The Billion + Change Story
A first look inside the largest commitment
of corporate pro bono service in history
A BILLION + CHANGE
2
DEDICATION: SENATOR MARK WARNER
I
n 2008, the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation reached out to the
nonprofit community to identify ways that the government and the private sector
could work together to strengthen local communities. To some, the nonprofits’
responses were surprising—rather than just money, what they needed was access to
the IT, finance, and HR talent that was critically important to their operations. So the
Council envisioned a campaign to recruit pro bono talent from companies across the
country. Two years ago, a small but determined core of business and service leaders
stepped up to actualize the vision. They were determined to mobilize the private sector
in response to the economic downturn.
When I agreed to serve as the Honorary Chairman of A Billion + Change, it was with
the goal of connecting America’s nonprofits to the private sector support they need.
According to Independent Sector, America’s 1.6 million nonprofits represent nearly 10
percent of the national workforce and 5 percent of GDP, but are in dire need of support
resources. As a businessman, I knew that amazing, talented individuals who really
wanted to make a difference stood just behind the front door of nearly every company
in America.
So, I could not be prouder of the private sector response that A Billion + Change has
received. From Main Street to Wall Street, businesses have come together to get behind
using pro bono service to unite and change individuals, businesses and communities.
If we keep at it, together we can transform business culture in America and create a
“new normal” in which every company will unleash the talent and expertise of its
people in pro bono service.
Now we can celebrate the largest commitment of corporate pro bono service in
history. Although we’ve reached this amazing milestone, our work is just beginning.
I hope you’ll join us.
Take the pledge. Get results. Lead the Change.
1
Jennifer Lawson, Executive Director of A Billion + Change, Editor
A BILLION + CHANGE
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
The Promise of the Original Vision
Jean Case, CEO, The Case Foundation
Prologue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
The Nonprofit Capacity Crisis
Wendy Spencer, CEO, Corporation for National and Community Service
Chapter One: The Basics: Getting to 500 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Inspired by the Companies That Pledged
Michelle Nunn, CEO, Points of Light
Chapter Two: Are Companies Responding to the Challenge? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
The Importance, Challenges, and Opportunity of Measuring
Caroline Barlerin, Director, Communications and Global Community Involvement, HP
Chapter Three: Stories Bring the Numbers to Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Pro Bono Readiness
Carolyn Berkowitz, Managing Vice President of Community Affairs and President,
Capital One Foundation
Chapter 4: Strategies to Measure Success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Corporate Citizenship in the Era of Big Data
Diane Melley, Vice President of Global Citizenship Initiatives with IBM
»» A Case Study from Pfizer
»» IBM Social Analytics and the Pro Bono Conversation
Chapter 5: Making America Stronger through Pro Bono . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Evan Hochberg, National Director, Corporate Citizenship, Deloitte Services LP
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Stories of From Pledge Companies
The List of Companies
Take the pledge. Get results. Lead the Change.
3
FOREWORD
A Billion + Change: The Promise of the Original Vision
Jean Case, CEO, The Case Foundation
I
n 2008, while I was serving as Chair of the President’s Council on Service and Civic
Participation under President George W. Bush, we convened a summit on corporate
volunteerism that asked nonprofits what they needed to be able to scale sustainably.
The response was surprising to some, because it wasn’t “more donations.” Instead
nonprofits said they needed more talent—in marketing, financial management, technology, and human resources.
Around the same time, companies noted that there was growing evidence that while
traditional corporate volunteering—“give your time”—was a great resource for communities, pro bono volunteering—“give your skills”—was exponentially more impactful for
the companies lending their employees and for the nonprofits working tirelessly to
drive social change.
The Council believed that this matching of nonprofit needs and corporate skills could
be an incredible benefit to the social sector. So, the Case Foundation supported the
creation of the Billion + Change initiative in 2008, along with forward-leaning Deloitte,
which helped fund the initiative and committed $50 million worth of pro bono. At
launch, partner companies pledged an additional $500 million in commitments to
provide skills-based pro bono service to nonprofits.
We renewed our support in late 2011, when our longtime friend and champion of
innovative service models, Senator Mark Warner, helped us renew the initiative on
Capitol Hill with $1 billion worth of commitments. Seeing major momentum, we doubled
down on our goal to reach $2 billion, with management of the initiative by Points of
Light—the world’s leading volunteer organization, and with leadership and support
from the Corporation for National and Community Service, Deloitte, HP, IBM, Capital
One, and MWW.
A little over a year later, as I write this, we have indeed reached $2 billion in pledges
from almost 500 companies, and I expect that we will have surpassed those numbers
by the time this book goes to print. I think that’s an incredible achievement. It is a real
testament to the growing importance of pro bono within corporate America, and an
A BILLION + CHANGE
4
incredible example of the support that companies are providing in the form of their
most important resource—their people.
These amazing numbers offer us an opportunity to ask: What’s next? Can we continue
to prove out the models of pro bono that are good for companies, good for employees,
good for nonprofits, and good for communities? Can we collaborate to develop technologies that make it easier for communities and nonprofits to call on businesses? And can
we create a marketplace where pro bono service is traded and bundled and matched to
the right nonprofits?
In tough economic times, we need every part of our social system to work optimally.
This includes the nonprofit sector. A Billion + Change is enabling businesses and
nonprofits to leverage a vastly larger resource pool than has been available.
We’re on the cusp of something great, thanks to the many companies that have submitted
their pro bono stories to this book. I hope that the examples you read inspire you to
have your own conversations about how pro bono can benefit nonprofits, communities,
and businesses.
Take the pledge. Get results. Lead the Change.
5
PROLOGUE
The Nonprofit Capacity Crisis
By Wendy Spencer, CEO, Corporation for National and Community Service
I
nspired by A Billion + Change, 500 companies have answered the call to serve their
communities by lending their best skills and talent to the nonprofit sector. This
commitment from America’s businesses could not be timelier.
Nonprofits and faith-based and other community organizations face evermore complex
social and economic challenges. They are tasked to meet increasing demands, often
with fewer resources. And they must continuously demonstrate the value and impact
of their work.
But consider this: 79 percent of nonprofits—nearly eight in every ten organizations—
spend two percent or less of their operating budgets on supporting key infrastructure.
In comparison, service companies spend 20 percent of their budgets building a healthy
infrastructure by investing in human resources, information technology, marketing,
operations and other functional expertise.1 Given this stark difference, aren’t we concerned
about whether nonprofits invest enough today to sustain their much-needed services
for tomorrow?
This is a nonprofit capacity crisis. Fortunately, pro bono service has emerged as a way
to bring the unmatched skills and expertise of our nation’s business community to our
nonprofit sector.
A Billion + Change has shown that businesses are willing and able to step up to help in
meaningful ways, from creating logistics and distribution systems for disaster response
organizations, to designing human resource training for food banks, to supporting strategic
planning at local nonprofits. And we are seeing the results of this pro bono service on
the ground and in our communities.
»» For Special Olympics Southern California, the pro bono service of Deloitte, a
professional service organization and A Billion + Change sponsor has meant gaining
an edge to meet its mission. According to Bill Shumard, President and CEO of
Special Olympics Southern California, “Deloitte recognizes that the gift of ‘intellectual
capital’ is invaluable to nonprofit organizations, offering services most nonprofits
1 “Redefining the Solution: Doing More with Less,” Common Impact, 2010.
A BILLION + CHANGE
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simply cannot afford. In these competitive times, Deloitte’s generous donation of its
intellectual capital has set Special Olympics Southern California apart from the
great majority of nonprofits in Southern California.”
»» For the Latin American Youth Center (LAYC), a nonprofit that helps underserved
youth successfully transition to adulthood, the financial expertise of Capital One
made a measurable difference. After a team of company finance directors analyzed
LAYC’s current financial position, they created a comprehensive financial plan to
move the organization forward. This plan not only helped LAYC secure a $2 million
grant from a foundation, it gave it the tools to continue monitoring and maintaining
its fiscal health.
»» For the Girls Scouts of Eastern Oklahoma, a pro bono partnership with IBM has
meant receiving more than 3,000 volunteer hours to develop an online Girl Scout
community called Virtual Pathways, as well as a Science, Technology, Engineering
and Math (STEM) program that supports 14,000 girls. IBM’s volunteer team used
several volunteer activity kits developed by IBM to expose girls to STEM subjects,
including those with such creative names as: Recycling Machine, Eat Your Science
and Internet Safety Coaching. With IBM’s technological support, the Girl Scouts has
even been better able to expand its reach to girls and volunteers who live in rural
areas and have limited access to the Internet.
»» For New Futures, a nonprofit that provides financial and mentoring support to
low-income youth, The Advisory Board Company, a global research, technology,
and consulting firm, came through with a ‘Branding Blitz’—creating logos to help
New Futures visually tell its story. Liz Daley, Director of Development at New Futures,
called it “a welcome contribution,” explaining that funders generally direct their
support to programming, not marketing and operational needs.
As CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, a founding partner of
A Billion + Change, I am proud to see the passion and enthusiasm of these and other
businesses in our nation’s service movement. America’s greatest asset is its citizens;
when they are civically engaged and empowered, no challenge is insurmountable.
That is why the same people who help businesses survive and thrive can help nonprofits
run smarter, be more efficient and achieve better outcomes.
I am thrilled that through A Billion + Change, businesses and employees are bringing
their most strategic assets to the table, building nonprofit capacity and helping move
the needle on pressing national challenges—simply by doing what they do best.
Take the pledge. Get results. Lead the Change.
7
CHAPTER ONE: THE BASICS: GETTING TO 500
Inspired by the Companies That Pledged
By Michelle Nunn, CEO of Points of Light, which houses and manages A Billion + Change
W
hat if the world’s most successful and innovative companies harnessed the
talents they used to achieve commercial success to address the most critical
societal issues we face? How could we fundamentally change our communities?
What if every nonprofit or government agency could pick up the phone and get the
very best business talent to help respond to pressing community priorities? What if the
nonprofit and public sectors could harness corporate America’s immense logistics,
technology, public relations, human resource and organizational management expertise to help communities create jobs, increase access to health care and education and
address domestic violence?
And what if businesses picked up the tab?
This book is about the promise of a big idea. Just a few years ago, A Billion + Change
set out on a mission to mobilize billions of dollars of pro bono service from the business
community to build nonprofit capacity at home and around the world. Today, we are
proud to announce the largest pro bono commitment in history—over 500 companies
have taken our pledge to contribute an estimated $2 billion in skills-based services to
tackle the needs of communities.
It is still not enough. The demands on local nonprofits and community services have
never been greater. So many organizations are dealing with the lasting effects of the
economic downturn, declining funding and reduced government support. It is at this
nexus of need that A Billion + Change pledge companies are making a difference.
Over the past two years, A Billion + Change has engaged executives across the country—
from the largest in the Fortune 100 to the smallest sole proprietorships—who are
leading a transformational change in corporate community involvement. These
industry leaders understand that their companies play a vital role in improving the
world around them and that their businesses gain value from improved community
vitality and an empowered generation of organizational leaders.
A BILLION + CHANGE
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The stories shared here and the data we have collected point to a business community
more engaged and connected to neighborhoods and cities than ever before. From
building STEM education partnerships and developing impact measures for childhood
hunger programs to improving reporting systems that saved health care nonprofits
hundreds of thousands of dollars, companies of all sizes are bringing their best and
brightest employees to the table and asking what more they can do.
In the first phase of A Billion + Change’s work, we surveyed the pledge companies and
gathered feedback on what lessons they learned, what challenges they overcame, and
what successes they celebrated. We also asked whether the work of the campaign has
served to catalyze change within pledge companies, helping them improve the quantity
and quality of their service and prove its value to their leadership. And we asked them
to tell their stories.
What we discovered is on the pages that follow. It’s clear to me—and I hope it will be
clear to you, too—that A Billion + Change pledge companies are poised to transform
business culture and, in the process, transform our communities.
