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

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

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

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

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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

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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


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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


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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


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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


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Transferring Skills From the Corporate World to the Nonprofit


Typical Skills Based Volunteer Activities

Strategic Planning

Information Technology Assistance

Web Site Creation and Maintenance

Financial Management

Property Management

Facilities Planning

Electrical

Architecture

Construction

Marketing

Legal Advice and Representation

Graphic Design

Market Research

Human Resources

Accounting Services

Training & Skill Development

Executive Mentoring

Board of Directors Membership

Medical/Nursing

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Strategically Matching Skills With Needs


Departments Skills/Functions Needs of Nonprofits

Accounting/ Finance

Budgeting/forecasting Accounts payable

Budgeting Fiscal planning Billing & collections Cash flow analysis

Advertising/PR Media relations Communications strategy Event planning & promotion Message creation Audience segmentation

Media exposure Event planning & production Reaching target audiences Fundraising

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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


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Corporate and Nonprofit Intersections


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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


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Nonprofit Levels of Volunteerism

Board & Committee

Skill Based Volunteers

Mission Critical Volunteerism

Dedicated – low commitment

Administrative Volunteers

One-time Large Group


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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

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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


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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


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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?


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Corporate – Nonprofit Dilemma

Corporate Concerns Nonprofit Concerns

Corporate volunteers may feel that nonprofits don’t know how to effectively manage volunteers

Nonprofits may feel that corporate volunteers sometimes treat volunteerism as a fieldtrip to the zoo

Corporate volunteers may have hectic work schedules that affect ability to complete the project timely

Nonprofit staff may have hectic schedules that affect ability to help oversee and manage the project

Corporate volunteers may try to play the expert and minimize nonprofit staff

Nonprofit staff may relinquish all control and power to corporate volunteer as “the expert”

Corporate volunteers may have no real interest in the agency’s mission

Nonprofits may not have organizational support that 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

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Making the Connection


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Setting Realistic ExpectationsSource: 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


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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


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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)


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Microvolunteerism Making volunteerism fit into a hectic work life


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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


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Microvolunteering

ConvenientIt'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-sizedVolunteer 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).


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Microvolunteering

CrowdsourcedThe 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-managedThe 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.


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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


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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?


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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

[email protected]