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The Big “But” in Skills-Based Volunteerism

Danielle Holly
May 15, 2018
Credit: Lorie Schaull

May 8, 2018; Kellogg Insight

Kellogg’s School of Management released a podcast last week on the increasing desire and opportunity for professionals and their companies to move past traditional philanthropy and lend their expertise to nonprofits in need of their specific skill sets, popularly known as skills-based volunteerism. Professional skill sets can be of enormous benefit to a sector that has limited funds for overhead spending, given funders’ eagerness to keep administrative costs to a minimum. That overhead—the strategic planning, leadership development, technology, finance, and marketing functions—is what enables organizations to thrive and scale effectively. Corporate and professional skills-based volunteering can play an effective and critical role in these precise areas, if done right.

Megan Kashner, the director of social impact at Kellogg, puts it simply:

When I think about a professional—Jan in accounting or Chris in marketing—and I think about that person wondering, “What can I do?” The very first thing I think is, “Well, you’re an accountant. You’re a marketer.” The nonprofit sector and startup social entrepreneurs are hungry for help, for pro bono support, for project work, for skills-based volunteering from people who have hard skills that they’re willing to bring over and help a nonprofit by using.

While it has, according to the presenters, gained new popularity among companies in recent years, skills-based volunteering is a longstanding model in volunteer engagement. Nonprofit intermediaries like Executive Service Corps and Common Impact have been matching professionals to nonprofits for decades and supporting them in navigating these delicate cross-sector marriages.

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But, there’s a “but.” Kashner and Kellogg Insight podcast producer Fred Schmalz go on to discuss the importance of nonprofits pushing back or saying no to pro bono volunteers or a company when the project’s not right or the work isn’t done well.

“Not all pro bono is the pro bono you need. Just because someone’s offering it, you don’t have to say yes,” Kashner states.

And while this is true, there is often a catch. Access to a company’s employee talents often comes when an existing, and often grant-making, partnership is already in place. It can be challenging for nonprofits to act as an equal partner or, better yet, a client when there are significant funder-grantee power dynamics in place.

More than 50 percent of companies now have some type of formal pro bono program in which they’re funneling their employees into capacity-building projects at nonprofit organizations. At its best, of course, this could provide a badly needed resource, but at its worst it provides a tangle of retraining, relationship management, and fit issues that create a return on investment that’s not so positive. This is yet one more idea that’s just off-base enough to cause more angst than payoff in many situations. Expecting nonprofits to just “buck up” and say no when needed ignores deeply embedded sector dynamics that haven’t yet been untangled.—Danielle Holly

Disclaimer: Danielle Holly is the CEO of Common Impact.

About the author
Danielle Holly

Danielle Holly is dedicated to strengthening the capacity and leadership of the nonprofit sector through meaningful, value-driven partnerships. Over the past two decades, Danielle has worked with hundreds of nonprofits and companies to support the conception, design and implementation of cross-sector approaches that address community challenges. She is a frequent contributor to several social sector publications on nonprofit capacity building, governance and corporate social responsibility, as well as a member of the NationSwell Council and host of the Pro Bono Perspectives podcast. Currently, Danielle is the CEO of Common Impact, an organization that designs skills-based volunteer, pro bono and corporate community engagement programs. She has served on the Board of the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network and Net Impact NYC, and most recently as a fellow with the Presidio Cross-Sector Leadership initiative. Danielle lives in Brooklyn, NY and loves to explore the nooks and crannies of NYC’s endless neighborhoods, and end the days cooking with her husband and two children.

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