Points of Light is proud to have played a role in this great achievement and is ready to
do more as we go forward. I urge you to join us as we work to establish pro bono
service as the new normal and a business imperative for decades to come.
Take the pledge. Get results. Lead the Change.
9
T
wo years ago, we set a goal to mobilize a billion dollars of pro bono and skills-based
service to address core issues in communities across the country and around the
world by 2013. Our goal was simple but big: encourage companies to join us and commit
time to building nonprofit capacity.
Since then, in cities from New York and Dallas to Seattle and LA, A Billion + Change has
engaged executives who are leading a transformational change in corporate community
involvement. We met with industry leaders who understand that their companies, no
matter how large or small, play a vital role in improving the world around them, and that
their businesses gain real value through enhancing employee skills, improving community
vitality and empowering the next generation with education and health.
Today, we are proud and grateful to announce that more than 500 companies have taken
the pledge to join us. Together they have committed more than two billion dollars’ worth
of skills-based, capacity-building volunteerism, making this the largest commitment in
history by the private sector to tackle the needs of our communities.
In the chapters that follow we will begin to shape what we know about the success of
the campaign, opportunities for growth in the next phase and the companies who are
building the future of corporate service.
We’ll explore:
»» The enthusiasm for pro bono and skills-based volunteerism across the country
»» The effectiveness of the campaign in growing and sustaining pro bono service
»» The successes and challenges of the Billion + Change pledge as a strategy for
generating action
»» The needs and challenges companies’ pro bono pledges are working to tackle
»» The types of service pledge companies are providing
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Where do A Billion + Change pledge companies come from?
Together, B+C companies span the United States, covering more than 30 states.
Many of the early leadership states reflect cities that held A Billion + Change special
events. Pennsylvania also includes business outreach by Points of Light HandsOn Network’s
Pittsburgh Cares. The Washington, DC metro area—home to A Billion + Change—
represents the largest concentration of pledge companies.
Arizona: 1
Arkansas: 2
California: 30
Colorado: 5
Connecticut: 3
Florida: 4
Georgia: 7
Illinois: 29
Kansas: 2
Louisiana: 3
Maine: 1
Maryland: 13
Massachusetts: 9
Michigan: 5
Minnesota: 12
Nebraska: 1
New Hampshire: 2
New Jersey: 11
New York: 43
North Carolina: 5
Ohio: 3
Oregon: 1
Pennsylvania: 46
Rhode Island: 1
The top ten states in the campaign are highlighted in bold.
Take the pledge. Get results. Lead the Change.
11
South Carolina: 5
Texas: 35
Virginia: 21
Washington: 6
Wyoming: 1
District of Columbia: 18
Is A Billion + Change just for big companies?
While an impressive number of companies represent America’s Fortune 500, a slight
majority of A Billion + Change companies are small or medium-sized businesses.
Medium 3%
Small
50%
Large
47%
Business Size Definitions: Small = 250 Employees or Less, Medium = 250–1,000, Large = 1,000+
A BILLION + CHANGE
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Is pro bono service just for consulting companies?
A Billion + Change’s participants represent a wide range of industries and include many
areas of specialized expertise. Represented industries include technology and the
internet as well as finance, banking, business improvement, communications/PR and
consulting. The sheer number of businesses that did not fit into a specified category
also shows the variety and creativity of the companies that are embracing pro bono
service. A few of the other-listed industries include risk assessment, governance and
tax support and data analytics, change management, logistics and supply chain
support, agro-science and language Nonprofit.
20%
18%
15%
13%
12%
12%
12%
11%
10%
4%
2%
2%
1%
4% 4%
2%
1%
1%
0%
Take the pledge. Get results. Lead the Change.
13
Technology/Internet/Digital
Retail
Other
Non Profit/Philanthropy
Legal
Hospitality
Health
Food/Beverage
Finance/Banking/Insurance
Energy
Consulting/Bus. Improvement
Communications/PR
Business
Arts/Design
Architecture
0%
Transportation
5%
What types of pro bono and skilled service are companies committing?
A Billion + Change companies have pledged to serve their communities in diverse and
creative ways. The most represented impact area at 26 percent was capacity building,
an area of support in high demand from nonprofits. This was followed by education and
education-related service. The variety of service pledges represents the diversity of
skills that can be directed to service needs in the community.
60%
53%
50%
51%
47%
42% 42%
40%
38%
36% 36%
30%
25%
22% 22% 21%
20%
13% 13% 12% 12 %
10%
6%
A BILLION + CHANGE
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Health/Medical Services
Building/Construction
Visual Arts
Design/Architecture
Engineering
Other
Legal
Research
HR Consulting
Capacity Support
Leadership Management
Social Media
Board Service
Technology/IT
Financial
Marketing/PR
Mentoring/Tutoring
0%
CHAPTER 2: ARE COMPANIES
RESPONDING TO THE CHALLENGE?
The Importance, Challenges and Opportunity of Measuring
By Caroline Barlerin, Director, Communications and Global Community Involvement, HP
F
rom 1963 to 2000, the magazine “Measure” was the voice of Hewlett Packard to
its employees and associates. Its name was not chosen lightly. HP understood the
importance of precise measurement better than any other company in the world. Its
reputation was based on building tools that pushed the limits of measurement range
and accuracy.
It’s a tough but absolute truth that if you don’t measure your results, you are doomed
to fail. Ever since its inception in 2011, HP Social Impact, our employee community
engagement program, has put tools in place to track the results of key initiatives. Why
is measurement in so-called “soft” areas like volunteerism important? Because we are
accountable for our results just like in any other area of the business. If we can’t prove
our value to our business leaders, we will surely lose their support. And without senior
management support, no corporate program can hope to last for long.
Measuring enables you to determine your future. It’s a lot like sailing a boat: determine
a destination; chart a course; carefully monitor winds and adjust the sails to navigate
successfully. Metrics allow you to monitor the winds and provide guidance for how to
adjust your sails.
HP Social Impact tracks a wide range of metrics including the business and social
impact of our programs: the number of volunteer hours our employees contribute, the
dollar value of those hours to the benefiting organizations, the type of volunteerism
being contributed (pro bono, hands-on, board service) and much more. We use a wide
range of tools including a Social Impact web portal that enables us to track volunteer
hours and events by country, region and volunteer type; employee surveys; nonprofit
partner surveys; digital engagement metrics on our Social Impact web portal and more.
The results have provided enormously important insights into the strengths and
weaknesses of our programs. For example, we have found that employees who participate in skills-based volunteer events organized by HP are 59 percent more likely than
employees who do not participate in any HP-organized volunteer activities to score the
Take the pledge. Get results. Lead the Change.
15
highest value on the morale indicator. While hands-on volunteering is also associated
with higher morale, it isn’t as strong an association; employees who participate in
extra-hands volunteer events organized by HP are 41 percent more likely to score the
highest value on the morale indicator than those who don’t. Metrics have also taught
us that skills-based volunteer programs increase the capacity to deliver services for
nine out of ten nonprofit partners. They can serve more people, offer more and higher
quality services and be more innovative and efficient.
A few months ago, HP’s CEO, Meg Whitman, sent a personal email to every one of our
more than 300,000 employees, announcing the finalists in the global “Most Impactful
Volunteer Project” award and encouraging employees to vote. It was a hugely popular
contest. Survey data was instrumental in selecting the winner—with more than 15,000
employees voting.
The longer I do this work the more I realize that Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard got it
right a half-century ago: their excellent advice, set a monthly reminder—be it in the
form of a magazine or calendar alert—to look up from whatever task is consuming
you at that moment to consider measurement. It will help you sail to your destination.
Full steam ahead!
A first look at the numbers
Together A Billion + Change companies have committed an estimated two billion
dollars’ worth of service time—the equivalent of more than 6,400 full-time employees—to tackle the tough problems and pressing needs of nonprofits and communities.2
The first Billion + Change survey is meant to measure the realities in those big numbers
and the effectiveness of the campaign in inspiring the pro bono service we are seeking.
What’s the bottom line? A Billion + Change companies aren’t simply pledging; they are
rolling up their sleeves, sharpening their pencils and making their commitments reality.
And we couldn’t be prouder.
When they took the pledge, companies made service commitments in one of three ways.
49 percent pledged in hours of service
24 percent pledged a dollar value or service
27 percent pledged to begin a program
2 In this first look into the progress companies are making toward their goals, 80 companies returned pledge surveys.
A BILLION + CHANGE
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Where hours of service were pledged, A Billion + Change valued those hours at $150
an hour for the purpose of providing an approximate value of service. This valuation
reflects the mid-point in the Corporation Giving Standards Valuation Guide (2013) as
provided by the Center Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (http://cecp.co/cgs/
Resources/surveyguide.pdf). It reflects an assumption that higher and lower value
service would be roughly equally committed. In instances where companies pledged
to begin a program, there was no dollar value assigned.
Were companies able to fulfill their pledges?
Yes! More than 60 percent of reporting companies met or exceeded their pledge
commitment. And every company reported making some progress on their goals.
Those companies reporting “too soon to tell” were less than a full year into their
pledge period and therefore results were not expected.
0%
4%
Did your company fulfill
its Billion + Change pledge?
23%
38%
Yes
Exceeded by 10% or more
Came close, within 10%
It’s still too soon to tell
35%
No
Take the pledge. Get results. Lead the Change.
17
How successful were companies that established a new pro bono program?
Of the 27 percent of companies that pledged to begin a pro bono service, 90 percent
of them were successful in setting up a program. They were successful even though
half of those beginning programs faced challenges with startup. The overwhelming
challenge was that of competing priorities.
Challenges facing companies beginning a program
There are competing priorities
82%
Staff turnover in our company
9%
Financial capacity
9%
No pro bono SBV projects identified
0%
64%
Other challenges
Was being a part of the A Billion + Change campaign helpful?
Of our pledge companies, 75 percent believed that their pro bono program was helped
by A Billion + Change. Companies cited benefits such as “make pro bono more of a
priority” and “providing opportunities to tell your pro bono story through media” as
providing positive value to their pro bono efforts.
How Did the Campaign Help Your Pro Bono Efforts?
Stronger relationships with community,
businesses and legislative/ regulatory stakeholders
75%
Team development
63%
Brand value
61%
Skill gains
56%
Employee retention
49%
Employee recruiting
45%
Sales Improvement
12%
Not applicable
5%
A BILLION + CHANGE
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How are companies serving communities?
A Billion + Change pledge companies help nonprofits and communities tackle a wide
variety of challenges. More than half of all companies focused at least some of their
pro bono service on youth and education-related activities.
What issues have your pro bono efforts served?
Education
77%
Youth
54%
Community Revitalization
44%
Environment/Conservation
40%
Women
40%
Health / Health Care
38%
Poverty
37%
Tech
36%
Hunger
35%
Homelessness
28%
Disaster Relief
26%
Employment/HR
23%
Military/veterans and their families
22%
Housing (Building/Renovation)
21%
Disabilities
21%
Other
21%
Human Rights
19%
Individual Financial Education
17%
Domestic Violence
15%
Recreation/Sports
15%
Take the pledge. Get results. Lead the Change.
19
What talent do companies lend?
Companies are addressing community needs with a variety of talent and services.
The survey encouraged companies to reflect the variety of skills-based service that
their employees provide, not just their signature programs. More than half provided
mentoring, a popular way for companies to begin a skills-based service program.
Marketing/PR support, financial services, technology and IT support, and board service
round out the most popular talent uses. What were your skilled or pro bono services?
What were your skilled or pro bono services? (List all)
Mentoring/Tutoring
53%
Marketing/PR
51%
Financial
47%
Technology / IT
42%
Board Service
42%
Social Media
38%
Leadership Management
36%
Capacity Support
36%
HR Consulting
25%
Research
22%
Legal
22%
Other
21%
Engineering
13%
Design/Architecture
13%
Visual Arts
12%
Building/Construction
12%
Health/Medical Services
6%
A BILLION + CHANGE
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Are companies realizing some of the business value of pro bono service?
