In an interview with #Impact Podcast back in 2017, Sue Toomey, Executive Director of HandsOn Hong Kong, one of the Social Impact Partners at Community Connections’s first Connection Session, articulated her vision for the volunteer network: “I see our services moving up the value chain as we bring more people into the sphere of volunteering.”
Instead of having corporate volunteers help to make mooncakes, Toomey wanted HandsOn Hong Kong to be able to offer volunteer services at a higher level, such as skills-based programs, through which volunteers can apply their skills and expertise to professionalize the social impact space. “The long-term goal would be that there’s less of a need for an organization like HandsOn Hong Kong, because there would be a greater awareness, and a greater connection between people and the community that they can support.”
What are the Benefits of Skills-based Volunteering?
For social impact organizations, one of the greatest benefits of skills-based volunteering are the knowledge, skills, and expertise of subject matter experts whom they would otherwise not have the connection to, or the budget to hire. The outcome can often be capacity building and organizational growth through the transfer of skills and knowledge on anything from financial sustainability and fundraising effectiveness, marketing and communications, IT development to risk management.
But social impact organizations aren’t the only beneficiaries. Some call skills-based volunteering “the new executive training ground” for the leadership training opportunities it provides to corporate employees. Increasingly, people are realizing the important need of diverse experiences when advancing their career, and such experiences can only be gained from meaningful engagements outside of the workplace – our world is changing so fast that management schools, corporate learning departments, and executive education programs are struggling to keep their training and curriculum relevant.
As my mom always told me, the best way to learn is through OPE: other people’s experiences.
In their survey of 122 senior executives from various industries, Ken Banta, founder of the Vanguard Network, and Orlan Boston, a partner in the Ernst & Young LLP Global Health Sciences practice, found that all senior executives agreed that external engagements were critical to success today and in the future, and more than 100 said that external engagements were considered when they were assessing candidates for succession planning.
Volunteering your skills to create measurable impact, it turns out, can not only help you build knowledge, skills, and confidence, which you can bring back to your own organization. Carving out time for these meaningful engagements can also help prevent burnout, according to serial entrepreneur Keith Krach, who helped create and remains a mentor at a leadership training program for the Sigma Chi fraternity at Purdue University: “Every time I take a week to go facilitate the program for these kids, my batteries are recharged. I get inspired. It makes me think thoughts I never would have had otherwise. It broadens my scope of empathy and understanding. As my mom always told me, the best way to learn is through OPE: other people’s experiences.”
Talk to us!
With its collaborative nature, FSI’s Community Connections Program encapsulates our “Shared-Impact Model”, which promotes broad collaboration, free sharing of knowledge and resources, adoption of data-driven impact models, and seeking systems change.
How? By connecting corporate employees with social impact organizations seeking directors, committee members, and skills-based volunteers. If you’re interested in learning more about how our Shared-Impact Model can help social impact organizations thrive in the post-virus world, read our article published in the latest issue of Jumpstart Magazine.
Are you a social impact organization seeking skills-based volunteers of various levels of engagement? Learn more about our Community Connections Program, or talk to us if you would like to join our upcoming Connection Sessions!
