Skilled Volunteering

An Overview
Patsian Low Director National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre, Singapore

Skilled Volunteering Stakeholder Map

Community

Companies

Social Organisations Board Management Employees

Customers

Board Management Employees

< Volunteering >

Beneficiaries

Suppliers Distributors Value-Chain

Marketing Communication Branding

Social/Business Integration

Source: National Volunteer & Philanthropy Center, Singapore

Companies
Fit with business goals, operating models, culture, internal policies Consider if additional resources are needed Careful and deliberate programme execution (design, costs, experience) Internal and external impact of skilled volunteerism Consider possibility of involving the value chain
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Social Organisations
Social organisation due diligence, prepare volunteer to learn about issue Invest the time to build relationships between corp and social orgs Conduct needs and skills fit diagnosis Readiness to work with volunteers resources, time, project scope, etc.

Volunteers
Volunteers are people too values, styles, preferences Certain social issues will mean more than others Balance work priorities and personal beliefs/passion must be practical to be sustainable Generation dynamics between senior/middlemanagement and younger employees Does volunteering have impact on career development? Job scope is not always the same as skills available

Engagement Structure
Diagnosis must be done before designing the engagement Engagement timeframe, scope, breadth, depth Careful adjustments when adapting overseas models into local context Budget and source for cost/resources Ground-up models (from employees/community) Top-down models (from management/government)

Some engagement models

Marathon Model: short burst, extensive SPO reach Open-ended Model: ongoing service, smaller number of SPOs Micro-volunteering: each employee has own opportunity Coaching and mentoring: 1-1 or 1-few close and long-term engagement

Standardized Team Projects: Set project team with set deliverables Loaned Employee Model: secondment/attachment to SPO General Contracting/intermediary: through coordinating entity for cross-sector/cross-company resources
Source: www.abillionpluschange.org
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Assessing Impact of Volunteerism

Impact assessment based on desired objectives

should be designed at the beginning

Consider internal and external assessment

Conduct assessment with the help of partners

Stories and experiences can also be helpful Invest the time and resources to properly conduct impact assessment results will be valuable

Impact-driven Skills Based Volunteerism

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Other Resources
Taproot Foundation (US based)
www.taprootfoundation.org

Points of Light (US based)

Great resource for case studies http://www.pointsoflight.org/skills-based-volunteering

Readiness Roadmap (US based)

Help the nonprofit sector be ready to engage in and benefit from pro bono professional services. Taproot Foundation, Points Of Light, Common Impact, funded by Capital One. http://www.readinessroadmap.org/
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Regional Insights on Skilled Volunteering

Corporate:
Important for senior executives to take the lead for company-wide buy in and demonstrate commitment Time/reputation balance, learn about social org better Need to build internal competencies to manage

Social Organisations:
Improve needs diagnosis capability Benefit greatly from intermediaries help Communication of where help is needed Readiness to work with skilled volunteers

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Regional Insights on Skilled Volunteering

Volunteers:
Cultural acceptance and celebration of volunteering Reward, recognition and impact of volunteering Power of community/word-of-mouth Oriented and prepared on social org and issue area Important to match skills with needs correctly

Engagement Structures:
Intermediaries are critical as play many roles Unclear on how intermediaries can sustain themselves
Incubation/operational funding critical

Unclear on how much to outsource to intermediaries Assess impact to corp, SO and volunteer
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You are the greatest resource

Many companies learn by experience Please share your stories with each other A network of socially-conscious businesses is very impactful
Singapores Corporate Giving Council

Encourage cross-sector leadership and collaboration to benefit social ecosystem

Engage Hong Kong Mind The Gap report Civic-minded workforce engaged in social change through skills and competence
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Thank You!
Patsian Low Director National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre, Singapore patsianlow@nvpc.org.sg
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