Yes! Most companies are seeing significant relationship development value, brand
value, team development and skills gains. And almost half (45-49%) are seeing value
relative to employee recruiting and retention.
Has your pro bono work added value to any other following
business categories?
Stronger relationships with community, businesses
and legislative/ regulatory stakeholders
75%
Team development
63%
Brand value
61%
Skill gains
56%
Employee retention
49%
Employee recruiting
45%
Sales Improvement
12%
Not applicable
5%
Take the pledge. Get results. Lead the Change.
21
CHAPTER THREE: STORIES BRING THE NUMBERS TO LIFE
Pro Bono Readiness
By Carolyn Berkowitz, Managing Vice President of Community Affairs and President,
Capital One Foundation
“We very much appreciate [the] willingness to share
professional expertise and we highly value our
community partnership with Capital One.”
—Charles D. Layman, President and CEO,
Goodwill of Central Virginia
N
onprofits are facing a brand new world. More than ever, organizations are being
called to solve pressing social and economic issues—and to do so quickly—while
their organizational models, budgets and staffing structures struggle to keep up.
Private-sector businesses have adapted more rapidly to changes in industry, but for
many nonprofits it may be more difficult to be agile, redirect strategy, and/or make the
best use of newly available technologies and resources. If we are to address the most
pressing needs of our communities, the skills and experiences of corporate talent must
be part of the equation, and nonprofit organizations must be ready to utilize this talent
to help achieve their missions. For these reasons, Capital One has committed to the
efforts of A Billion + Change.
At Capital One, we are proud that our philanthropic efforts have helped change the
economic trajectory for so many lives in the communities we serve. We are not
“checkbook philanthropists,” but rather full partners with the nonprofits we support.
Our model includes building deep partnerships with organizations that are leaders in
our focus areas and providing financial resources, but even more importantly providing
access to Capital One associates’ expertise and talent, and preparing nonprofits for
these new waves of resources so they can be utilized most efficiently and effectively.
It has been shown that skills-based volunteers can unlock potential and build new
capacities for nonprofits, but not all nonprofits are ready to effectively manage pro
bono engagement. Studies show that nonprofits are often unprepared to quickly train
A BILLION + CHANGE
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volunteers to support varied projects, that projects tend to take longer to finish than
expected, and that nonprofits often underestimate the scope of work that is required
to see a project through to completion.
Responding to these concerns and harnessing Capital One’ s decade of experience
delivering effective pro bono services to our community partners, Capital One convened the Readiness Collaborative in 2011. The Readiness Collaborative brings together
the nation’s leading expert organizations on pro bono—Points of Light, Taproot
Foundation and Common Impact, along with Capital One, to share available resources
that support the nonprofit sector and prepare them to maximize the impact of pro
bono professional services. The Collaborative created and launched the Nonprofit
Readiness Roadmap—a free, online, one-stop shop designed to help nonprofits
navigate and manage skills-based volunteering. The roadmap features key stops that
provide useful guides and tools to support organizations through the spectrum of a pro
bono engagement—assessing organizational readiness, scoping a pro bono project,
finding the right volunteers, successfully managing and implementing a project,
evaluating impact, sharing successes and more.
While record numbers of corporations have pledged billions in pro bono service to help
build nonprofit capacity as part of A Billion + Change, the Readiness Roadmap is a
valuable resource to help empower nonprofits to make the most effective use of
skills-based support. We believe the Readiness Roadmap will strengthen the quality
of the pro bono and the wider skills-based marketplace.
We applaud Points of Light for challenging corporations to examine their community
investment and to look deeper into the impact their services can provide. We believe
deeply that our company and our community are more successful when we evaluate
our community needs in a holistic way.
We are proud to be a leadership partner of A Billion + Change. Through this initiative
we are changing the expectation for corporations to engage in a new kind of service—
pro bono service. Together, we can inspire the full participation of all sectors to bring
skills to the table that strengthen our communities and make them the places we want
to live and work.
To read more about the Readiness Roadmap, visit: www.readinessroadmap.org.
Take the pledge. Get results. Lead the Change.
23
A Billion + Change: The Stories Behind the Numbers
“A Billion + Change is the next evolution of social impact in our world.”
—Heather McLeod Grant, author of
Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits
B
y harnessing their best and brightest professionals in skills-based service, A Billion +
Change’s pledges are maximizing the skills and passion of their employees to lead
change in both their communities and their organizations. Over the past two years,
pledges have shared their pro bono stories through workshops, panels, webinars and in
the media. In their own words, businesses have told us how a culture of service has
transformed not only the individual volunteer and the community, but also the performance and impact of their businesses at home and around the world.
Dow Chemical
Defining characteristics of Dow Chemical’s pro bono work are caring and ingenuity.
These have been the hallmarks of its skills-based service efforts, which have
been a transformative force in the lives of Hurricane Katrina survivors and the
veteran community.
Dow shared the following story about Sande G., a Hurricane Katrina survivor and victim
of contractor fraud, and the St. Bernard Project (SBP), a nonprofit founded after Hurricane
Katrina by activists who wanted to help rebuild lives in the community. SBP volunteers
have so far repaired 475 homes for families who couldn’t afford to do it themselves.
Sande G. was due for some good fortune. She had suffered a series of setbacks
beginning in 2005, when Hurricane Katrina left her home in New Orleans uninhabitable. Finally, on Veterans Day 2012, Dow and the St. Bernard Project joined forces in an
effort to help rebuild her life. Like many people in Katrina’s path, Sande was victimized
by contractor fraud. When she and her husband were rebuilding their home themselves
in 2007, he suffered a fatal heart attack. For years, she lived in a trailer near her
still-unrepaired home, which stood as a constant reminder of the tragedy.
Dow had already supported SBP in many ways when Mike Mazor, a Dow building scientist,
hit upon the idea of training SBP’s Veterans Corps and select staff members to install
FROTH-PAK™ foam insulation. In one day of learning their new craft, the trainees
completely insulated Sande’s home. Now she’s on the road to recovery, and they are
on the road to new careers.
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“SBP laid out its mission and vision. We looked for solutions that fit within those priorities
and the FROTH-PAK training went hand-in-hand with training for local veterans,” says
Mike. “It’s nice to see your ideas helping people. I can’t think of a better way to demonstrate Dow’s commitment than through a multi-faceted project like this one.”
The Advisory Board Company
The Advisory Board Company has a strong and firm commitment to meaningful
engagement with the social sector— a point it has emphasized by naming its CSR
program “Community Impact.” A mid-size research, consulting and technology
company, The Advisory Board Company takes pride in developing a full partnership
with nonprofits to deliver high-impact pro bono services. Kelly McShane, Executive
Director of Community of Hope, a DC-based nonprofit that provides services to
homeless and low-income families, shares the impact The Advisory Board Company
has made in her own words.
The Advisory Board Company has brought its unique skills to bear in supporting us, but it’s
also brought an amazingly passionate, committed group of staff members who are willing
to do whatever, whenever, and for whomever if it will help our program and the community.
Examples of its pro bono work include consultants working with us to improve our
revenue cycle practices with Medicaid patients and the HR team supporting training
and curriculum development. A team also helped us develop medical home applications
for paying clients that helped us become the first level three patient-centered medical
home in D.C.
Advisory Board team members truly got to know our organization through mentoring
youth in our program, hands-on activities improving our facilities, throwing birthday
parties for kids in our homeless shelters, and attending our events and inviting our
leadership to speak at theirs. They have been able to make an indelible and unique
impact on our program and those we serve. I’m proud that their organization has also
benefited from this partnership in these ways: individual teams becoming more
tight-knit; two individuals joining our finance committee to develop a desired skill set;
and newer team members getting to see up close some of the patient practices that
happen with their pro bono and business clients. Overall, it’s been exactly what you
want in a partnership—something truly beneficial for both parties.
Take the pledge. Get results. Lead the Change.
25
UnitedHealth Group
UnitedHealth Group, a Fortune 500 health care company, has embraced one of the
most cutting-edge models of skills-based service—microvolunteering—which has
enabled a wide range of its workers to give back their skills and talents, no matter what
their schedules are like.
Microvolunteering made it possible for Dianna Hamilton, a Denver-based telecommuter
and mother of five to take part in more than 50 different activities in 2012. Her ability
to volunteer previously was “super limited.” “It’s difficult to volunteer for long periods
of time when you have kids to take care of,” said Hamilton. “I love the concept.
Microvolunteering enables me to make a difference by volunteering online from
anywhere in the world, for nonprofits around the globe, at any time.”
In 2012, UnitedHealth Group began offering an online microvolunteering tool to help
employees find and complete challenges posted by nonprofits. The volunteering is done
in short bursts, as little as 15 minutes, during available break or lunch time. It allows
employees to engage in volunteering that fits their specific skills, no matter how much
time they can give.
Hamilton has completed projects like helping a children’s hospital build a local cancer
resource database. “I can see ideas generated from people all over the world, and I can
have a global impact,” said Hamilton. “At the end of the day, giving back and helping
others is very important to me as an individual and as a mom. It’s nice to work for a
company that makes it possible to make a difference. Everyone has five minutes to
spare.” Nearly 1,500 employees responded to 757 microvolunteering challenges in
2012, helping charities and nonprofits in 28 countries on projects ranging from
marketing, graphic design and editing to finance and fundraising.
GlaxoSmithKline
Although GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is a multinational pharmaceuticals company and
the world’s fourth-largest measured by sales, it still chose to share the difference the
power of one volunteer can make. GSK shared an interview with PULSE Volunteer
Cliff Laird, a Business Improvement Specialist.
Cliff Laird worked with the Philadelphia Education Fund to facilitate the strategic
planning process for its Math and Science Coalition. The Philadelphia Education Fund
supports the city of Philadelphia by seeking sustainable improvements to the quality
of public education.
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How was Cliff a catalyst for change through his PULSE Volunteer experience? Cliff’s
work resulted in the creation of a new three-year strategic plan for the Math and
Science Coalition including supporting strategies, tactics, metrics and the creation of
an Advisory Council. This plan aims to increase math and science teacher skills and
engagement in Philadelphia classrooms, as well as student awareness of STEM careers.
How did the volunteer experience affect Cliff? Cliff returned with renewed confidence
about hisabilities, and felt greater confidence in what he had to offer GSK.
How did it change GSK? PULSE helped Cliff broaden his perspective by looking beyond
his walls at GSK. After more than 12 years with GSK, he realized that at times his
thinking and learning was self-limited to the “GSK way.” It’s easy to become myopic
within an organization. PULSE enabled him to step away from the familiar and
immerse himself within a different organization, different sectors and explore other
ways of doing or seeing things. Read more about Cliff’s experience on his blog:
http://gskpulsevolunteers.com/author/clifflaird
McKenna Long & Aldridge, LLP
In many ways, the inspiration behind the Billion + Change movement is found in the
pro bono ethic instilled so strongly in the legal community. When President Kennedy
challenged lawyers to enforce civil rights laws in the 1960s, the legal community
responded, and today the term “pro bono” is synonymous with free legal help. In this
spirit, McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP (MLA), a founding sponsor of A Billion + Change,
has continued to lend its skills and talents to meet the needs of those less fortunate in
our society. In the story it shared, MLA highlighted its work with the Georgia Asylum &
Immigration Network (GAIN), a nonprofit organization that provides quality pro bono
legal representation to asylum seekers and immigrant victims of human trafficking,
domestic violence and sexual assault.
“How many times do I have to tell you, I can do whatever I want with you, and nothing
will happen to me?” This phrase resonates for countless victims of human trafficking
and domestic violence. Yet, through the legal talents and advocacy skills of attorneys
and professionals from McKenna Long & Aldridge (MLA), we secured justice and a
fresh start for many women over the past year.
It all started when MLA’s Atlanta Women’s Steering Committee adopted the Georgia
Asylum & Immigration Network (GAIN) as a nonprofit partner. GAIN provided training
to MLA attorneys and paralegals interested in providing legal assistance to victims of
human trafficking and domestic violence. Sadly, many foreign victims who escape
Take the pledge. Get results. Lead the Change.
