - adhere to the original
project plan and consider any additional work as a
separate project
4. Communicate effectively about the project, its progress,
and the timeline - avoid industry jargon, acronyms or
technical terminology that a volunteer might not
understand
5. Treat the volunteer and business as a professional
donor, not like any vendor you might be working with

Questions?

Questions?
Alan Witchey, Director, Volunteer Center
317-921-1366
alan.witchey@uwci.org

Gcsv2011 skills based volunteering-alan witchey

Recommandé

Recommandé

Contenu connexe

Tendances

Tendances (16)

Similaire à Gcsv2011 skills based volunteering-alan witchey

Similaire à Gcsv2011 skills based volunteering-alan witchey (20)

Plus de Serve Indiana

Plus de Serve Indiana (20)

Dernier

Dernier (20)

Gcsv2011 skills based volunteering-alan witchey