27
captivity cannot safely return to their home countries and face criminal records as a
result. Over time, this project became a multifaceted firm effort—bringing together the
foundation, pro bono activities, attorney and staff volunteers, a firm-wide women’s
initiative, and involvement with Polaris, the largest organization in the United States
focused on human trafficking. It yielded visibility, wide-ranging firm involvement and
great community results.
MLA found that using pro bono talent in this way provided an infrastructure to focus
and magnify the firm’s core values and contributions. In addition, involving the entire
law firm in the effort broke down barriers, united the firm and connected the extended
law firm family. Finally, stepping forward to fulfill one’s ethical obligation to provide pro
bono services created personal rewards through increased knowledge, experiences and
the realization that individuals can contribute life-changing assistance to those facing
significant crisis.
Small businesses who take the Billion + Change pledge have amplified their voices by
joining our national campaign, and make up nearly half of the campaign’s pledge base.
Indeed, small businesses and social entrepreneurs play a critical role, injecting creativity,
innovation and an entrepreneurial vision that inspires not only their fellow small businesses but their big business peers as well. We couldn’t have said it better than Thenera
Bailey, President and CEO of SISGI Group, and a founding member of the campaign’s
Small Business Affinity Group:
“As a CEO of a smaller company, it can seem like my efforts and the resources of other
smaller companies are not needed. We can’t offer multi-million dollar support and
don’t have a team of thousands or even hundreds to deploy. With the Fortune 500
taking on this challenge, small and medium-sized corporations can sit back, cheer from
the sidelines, and leave the heavy lifting to those with more to give, right? Wrong! All
businesses can share their time, talents and resources to increase the impact of social
change efforts.”—Huffington Post Impact, May 30, 2012.
Verynice
Matt Manos, Founder of Verynice, a boutique design and marketing consultancy based in
Los Angeles, has a similar perspective on how small businesses can make a big impact.
“I was inspired by watching a trainer in the park teaching handicapped children to do
extreme sports,” said Matthew Manos, founder of Verynice, a global design consultancy
that donates over 50 percent of its business to nonprofits pro bono. After a string of 10
A BILLION + CHANGE
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uninspiring internships in college, Matthew wanted to change the culture of the design
industry, startingVerynice when he was 19.
Today, Verynice creates websites and branding solutions for nonprofits spanning six
continents, and also advises them on innovation and business strategies. The consultancy has worked with groups such as the Human Rights Campaign, United Way and
the United Nations helping them enhance their image, reach and operations through
pro bono service. “I wanted to contribute to the social good, and wanted to see how
small businesses could incorporate major philanthropy,” said Matthew.
Give Something Back Office Supplies
“From 1978 to 1991 I was working in the private sector, but my passion was in the
community service sector, and it was very difficult to do both. But now, what could be
better? I make my living in a way that’s wholly compatible with what I consider to be
my mission in life. That’s a pretty powerful and enjoyable place to be, and I’m there.”
—Mike Hannigan president, Give Something Back Office Supplies
One of the first B Corporations in the Bay Area, Give Something Back is a small office
supply store that follows the Newman’s Own model of donating a portion of its profits
to nonprofits that customers vote for. True to its name, Give Something Back has
donated 75 percent of its net earnings since 1991. By comparison, the national average
for corporate giving is only 1.1 percent. With $5 million in donations, it is ranked as one
of Northern California’s largest corporate donors, and gives to nonprofits working in
the areas of the arts, environment, animal welfare and human services. The Central
American Resource Center, Voices for Children and Sacramento Loaves and Fishes are
just a few of the good causes it has helped. Mike Hannigan, president, also donates his
time to causes he cares about, like Social Venture Network and B Lab. In his own words:
We quickly realized that the “pro bono” model of leveraging other business assets
could have a profound positive community impact. We have a deep reservoir of
employee talent, a fleet of trucks, warehouses, supply chain access and influence, bank
credit lines, a broadly visited web site, regular contact with thousands of customers
and sometimes empty conference rooms at our headquarters. When you ask the
general question; “How can we leverage our existing assets for additional community
benefit?” it is amazing what possibilities come into focus.
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29
Here is an example: We still own our trucks even when they return empty from their
daily delivery runs. We created our e-Waste Pick Up Program to use those empty trucks
to pick up the massive amounts of electronics waste from our clients and deliver those
old computers to a job training program. That program repairs them for use by schools
and nonprofits. In simpler terms, the pro bono investment of our distribution capacity,
when previously unproductive, now creates much needed jobs in our community.
Nebraska Global
With a tagline like “Develop Here,” Nebraska Global, a small software company in
Lincoln, Nebraska, not only has brain-power, it also has the heart to lend its skills and
talents to its neighbors.
“Thank you for volunteering your time and knowledge
to help us out with our STEM Camp. You should
have heard the kids raving to their parents.”
—Shane Straka, Lincoln Children’s Museum.
Nebraska Global, a Lincoln-based software investment fund, is committed to giving
back to the community. In 2012, Nebraska Global and the Lincoln Community
Foundation (LCF) established a partnership to assist local nonprofits with technology
needs. Part of this effort includes delivering pro bono service to nonprofit organizations
in our community while helping them reduce ongoing technology costs.
Nebraska Global’s employees volunteer to give back, contribute to the community and
help others. It is about working together as a company to make a lasting and meaningful impact on our community. In 2012, Nebraska Global contributed 4,196 volunteer
hours to the community and achieved a 100 percent employee participation rate.
Over the past year, Nebraska Global employees have given back the equivalent of two
full-time employees to groups like the Advocacy Center, MilkWorks, Partnership for a
Healthy Lincoln, Lincoln Children’s Museum and Voices of Hope. This was not easy.
Volunteering is hard work. It challenges people to manage their time and work outside
their comfort zone. Volunteer service to nonprofits is vital to solving community
problems. Nebraska Global employees volunteer because they believe volunteering
makes our community better and it is up to all of us to contribute.
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Riggs Partners
And last but certainly not least, we are pleased to share Riggs Partners’ story about
CreateAthon, a national 24-hour pro bono marketing marathon. The powerhouse
leadership of Teresa Coles has turned CreateAthon into a national model. Her personal
passion for service and her business savvy have made her an amazing mentor and
partner to A Billion+ Change.
What started in 1998 as a simple idea by Riggs Partners to “pull an all-nighter for
charity” in 1998 has grown into a national network of CreateAthon partners that today
hold 24-hour pro bono events around the country to meet community needs. Riggs
Partners, a small creative marketing consultancy in South Carolina, still leads its annual
local event as well as guides the more than 75 agencies around the country who’ve
signed on to help and expand the pro bono movement.
CreateAthon engages communications professionals in helping nonprofits build greater
capacity within their operations by putting effective brand, fundraising and public
relations strategies into place. Volunteers work for 24 hours straight, typically during
the designated CreateAthon week in September, developing strategic direction and
creating marketing materials in a highly collaborative environment.
Since its founding, CreateAthon has partnered with 75 agencies to serve more than
1,100 nonprofits across the country, delivering more than 2,500 projects with a market
value of more than $12 million. The nonprofits benefiting from CreateAthon’s projects
span a wide variety of community needs, from health care, education and the environment to youth programs and the arts.
Take the pledge. Get results. Lead the Change.
31
CHAPTER 4: STRATEGIES TO MEASURE SUCCESS
Corporate Citizenship in the Era of Big Data
By Diane Melley, Vice President of Global Citizenship Initiatives with IBM
O
ver the last century, corporate citizenship has evolved from individual philanthropy
to strategic corporate giving and finally into today’s model—the creation of real
value through the donation of technology and expertise. To create this value, companies
must integrate corporate citizenship with business strategy as they align their employees’
skills-based volunteering efforts with the company’s core competencies. At IBM, this
means focusing on data—the world’s next great natural resource.
Ninety percent of the world’s data has been created in just the last two years. This fact
can be both overwhelming and inspiring. Unstructured data has the potential to inhibit
creativity, collaboration and productivity. But data that has been properly analyzed and
transformed into actionable information—what we call Big Data—can provide us with
insights that enable us to solve the previously “unsolvable” problems that affect the
global community. Big Data enables us to measure outcomes of service, and make
connections across organizations and sectors to evaluate results and predict opportunities where service can have a measurable impact.
I am encouraged by the efforts of the Billion + Change community to establish assessment metrics to track the effectiveness of citizenship programs, measure the value that
accrues to program participants, and share successes as a means of forming broader,
deeper partnerships across the public and private sectors. Using IBM Analytics tools to
measure the extent of the online conversation on pro bono, which was achieved
through a consulting services grant just completed, the outcomes parallel the growing
impact of service since we hosted the 2010 Service Jam, and now show significant
growth and reach of positive viewpoints on service as companies, governments and
NGOs focus on measuring real value in managing difficult societal issues. Working
together, we can contribute to a global culture of service.
Among its many programs, IBM manages the Corporate Service Corps, a corporate version of
the Peace Corps that deploys and trains thousands of IBM’s future leaders; the Smarter Cities
Challenge, which is helping 100 cities worldwide become more effective; and the “P-TECH”
grades 9 through 14 schools initiative to strengthen America’s economic competitiveness by
connecting education to jobs.
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Measuring with a History: Pfizer Global Health Fellows
2013 marks the 10th anniversary of the Pfizer Global Health Fellows (GHF) program.
GHF is Pfizer’s signature international corporate volunteerism program through which
the company pairs its highly skilled colleagues with leading international health
organizations to strengthen health service delivery. To date, Fellows have completed an
estimated 325,000 hours of skills-based volunteerism valued at US $47.6M in pro
bono service with local partners throughout the developing world.
In the Pfizer model, Fellows are immersed for three to six months, working hand-inhand with community-based partners to help improve health care systems while
gaining new perspectives on global health challenges and how the public and private
sector can work together to address them. While working hand-in-hand with partners
to address local community health care needs, Global Health Fellows learn to do more
with less, act decisively in the face of uncertainty and adapt to new cultures.
As A Billion + Change pledge company, Pfizer’s long history in skills based volunteering
offers a unique opportunity to understand how measurement informs business
decisions and evolves and improves the program overtime.
Because of its ongoing social and business value, the GHF program has received Pfizer
corporate backing for ten years, through the reigns of three CEOs. Since its inception,
GHF has worked with Boston University Center for Global Health to gather data to help
understand how the program contributes to building capacity, promoting access and
effectiveness of critical health services. Pfizer learned early on that there wasn’t one
simple exercise to understand social value; so, a three-pronged approach evolved to
measure the program’s impact and capture lessons learned.
1. Assessment surveys: Surveys are taken immediately after the fellowship and one
year later by both the Fellows and the partner organization to provide program evaluation and input on the strategic value of partnership; learnings of health systems,
emerging markets, patient populations.
Boston University’s research demonstrates the program’s tremendous success. For
example, 2011 metrics show that 95% of Fellows strongly agree that their fellowship
expanded their understanding of global health challenges and patient needs; 100% of
GHF partner organizations agree that Fellows helped to accelerate sustainable change
in local communities; and 94% of Fellows agree that post-GHF, they are more motivated
to perform at a higher level in their Pfizer job.
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33
2. Individual growth measurement: The GHF program is a unique opportunity for
Pfizer colleagues to gain professional development and leadership experience. The
program has modeled the fellowship goal-setting, evaluation and assessment structure
similar to Pfizer’s internal performance management system via the True Impact ROI
Tracker. This enables colleagues to easily adapt and articulate competencies honed
and/or developed as well as achievements. At the end of the fellowship assignment,
this completed tool is then incorporated into the colleague’s annual objectives and
personal development plan at Pfizer. This approach allows Pfizer to capture a complete
picture of the Fellows’ assignment work and professional development objectives that
are evaluated and then clearly tied back to Pfizer. In this way, Pfizer Managers are able
to view and assess the impact this field experience has on their direct reports’ growth.
3. Case studies: The GHF program’s strategy is focused on longer, deeper partnerships
with organizations, so they are able to understand and share the longer term social and
business impacts of the program through case studies (Full case studies can be found
on www.pfizer.com/ghf - Case Study column on right-hand side.)
A Billion + Change pledge company, True Impact, works with companies including
Pfizer to prove and improve the value of volunteer programs with measurement
resources. Using their Volunteer ROI Tracker tool, True Impact, Pfizer and the GHF
partners sought to measure and understand the impact of their partnering relationships with international development organizations in key emerging markets. This
measurement effort uniquely capitalized on ten years of program history and the more
than 300 Pfizer employees who have improved supply chains, business operations and
health prevention in partnership with 40 development organizations.
As part of the research effort, GHF collected social and business impact data from the
following sources:
»» Partner (NGO) and Fellow (Pfizer employee) applications
»» Fellow statement of work (before, during, after)
»» Immediate and 12 month post-project surveys (Partner and Fellow)
»» Individual Interviews (Partner and Fellow)
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The Volunteer ROI Tracker tool’s results reveal the effectiveness of the GHF Program.
Of the success seen, three findings in particular contribute greatly to the business and
social value of the program:
GHF Fellows overwhelmingly reported that their fellowship contributed positively to
business value. 87% reported positive benefits to Pfizer’s overall strategic interests,
and 68% of fellows reported that their fellowship produced material benefits to Pfizer’s
overall strategic interests.
The Volunteer ROI Tracker tool’s results reveal the effectiveness of the GHF Program.
Of the success seen, three findings in particular contribute greatly to the business and
social value of the program:
1. GHF Fellows overwhelmingly reported that their fellowship contributed positively to
business value. 87% reported positive benefits to Pfizer’s overall strategic interests,
and 68% of fellows reported that their fellowship produced material benefits to
Pfizer’s overall strategic interests.
35%
31%
30%
25%
20%
20%
19%
Positive
0%
Notable
5%
Exceptional
10%
Take the pledge. Get results. Lead the Change.
35
13%
No strategic value
15%
Positive, but not material
17%
2. Over 85% of participating NGOs agreed that they experienced long term capacity
gains in improved effectiveness, reduced hiring costs, and increased efficiency,
showing sustainable improvements for participating NGOs.
Improved effectiveness
Reduced hiring costs
Increased efficiency
Increased reach
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
Strongly agree
Somewhat agree
Disagree
Agree
Somewhat disagree
Strongly disasagree
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100%
»» 99% of NGOs Agreed They Would Recommend the GHF Program to Their Peers:
Somewhat disagree 1%
Somewhat agree 2%
Agree
25%
Strongly agree
72%
3. 75% of Fellows said that their fellowship drove new ideas for products, services,
and other improvements showing positive impacts in the areas of innovation
and ingenuity.
GHF Effects: 12 Months Later Gained professional, technical, leadership skills % of Fellows
100%
Drove new ideas for products, services,
other improvements 75%
Generated knowledge or experience application
to your work 69%
Catalyzed changes in your position at Pfizer 63%
Take the pledge. Get results. Lead the Change.
37
There were both social and business impacts seen in the following statistical feedback
from the work that True Impact did with Pfizer
»» Fellows Gained Significant Professional Development Skills:
Sparked new ideas for products, services or
improvements that I can apply to my work.
Strengthened my understanding of
health delivery systems.
Expanded my understanding of global health
challenges and patient population needs.
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
Strongly agree
Somewhat agree
Disagree
Agree
Somewhat disagree
Strongly disasagree
100%
»» GHF Was Able to Serve as an Ambassador Program to Pfizer and a Model for Future
Similar Endeavors:
My organization has communicated about
the GHF program internally and externally
The GHF program has improved
impressions about Pfizer in my community
My understanding of Pfizer's global health
mission improved as a result of GHF
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
Strongly agree
Somewhat agree
Disagree
Agree
Somewhat disagree
Strongly disasagree
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100%
»» 100% of Fellows Viewed the GHF Program Positively:
Somewhat agree 2%
Agree
9%
Strongly agree
89%
Testimonials of NGO capacity gains included:
»» “[By] improving service delivery in existing sites as well as by setting up new sites,
the Fellow has increased the number of beneficiaries from approximately 275 to
600 [a 217% gain].”
»» “Prior to Sandra’s visit… the contamination rate [of hospital blood culture processes
for invasive pneumococcal disease] was 6.4%. After the two week hands on workshop,
the contamination rate dropped over 50% (below 3%).”
A Fellow’s description of employee development:
»» “I was responsible for developing a quality model to support a $60 million Gates
Foundation funded program for improving access to healthcare in Ghana, Kenya and
Nigeria. From a leadership standpoint, this is by far the greatest leadership experience I’ve had.”
Pfizer’s Global Health Fellows will continue to provide valuable instruction, guidance,
and expertise on a set of top international health challenges to strengthen access,
quality and efficiency of health services in underserved communities throughout the
world. Pfizer is committed to providing at least $50 million in pro bono service in the
next decade of programming.
Take the pledge. Get results. Lead the Change.
39
IBM Social Analytics and the Pro Bono Conversation
As a campaign, A Billion + Change has been charged to grow the conversation around
pro bono and skills-based service, promote its social, business and individual value, and
elevate the best examples of companies serving communities through high-impact
service.
Diane Melley’s essay earlier in this book talks about IBM’s focus on data that can
provide us with insights and enable us to better meet today’s complex challenges.
We were lucky enough to benefit from a pro bono gift of Social Media Analytics
from IBM.
Working with a global IBM team of social media experts, we examined how
A Billion + Change has emerged on the social web, along with our fellow pro bono
advocates, including commentary in Facebook, Twitter, online media, video,
message boards and blogs.
Our goal with this grant was to understand:
1. Is A Billion + Change making an impact on the conversation about
corporate service?
2. Who are the voices behind the movement?
3. What can we do to engage more companies through social media?
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Are we making an impact on the conversation?
Yes. The social media buzz around volunteering and professionals is growing, and
Taproot, A Billion + Change, and Points of Light are leading the conversation. A commitment to multi-channel, regular and consistent blogging has helped to establish Taproot
as a primary voice, which often includes positive references to A Billion + Change.
Interestingly, this graph also points to A Billion + Change’s success in leveraging the
connections and relationships of its partners to function like an organization many
times larger than a staff of three in terms of its online presence.
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
Q3
Q4
Q1
Q2
2011
Q3
Q4
2012
Q1
2013
Billion + Change
CatchaFire
Common Impact
Sparked
Case Foundation
CNCS
Points of Light
Taproot
Take the pledge. Get results. Lead the Change.
41
Who are the voices behind the movement?
One of the tools used to understand the data actually searches through bits of conversation called “snippets.” The below is an analysis of snippets from commentary on
the Internet focused on skills-based volunteering. It represents further evidence that
A Billion + Change is becoming a strong voice in the pro bono space.
Billion + Change
Case Foundation
Sparked
CNCS
Common Impact
Points of Light
Taproot
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Number of Snippets
At the beginning of the campaign, there was concern and even commentary from
nonprofit media that elevating pro bono might curtail corporate financial support. But
the tone and sentiment of the sampled snippet conversations show extremely positive
associations with A Billion + Change and all of its partners.
Organization
% Positive Sentiment
Billion + Change
83.3
Common Impact
78.3
Sparked
75
Taproot
71.1
Points of Light
60.6
CatchaFire
59.3
CNCS
56.2
A BILLION + CHANGE
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How does this data inform the future actions of A Billion + Change?
»» Continue to share the stories of our pledge companies and increase reposting
through their corporate websites and message boards
»» Establish a consistent blogging and thought leadership and influencer presence
»» Expand partnerships with media partners and cultivate relationships with leading
sector voices.
individual.com
twitter.com
businesswire.com
ssireview.org
huffingtonpost.com
Taproot
csrwire.com
Points of Light
Sparked
3blmedia.com
Billion + Change
philanthropy.com
Case Foundation
Common Impact
blogs.volunteermatch.org
taprootfoundation.org
0
5
10
15
Number of Snippets
Take the pledge. Get results. Lead the Change.
43
20
25
30
CHAPTER 5: MAKING AMERICA
STRONGER THROUGH PRO BONO
By Evan Hochberg
National Director, Corporate Citizenship, Deloitte Services LP
T
he Deloitte U.S. Firms are engaged in the community in numerous ways, including
cash donations, employee giving, volunteering, and board service. But we believe
that the greatest contribution we can make to nonprofits is through skills-based
volunteering and pro bono service.
Nonprofits confirm that they don’t necessarily need more volunteers but rather access
to specific skills required to build capacity in order to take their proven programs to a
higher level by making them stronger, more sustainable organizations. We realized that
we needed to value the donation of time as importantly as the donation of money. That
meant finding ways to push every hour of volunteerism to generate the highest
possible impact.
We also realized that this is an approach that makes sense for every business regardless of size or industry, and that redefining corporate volunteerism to center on
delivering the greatest impact possible could meaningfully contribute toward changing
our communities, our country and our world. That’s why we joined A Billion + Change
and have been contributing to its leadership efforts from the start.
At this seminal moment, 500 organizations across the country have committed more
than $2 billion of skilled volunteer time as part of A Billion + Change. Together, these
companies are shaping what it means to be a business volunteer and dramatically
increasing our nation’s ability to address key issues such as education, hunger, and the
needs of returning veterans and their families.
But 500 companies and $2 billion is a beginning not an end. Deloitte is excited to
support A Billion + Change as it continues to influence business culture in America and
develop solutions that increase both the quantity and quality of pro bono service in
three key ways:
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44
First, by helping A Billion + Change build a Pro Bono Exchange that is a game
changer for establishing access to pro bono services. Through the exchange, businesses
will showcase the capabilities they offer as well as improve their opportunity to source
top pro bono projects. Businesses will share their high-quality practices, tools, and
research and also find opportunities to collaborate on pro bono projects with other
businesses. Nonprofits who are ready to receive pro bono service will know where to
find providers to help them address their biggest problems.
Second, by reaching a critical mass of companies and supporters to make a difference
at scale. To sustain the promise of A Billion + Change, the pro bono sector most grow.
A Billion + Change is dedicated to the idea that skilled volunteerism and pro bono make
sense for every business. The building blocks of growth include:
»» Easy actions that facilitate participation in pro bono and learning on a continuum
allowing both novice and experienced providers to find value
»» Advocates equipped with tools and strategies to expand the numbers of communities and companies engaged in pro bono
»» Collaboration with organizations, government and the media that can drive business
participation
Third, by being innovative in identifying promising and proven pro bono models.
Through the support of pledge companies and communities around the country, A
Billion + Change will continue to test compelling ideas. Do big impacts in communities
happen by focusing pro bono on one or two important issues? Do nonprofits in a community gain the most when pro bono is channeled toward specific, common organizational
needs? What happens in a city when we invest in building more providers and more
connections between them? How do we change corporate cultures from within to embrace
pro bono? These are some of the evident issues that warrant serious consideration.
A Billion + Change is creating a powerful movement that highlights the impact of business
at the same time it challenges all of us to raise the bar. As we celebrate this milestone of
500 companies, we look forward to a time when pro bono is a standard offering of every
business and our communities have access to the talent they need to achieve the outcomes
we all agree are critical for a strong America. Join us. Help lead the way.
Take the pledge. Get results. Lead the Change.
45
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
T
here are dozens of amazing people to thank for their collaborative contributions to
the growth of the pro bono movement. Among them are Aaron Hurst at Taproot
Foundation and Jean Case of the Case Foundation and their amazing colleagues whose
thought, leadership, drive and passion inspired the beginning of A Billion + Change and
continue to shape its future.
And a movement is only as strong as the leaders it creates including Senator Mark
Warner, Evan Hochberg, Caroline Barlerin, Diane Melley, Jean Case, the team at
Morgan Stanley, Megan McCamey, Farron Levy, Rachael Chong, Stephanie Cuskley,
John Peterson, Barbara Van Dahlen, David Paine, Meg Garlinghouse, Seth Marbin,
Karen Baker, John Edelman, Chris Jarvis, Ryan Scott, Joel Bashevkin, Pam Gerber,
Norissa Giangola, Esther Lardent, Lindsay Firestone, Teresa Ellis, Danielle Holly,
Alexander Gail Sherman, Jennifer Anastasoff and Aman Singh. And to Jonathan
Greenblatt, Special Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Social
Innovation for encouragement and support.
Our success has been supported by so many, from the leadership and staff of Points
of Light, including Michelle Nunn and Jackie Norris, who helped a small team of Jenny
Lawson, Yvonne Siu and Andrew Smith function like a big team. We were also greatly
supported by Points of Light Affiliates, who have welcomed and supported the campaign
in their cities across America including: HandsOn Atlanta, HandsOn Twin Cities,
Volunteer Fairfax, HandsOn Suburban Chicago, Pittsburgh Cares, Greater Philadelphia
Cares, Volunteer North Texas, Volunteer LA, HandsOn Bay Area and One OC.
And special recognition to all who have given pro bono and in-kind support to the
campaign including: Deloitte, MWW, The Advisory Board Company, Causecast, Civic
Consulting Alliance, Coqui Marketing, Entrepreneurs for North Texas, IBM,
MEplusYOU, Nielsen, PG&E, Riggs Partners, Civic Consulting Alliance, and
UnitedHealth Group.
And finally to Danielle Degarmo of Degarmo Creative who has been the graphic
designer behind building our wonderful materials and brand, including this book.
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A Special Announcement
A Billion + Change is delighted to announce a partnership with Public Architecture. Public
Architecture’s 1% program asks every architecture and design firm to commit a minimum of 1%
of their billable time to pro bono services every year. We welcome their growing network of 1,200
firms representing 15,000 designers who commit nearly $45M in pro bono services every year.
Recognizing our common commitment to pledges of service, activation of those pledges, measurement of success and our common belief in the future and power of pro bono service, we believe
there is an exciting opportunity to grow the community of business owners and professionals
who are committed to contributing pro bono and skilled services to underserved communities.
APPENDIX: A BILLION + CHANGE
COMPANIES AS OF JUNE 11, 2013
Thanks to the companies who shared a glimpse into their programs with the following
short stories.
3M
MINNESOTA
As part of 3M’s Partnership with Saint Paul Public Schools, over 400 3M employees
mentor high school students via e-mail. Long-time mentor, Keith Graupmann, 3M
Engineering, shares a bit of his mentoring experience with Houa. Houa graduates
spring 2013 with her school’s top 10 honors and multiple scholarships, including being
named a Gates Millenium Scholar. “In 2012, I was an e-Mentor to Houa, a very engaged
student. She asked very detailed questions, and responded with follow-up questions. I
could tell from her introductory note that she was a high potential student who also
carried a large extra-curricular load as well as working part-time. We exchanged a
number of e-mails the week the topic was Time Management, because she was
stressed about doing it all. I think I helped her sort out how to prioritize the workload,
how to pace herself, and how to make sure that she left time for some fun. She was
very interested to learn about how my experiences in high school led me to college and
eventually to a job at 3M. It helped her connect the dots in her own plan. I find it
tremendously rewarding to be able to give a little time to these students and encourage
them to pursue their education beyond high school. They all have an interest in going
to college, it’s just that the journey and the obstacles seem overwhelming. I try to get
them to think of it as a set of short, manageable links, and not a trip to the moon.”
Take the pledge. Get results. Lead the Change.
47
Acumen Solutions
VIRGINIA
Pro Bono efforts have a marketable impact on our employees and community partners.
Tim Payne, Executive Director of For Love of Children (FLOC), states, “Acumen Solutions
supports its nonprofit partners with generous financial investments as well as investments of time, passion, and capacity-building expertise. FLOC received a streamlined
tutor recruitment system, new contact management software, excellent technology
recommendations, highly increased visibility, and amazing leadership on our board of
directors. Because of the support from Acumen, we have been able to more effectively
engage our stakeholders, leverage more resources, and help more of our students
succeed.” Courtney Reeve, Executive Director at Greenbrier Learning Center (GLC),
shares “Acumen Solutions has been a strong partner to GLC—providing board leadership to our organization, pro bono services and positive publicity and awareness. These
contributions have provided GLC with the tools and opportunity to better fulfill its
mission. The board leadership that Acumen Solutions provides has been a gamechanger for GLC, raising the standard to a new level of excellence and guiding the
vision and strategy of the organization.” Acumen Solutions employees consistently
acknowledge that the pro bono experience is personally rewarding. They feel good
about giving back and appreciate the opportunities to hone their professional and
leadership skills in a wholly different environment, when matched with the “right”
nonprofit. Scores from the 2012 Employee Engagement Survey indicated that employees considered Acumen’s Corporate Care/Social Responsibility Programs as one of the
top three factors that distinguishes the company from other employers.
The Advisory Board Company
WASHINGTON, D.C.
The Advisory Board Company has brought all of their unique skills to bear in supporting us, but they’ve also brought an amazingly passionate, committed group of staff
members who are willing to do whatever, whenever, and for whomever if it will help our
program and the community as a whole. Examples of their pro bono work include their
hospital revenue cycle consultants helping us improve our revenue cycle practices with
Medicaid patients, their HR team supporting training curriculum development, and
their team that develops patient-centered medical home applications for paying clients
helping us become the first level 3 patient-centered medical home in DC. These are
just three examples of many. Their impact has continued with team members truly
getting to know our organization through mentoring youth in our program, hands on
A BILLION + CHANGE
48
activities improving our facilities, throwing birthday parties for kids in our homeless
shelters, and attending our events and inviting our leadership team to speak at theirs.
They have been able to make an indelible and unique impact on our program and those
we serve. Based on what they’ve told me, I’m proud that their organization has also
benefited from this partnership in these ways (if not more): individual teams becoming
more tight-knit; two individuals joining our finance committee to develop a desired skill
set; newer team members getting to see up close some of the patient practices that
happen with their pro bono and business clients. Overall, it’s been exactly what you
want in a partnership—something truly beneficial for both parties. —Kelly McShane,
Executive Director, Community of Hope
American Express
NEW YORK
Behind the Scenes—The Making of Serve2Gether Consulting. The time it takes a film to
progress from its original script to a theater release can span years. And in the oftenrecounted case of the recent Oscar nominated hit—Moneyball—the process can as long
as a decade. For Amex’s pro bono volunteering platform—Serve2Gether Consulting—the
process took 18 months, culminating its 2012 launch. Development: The Idea Like any
enterprise, you must start with an idea that has appeal to a target audience. And in the
case of Serve2Gether Consulting, there were two audiences—nonprofits and employee
volunteers—so developing the platform required an exploration of where the interests of
these two populations intersect. Let’s first look at the needs of nonprofits. There is
possibly no industry that is under greater pressure to produce results at a low cost than in
the nonprofit sector. Nonprofits are expected to deliver a wide-ranging host of services to
a large population with minimal overhead costs. At the same time, nonprofits must
compete for mindshare among a diverse group of constituents, build customer relationships in an increasingly costly environment, and utilize emerging technology to effectively
deliver its services. The idea of matching skilled employees with projects to help nonprofits run better is not revolutionary. The legal community has been providing pro bono legal
services for decades and professional services firms clearly see pro bono consulting is an
effective way to help nonprofits while highlighting the strengths of their people, which
helps promote their core business. The question that faced AmEx, was how to deliver pro
bono service in our workplace? Pre-Production: Planning & Proof of Concept The first
year of this exploration focused largely on mapping AmEx’s functional skill areas against
the needs of nonprofits. We also spent a great deal of time benchmarking with other
companies to understand how they where delivering pro bono services and what was
working for them. In these early days, an important step was to learn by doing, which
Take the pledge. Get results. Lead the Change.
49
resulted in pilot programs. These initial test cases where invaluable in helping us understand the best way to deliver pro bono service to create the maximum impact and
optimal experience for both the nonprofits served and the employees engaged.
Production: Building the Platform In true AmEx fashion, this was a highly collaborative
effort from the start. Once we identified the target functional areas of AmEx we wanted
to tap, developed the models to deploy teams, and selected the partners to facilitate the
project matching, our work focused on building the internal support needed to ensure the
program would thrive. At the same time, the CSR team began talking about this new
service with its current and potential nonprofit partners. The offering was greeted with an
immediate and enthusiastic response. In fact, a single email to a small group of NY-based
nonprofits yielded 65 applications for the 2012 Serve2Gether Consulting Challenge.
Closing & Credits: In the end, I’d optimistically compare the Serve2Gether Consulting
launch to the release of the first film in a potentially blockbuster franchise. We have a
compelling storyline, an all-star cast, and a line of eager customers at the door.
America’s Business Leaders—Homeless by Choice: IMPACTtour
TEXAS
I shared my personal story of hope, perseverance, and the power of education at
several schools in Minneapolis. Several weeks later a young man wrote me on
Facebook. He simply said, “Thank you”. I replied, “ You are welcome.” He then wrote
me a letter saying; “Sir, let me explain why I am thanking you. You came and spoke at
my school in MN. However, you also spoke at my mother’s school too. She is a teacher.
When you were done sharing your story she came and found me. Sir, I haven’t seen my
mother since I was two years old. I am 18 years old and today we are starting a new
relationship. I thank you for giving me my mother back.” This has to be a story that
truly touched my heart!—Roy
Bain & Company
MASSACHUSETTS
Since its founding, Bain has been committed to driving meaningful impact in the social
sector, both globally and locally. We bring together a formal social impact practice and
a global grassroots infrastructure to provide a multi-faceted social impact program that
includes pro-bono casework, community engagement, social sector externships and an
ongoing collaboration with The Bridgespan Group, the world’s leading nonprofit
consulting firm incubated by Bain in 2000. Bain does extensive pro bono work through
our deep, multi-faceted, and enduring partnerships with organizations best able to
A BILLION + CHANGE
50
identify and scale ‘what works’ in the social sector. As a firm, we have made a multiyear commitment to two critical areas—global development and education—including
partnerships with Endeavor Global, Teach for America, and StudentsFirst, among
others. Together, we’re developing innovative ways to change the educational landscape and to accelerate entrepreneurship to dramatically impact global poverty. Each
of our offices also supports many additional causes at the grassroots level through pro
bono consulting, volunteering and fundraising. Bain is also committed to helping its
corporate clients embed sustainability into their businesses, and leads by example by
being certified CarbonNeutral® across our global operations.
Bank of America
NORTH CAROLINA
Bank of America volunteers are using their professional skills to help inner-city small
businesses across the country raise capital to fund their companies’ growth, create jobs
and strengthen communities. The program, Inner City Capital Connection (ICCC) is a
partnership between Bank of America and the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City
(ICIC), the only organization in the country that educates inner-city companies about
equity and other sources of capital, then matches them with potential investors who
can help fund their growth. Employees from Small Business Banking and the bank’s
Capital Access Funds team coach business owners on how to refine their business
plans and proposals to attract equity funding and other sources of capital. Volunteers
are paired with three entrepreneurs who make their pitches, then receive feedback and
advice from the coaches as well as the other business owners. Ed Powers, managing
director for Capital Access Funds and a long-time ICCC volunteer, says this peer
counseling element is particularly constructive because it allows participants to learn
from people who are facing challenges similar to their own. For example, through ICCC,
the founders of Coalesence, LLC, a nutritional food seasonings producer based in
Columbus, Ohio, were connected to local investors and mentored by Bank of America
volunteers about equity financing and raising capital. Our volunteers had expertise as
small business bankers to truly help Coalescence access capital. With this training and
mentoring, Coalesence was able to raise nearly $5 million in a struggling economic
environment to grow their business.
Take the pledge. Get results. Lead the Change.
51
Best Buy
MINNESOTA
Feel free to contact me directly about our signature pro bono program, Geek Squad
Summer Academy.
Blackbaud, Inc.
SOUTH CAROLINA
Blackbaud’s pro bono, or skills-based volunteerism program is a bit unique because we
don’t focus our efforts around one set of skills or one kind of cause. We are a company
that works exclusively with nonprofit organizations—as a business—it’s really hard to
do this. Eighty-five percent of our employees tell us that they joined the company, in
part because of our wonderful customer base. This means our employees—both when
they walk in the door and through the work we do—have a high level of awareness of
nonprofits themselves. We believe everyone should serve, and if they can serve
through their skills, that’s even better. But we feel it’s important to leave the choice of
where and how they serve up to them. We have some great programs—including
offering additional vacation time for those who serve and offering grants to nonprofits
where employees volunteer—to spur them on. But my favorite program is something
we do to help employees better develop themselves and their nonprofit knowledge so
that, when they do serve, they make the biggest impact possible. This program is called
The Nonprofit Leadership Circle. Any employee serving on a nonprofit board or
committee (or who wants to serve on one) can join. Monthly educational opportunities
(webinars, book discussions, etc.) are offered focused on how to be a good board
member and other related topics. We learn from experts and share with each other.
Our goal is to ensure that, when one of our people walks into a committee meeting or a
board room at a nonprofit, they are equipped to make a real difference. We’re making
an investment in our people, the nonprofits they care about, and the causes these
nonprofits champion.
A BILLION + CHANGE
52
Bluestein & Associates LLC
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
Making Chicago a better place to live and making Chicago government more effective
are usually high on everyone’s agenda. Yet, there is a skepticism on both sides that
quantum improvements can be achieved. It is always gratifying to see a team go from
being naysayers to being believers. This happened one day as the senior executive
reviewed the project team’s recommendations and he adopted them all.
Capitol Concierge
WASHINGTON, D.C.
At Capitol Concierge, SERVICE extends beyond our valued clients to numerous good
causes and those less fortunate in our communities. Throughout November and
December, along with the multitudes of canned food, clothes, and toy drives organized
by Capitol concierges and held at our properties, the corporate office sponsors children
through the Salvation Army Angel Tree program. Everyone in the office, along with
many concierges comes together to help make Christmas a much more enjoyable
holiday for local families in need. Capitol Cares has adopted several other causes as
well: the corporate office comes together with their families to volunteer at the D.C.
Food Bank in April; volunteers annually participate in service with the Duckworth
School in May; and Capitol Concierge staff form a team for the National AIDS Walk.
The company also sponsors a team for the National Race to End Women’s Cancer each
November. Beyond their service efforts as part of the Capitol Concierge team, many of
our employees have a strong personal commitment to community service as evidenced
by the estimated 3,850 hours of civic involvement they reported for 2011. Our employees donated hours to the Salvation Army, the American Red Cross, political campaigns,
Neighborhood Watch programs, Duckworth School Olympics, Habitat for Humanity,
soup kitchens, United Way, Homeless Walk, Volunteer Firefighting, SOME, Oxon Hill
High School Wrestling Team, Girl Scouts of America and Mental Health Core Agency.
As well as donating time and goods, many Capitol Concierges have participated in
fundraising initiatives for a variety of charities, both personally and professionally. In
2011, our desks raised funds for the American Diabetes Association and for the
American Cancer Society. In addition to those efforts, our concierges personally made
donations to and/or raised funds for Autism Speaks, Volunteer Firefighters, Breast
Cancer Awareness, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital and a
women’s shelter. Setting the standard, CEO Lynda Ellis’s extensive community service
and civic involvement includes Second Chance, FBI Citizens Academy Alumni
Take the pledge. Get results. Lead the Change.
53
Association, AOBA, Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, American Red Cross,
Prince George’s Scholarship Program, Duckworth School, Entrepreneur Organization
and St. James’ Vestry and Thrift Shop Board. As one of the first 200 pledge companies
to the national Billion + Change Campaign, Capitol Concierge has committed to
provide 4,000 hours of pro bono leadership skills service to nonprofits in our community in 2013. “Philanthropy is an important part of who we are and what we do,” Lynda
explains. “Each quarter we participate in SERVICE for others, which helps improve our
communities and strengthen our organization through teamwork, for the greater good.”
CareerVillage
MASSACHUSETTS
Recently our team started a project we call ShadowHack, where we bring young people
from inner-city schools to hackathons to shadow teams as they build software. What our
team retorts being most rewarding is listening to students walk in the front door with a
crude understanding of what is like to work in tech, and walk out the door saying things
like “if I worked in tech, I would be a front-end developer” or “designer” or “sysadmin”.
That fundamental understanding of the vote structure of technology teams is incredibly
valuable. We made the abstract tangible, and that has really excited our team.
Censeo Consulting
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Censeo is fulfilling its pledge by supporting Higher Achievement, a DC-based nonprofit
focused on furthering educational opportunities for Middle School students. We are
creating a financial model to help them plan budgets at each of their centers and to
better understand their impact. Our consultants are excited for the opportunity to work
with a different type of client. It’s been exciting to see the impact of our efforts so
directly. We’ve been able to help Higher Achievement look at their costs in a new way,
and we’ve uncovered so many cost savings opportunities. Each dollar saved makes a
big impact for Higher Achievement.
A BILLION + CHANGE
54
Civic Consulting Alliance
ILLINOIS
Civic Consulting works with hundreds of companies each year, targeting their pro bono
work for the greatest impact. Here is a snapshot of what we’re hearing: “While we work
on pro bono projects to give back to our community, they also provide a living laboratory to test new marketing tools. This can be a win-win for both the community and the
corporate partner.” (Kevin Brockenbrough, VP, Burrell Communications Group) “I am
grateful to have had the opportunity to join the board of Civic Consulting Alliance last
year. One of the most important motivations for my doing so is the opportunity to lead
by example. As leaders we have many eyes upon us. How we invest our time and
resources tells those around us what really matters. Community service matters—it is
not only a responsibility and a duty, but also a privilege.” (Bryan Funkhouser, Managing
Director, Deloitte Consulting) Our client Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel wrote: “During
these difficult economic times, the support of the Civic Consulting Alliance has been
particularly invaluable. I can say with certainty that my transition team and my administration could not have accomplished what we have thus far without the help of Civic
Consulting, and my administration will increasingly depend on their support to make
progress on the City’s most important priorities.” Our client Cook County President
Toni Preckwinkle said: “It was only when we got some help from the Civic Consulting
Alliance and got in there after the election in November that we were able to get a
better handle on [the budget gap]. . . . The Civic Consulting Alliance is an organization
that’s provided pro bono assistance to the City, to our public schools, to the CTA. . . .
They have been wonderful.”
Dell
TEXAS
We have an employee that is located in the UK. He works for the part of our company
that sells energy efficient technology called Wyse. We knew we wanted to do a
solar-powered classroom project as one of our strategic programs with a focus on ICT
at a rural school in Nigeria. But what we were missing was the person who could take
this project on from a technology perspective. Ricardo Quina is the marketing/technology
expert for Wyse that begin to program manage this project by using his skills to analyze
the technology needed that could work with solar power and could withstand heat, last
a long time, and be easy for a non-IT person to navigate. Through many hours of testing,
the product worked and the classroom is in Nigeria. The business pays for him to travel
to Nigeria which is not funded by the Dell Corporate Giving team because the business
Take the pledge. Get results. Lead the Change.
55
believes in the project. How has your experience been with this project? It is what makes
my day. Knowing every morning that I can wake up and be a part of Dell’s strategic
giving efforts is what it is about for me. I really feel like I am making a difference in the
lives of children in Nigeria. What would you change? Nothing. Dell does a great job of
engaging our employees across the globe. We were an acquired organization in the last
1.5 years and they do a great job of bringing acquired companies into volunteering.
Deloitte
NEW YORK
Pro bono work is one of the most powerful ways that Deloitte supports charitable
organizations, strengthens the nonprofit sector and communicates our values. It is the
community cornerstone of our Impact Imperative that aligns what we do best to the
greatest need with a sharp focus on outcomes. Creating real and measurable impact
isn’t just a goal—it’s an imperative.
As a leading employer of top business talent, we are in a unique position to deploy that
talent by cultivating a corporate culture of leaders and professionals who contribute
their time, innovative thinking and specialized business skills and acumen to help
nonprofits advance their missions. Our ability to help the world’s leading companies
address their business challenges makes us uniquely qualified to help pro bono clients
tackle their organizations’ challenges too. To that end, over the course of six years,
Deloitte has committed to delivering $110 million in pro bono services to eligible
nonprofit organizations.
Of course, our involvement in building stronger communities is not only good for
society, it’s good for us too because it contributes to the healthy environments that
businesses need to thrive. And, it helps attract, develop and retain talent while showcasing our values and capabilities.
The Dow Chemical Company
MICHIGAN
Rebuilding Lives When Mother Nature Strikes Sande G. was due for some good
fortune. Sande had suffered a series of setbacks beginning in 2005, when Hurricane
Katrina left her home in New Orleans uninhabitable. Finally, on Veterans Day 2012,
Dow and the St. Bernard Project joined forces in an effort to help rebuild her life, as well
as the lives of hundreds of others in the area. Like many people in Katrina’s path, Sande
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was victimized by contractor fraud. Then in 2007, while she and her husband were
rebuilding their home themselves, her husband suffered a fatal heart attack. For years,
she lived in a trailer near her still-unrepaired home, which stands as a constant reminder
of the tragedy. St. Bernard Project (SBP) was founded a few months after Katrina by
activists who wanted to help the community recover. SBP’s founders were especially
troubled by widespread contractor fraud. SBP organizes volunteers into work crews
that have so far repaired 475 homes for families who couldn’t afford to do it themselves, and rebuilt dozens of abandoned properties for sale at below-market prices to
deserving people. Part of SBP’s objective is to provide employment and career skills to
people of the area. Dow had already provided various forms of support for SBP when
one of the company’s building scientists, Mike Mazor, hit upon the idea of training
veterans of the U.S. military to install FROTH-PAK™ foam insulation made by the Dow
Building Solutions business. FROTHPAK is ideal for the heat and humidity in New Orleans
because it is a spray foam that seals tight against air and water. What’s more, Dow has
a long history of supporting veterans, and those who were trained gained newfound
skills that could be used for years to come. “SBP laid out its mission and vision. We
looked for solutions that fit within those priorities and the FROTH-PAK training went
hand-in-hand with training for local veterans,” says Mike, who specializes in energy and
climate change. “The value of this effort goes beyond simply providing housing for
hurricane victims in need. We are definitely providing a longer-term, sustainable solution
that is an economic driver for the area.” And that’s just the kind of effort DSC specializes
in—the kind that helps solve some of the world’s more compelling problems. For this
project, Dow sent Mike and co-workers Tom Parker and Nick Scheib to New Orleans to
provide the free training for SBP’s Veterans Corps and select staff members. Veterans
Day was chosen as the ideal time. And the home of Sande G. was chosen as the ideal
site. In one day of learning their new craft, the trainees completely insulated her home.
Now she’s on the way to recovery, and they are on the way to new careers. “It’s nice to
see your ideas helping people,” Mike says. “I can’t think of a better way to demonstrate
Dow’s commitment than through a multi-faceted project like this one.” Project: St. Bernard
Project Purpose: Train military veterans how to install energyefficient FROTH-PAK™
foam insulation. Project Dates: April—December 2012 Volunteer Hours Invested: 420
Impact: St. Bernard Project gained a skilled workforce and veterans have the potential
for productive new careers. To date, SBP repaired 475 homes and rebuilt dozens of
abandoned properties across greater New Orleans ®™Trademark of The Dow Chemical
Company (“Dow”) or an affiliated company of Dow Solution Space.
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57
Edelman
NEW YORK
Chicago-Area Leadership Collaborates to Issue Cross-Sector Corporate Sustainability
Report Edelman Supports Project on Pro Bono Basis While Growing Overall Participation,
Generating New Business Leads In July 2012, a representative from the Global Philanthropy
Partnership approached Edelman with a challenge: create a story that would increase
the visibility of Chicago’s corporate sustainability work and enhance the region’s
reputation as a place where sustainable companies can thrive. After establishing a pro
bono engagement, Edelman Chicago’s Business + Social Purpose practice collaborated
with the mayor’s Green Ribbon Committee, Metropolis Strategies and the Civic Consulting
Alliance to release a collective report, “Building a Sustainable Region: Innovative practices
from Metro Chicago’s global corporations.” Edelman’s primary role was to research and
develop the report’s content alongside Fortune 200 companies headquartered in
Chicago—a collective informally known as the Chicago Corporate Sustainability
Working Group. Throughout the engagement, Edelman grew the number of corporate
participants to 24, built a microsite in partnership with the city and pitched the finished
report to select media. In addition to securing placement in the environmental press,
Edelman facilitated a positive reception of the report by the region’s civic elite. The City
of Chicago leveraged the report through its chief sustainability officer’s public appearances
and organizations including Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce socialized the report
throughout key networks of influencers and thought leaders. Fueled by the success of
this communications initiative, the working group has invited Edelman to join and
collaborate on subsequent projects. By accepting membership, the firm joins the ranks
of companies like Abbott, ArcelorMittal, Baxter, Boeing, Ecolab, Exelon, ITW, Jones Lang
LaSalle, McDonald’s, MillerCoors, Sears, Walgreens and United. Edelman has received
praise for its efforts from the group’s corporate participants, the city and the client
alike. To date, two of the companies in the working group have issued a request for
Edelman to propose for paid work. “This project demonstrates the real business value
of civic engagement and pro bono work,” said Chicago-based Lisa Manley, executive vice
president, Business + Social Purpose. “The report not only benefits all parties involved,
but it also creates important opportunities to drive sustainable growth in our region.”
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Executives in Action
TEXAS
Executives in Action (EIA) is a Texas nonprofit corporation qualified as a 501 (c)(3)
public charity by the Internal Revenue Service. EIA delivers high-impact, pro bono
consulting to other charitable organizations. Executives in Action (EIA) builds community by strengthening nonprofits and supporting executives in transition. EIA provides
“service grants” to improve the productivity, efficiency, and impact of charitable organizations. These service grants are fulfilled by senior executive consultants who bring
years of management experience to targeted projects in our partner nonprofits. The EIA
model delivers a two-fold impact for our community: Strengthening nonprofit organizations and Transforming the lives of highly skilled executives Mission Executives in Action
builds community by strengthening other nonprofit organizations. To accomplish its
mission, EIA engages experienced executive leaders from the business sector as probono
consultants to charitable agencies that could not otherwise access such talent.
For Goods
ILLINOIS
For Goods was founded on the same ideals as the Billion + Change pledge: With our
unique skills and collective goodwill we can transform the world. With a heavy emphasis
on skills-based volunteering, our program works to match professional and out-of-work
volunteers with causes in their local area. Volunteers are rewarded for their service
with points that they can use to purchase products and services donated by corporate
sponsors. The Billion + Change program has effectively allowed us to provide an
efficient way for us to connect with and help Corporations and Nonprofits to manage
their internal pro bono/volunteer programs, in addition to rewarding volunteers for
their efforts.
Take the pledge. Get results. Lead the Change.
59
G45 Consulting
NEW JERSEY
The primary focus of G45 Consulting’s volunteering efforts were around helping unemployed professionals maintain a positive focus and improve their marketing efforts on a
few fronts. This was conducted by direct live coaching, motivation, inspiration, resume
review, social media training and profile review, networking how to- basics and advanced
level and select “scholarship” sponsorship participation in G45’s Career Yenta Boot
Camp http://www.g45consulting.com/career_yenta_boot_camp%E2%84%A2. The
Career Yenta Boot Camp is an outplacement program on steroids! Here’s a testimonial
from a scholarship recipient: “I attended Wanda’s Career Yenta Boot Camp and it was a
phenomenal experience. Every day she had an agenda and prepped us for the day ahead
to map out our day in the most effective and results producing way. She super charged
us each morning making fine tuning adjustments that made the difference. She assisted
in preparing us for our interviews that day. The team developed camaraderie and we’re
still keeping in touch and meeting a couple days a week. I got a job at the end of the first
week of boot camp and I can honestly say I believe the boot camp gave me the extra
edge I needed to fine tune my presentation, message and approach. Wanda has the
energy, passion and charisma to take you to the next level. Highly recommended!” IT
Project Manager It was exciting for G45 to know our volunteering efforts changed lives
and made such a great impact, making us eager to grow our participation and commitment in our Billion+Change pledge!
Gamification Corporation
NEW YORK
Play for a Cause (P4C) is our signature hands-on exercise for attendees to learn how
to innovate using game mechanics–while giving back (social good) at the same time.
GSummit partners with nonprofit organizations to help them solve a challenge through
our P4C session. This gamified ideation session is a win-win for everyone involved and
has been an attendee-favorite at all our events.
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GE
CONNECTICUT
In Cincinnati, local GE employees provided expertise to drive a billing process improvement project that saved the health center $100,000 annually, and allowed them to increase
their investment in the facility by 10%. The GE Atlanta team developed customer service
training that was deployed at multiple health centers and used as a best practice across
the country. GE Volunteers use Lean Six Sigma methodology to identify inefficiency in
health center processes and improve productivity. The volunteer teams in Lynn, MA
helped to increase general health care capacity as well as increase the number of referrals
to behavioral specialists by 37%. Employees tell us that this is a one of a kind volunteer
opportunity, allowing them to use their skill set to improve the healthcare needs of
their local community. One of our volunteers who worked on a project to increase
efficiency in a health center in Milwaukee said,“I am honored to be a GE Developing
Health volunteer. The program has created a situation where everyone can win. I truly
believe my expertise is making a difference. In addition, I find that I am gaining invaluable
external experiences as well, enhancing my understanding of some of the realities
healthcare workers and patients face every day.” Consistently, the feedback from the
health centers is that this pro bono engagement with GE employees is the key differentiator of the program, as they now have access to world-class business practices which
they would otherwise not be able to afford or undertake.
GlaxoSmithKline
NORTH CAROLINA
PULSE Volunteer Cliff Laird, a Business Improvement Specialist at GSK, worked with
the Philadelphia Education Fund to facilitate the strategic planning process for its
“Math and Science Coalition.” The Philadelphia Education Fund supports the city of
Philadelphia by seeking sustainable improvements to the quality of public education.
We asked Cliff how he acted as a catalyst for change through his PULSE Volunteer
experience. Change Communities: Cliff’s work resulted in the creation of a new threeyear strategic plan for the Math + Science Coalition including supporting strategies,
tactics, metrics and the creation of an Advisory Council. This plan aims to increase
math and science teacher skills and engagement in Philadelphia classrooms, as well as
student awareness of STEM careers. Change Yourself: Cliff returned with renewed
confidence about his abilities, and felt greater confidence in what he had to offer GSK.
He gained experience and skills by leading the strategic planning process. Change GSK:
PULSE helped Cliff broaden his perspective by looking beyond the GSK walls. After 12+
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61
years with GSK, he realized that at times his thinking and learning was self-limited to
the “GSK way.” It’s easy to become myopic within an organization. PULSE enabled him
to step away from the familiar and immerse himself within a different organization
(Ed Fund), different sectors (education and nonprofit) and explore other ways of doing
or seeing things. He brought back this different perspective to GSK when he returned
from his PULSE assignment! Read more about Cliff’s experience on his blog—http://
gskpulsevolunteers.com/author/clifflaird/
gothamCulture
NEW YORK
We have been working with a nonprofit organization whose mission is to advance the
Jewish community’s fight against poverty. Historically, the nonprofit world is not well
known for having or attracting the best leaders; people generally are there to fulfill
some higher calling. Though a paradox comes into play when you think about how a
vast and far-reaching network, primarily one of volunteers, needs precisely the type of
leadership that nonprofits lack. Recognizing this, gothamCulture believed that its staff
was uniquely qualified to work directly with these leaders, and through a series of
in-depth coaching conversations, indirectly help this service organization to be better
able to fulfill its mission. The best part of any coaching engagement is when the leader
with whom you’re working finally gets their “ah-ha” moment. This can come at any
point and via a variety of methods. But it was during one of our sessions as we were
talking about some anonymous feedback they received, that I saw something click for
this leader. Something they learned about themselves that up until that point had been
a blind spot. Once a leader learns this type of information, they can never “un-learn” it.
Armed with this knowledge, and through the implementation of a co-created best-inclass action plan, the leader is now well on their way to changing how others in their
organization perceive them. It’s just this type of experience that gives our work meaning, and why we are happy and proud to continue our pro bono work.
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Groupon, Inc.
ILLINOIS
I have a strong sense that the staff loves our partnership with Cure Violence. It’s
relevant and it’s skills-based. I think they believe in the work Cure Violence is doing
(The Interruptors film is really quite powerful), and I know they enjoy the opportunity
to help CV and its mission with their own interviewing and writing skills. Also, our
writers are getting bylines with their work (ie, “YourName, Groupon Staff Writer”),
which I know is incredibly appealing. http://cureviolence.org/news/groupon-grassroots-partnership-with-cure-violence/ and https://grassroots.groupon.
com/2013/02/11/helping-volunteers-at-cure-violence-share-their-stories/
The Hershey Company
PENNSYLVANIA
Hershey Canada—Habitat for Humanity Hershey Canada office in Mississauga,
Ontario had the pleasure of helping out with Habitat for Humanity on July 10. The day
was awesome. The weather cooperated—no rain—and the people were great. Everyone
had a fabulous time! Some volunteers were working under a roof like hot monkeys
hammering under the tresses (the roof was on the ground, separate from the building)
and the others, with construction backgrounds, were using their skills to work on the
building itself, setting up support posts and putting a header around the top of the
walls to attach the roof. By the end of the day, everyone was hot, sweaty, stinky, but
exhilarated and happy to have made the contribution to our own neighborhood. This
experience really brought our team together, and we all learned new things about the
other people we work so closely with all the time. Using my skills to make a difference
to a family in need is an amazing feeling. Beth D., Hershey Engineering, Canada
Hyatt
ILLINOIS
As a part of our commitment to education and skills based volunteering, Hyatt teamed
up with City Year Chicago to adopt Clemente High School in Humboldt Park this year. We
sponsored City Year’s corps members at the school and participated in several skills based
volunteer opportunities with the students during the school year including a career panel
for their freshman class to introduce them to careers in hospitality. We also hosted a CEO
Roundtable for the City Year corps at the end of the year in which they had an informal
dialogue together about education reform and also touched on professional development/career aspirations as they graduate from the program and think about next steps.
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63
IBM
NEW YORK
Rick McMaster, an IBM Project Manager, Thought Leader and K-16 STEM Advocate
began his outreach effort 16-years ago when he volunteered to become an Engineers
Week (EWeek) coordinator. Since then, he never looked back and has since begun a
K-12 technical outreach program from its beginnings with three IBM clients—IBM, 3M
and Texas Instruments. Today that partnership has more than 60 partners including
companies, universities, professional societies and community organizations. The
effort is now known as Central Texas Discover Engineering (CTDE) engages more than
11,000 students annually through hundreds of classroom visits by professional volunteers from across Central Texas. The target audience includes a substantial number of
Hispanics, African American, and young women, who are historically under-represented in engineering professions. CTDE also reaches more than 5,000 additional
students and their parents through science nights at schools and community events at
various museums and elsewhere. With Rick, science instruction and hands-on demonstration come alive. He dons a long white medical coat and assumes the identity of “Dr.
Kold,” a scientist who conducts real live science experiments with liquid nitrogen. Dr.
Kold has conducted hundreds of presentations at schools and other venues. Through a
regular e-newsletter, Rick ensures that IBM resources and training processes are
communicated to CTDE volunteers and the educators with whom they work. In
addition to providing the leadership and project management for CTDE, Rick has also
created an on-going relationship with a number of schools in the greater Austin area
and uses these activities in the classroom himself.
Jeff Hoffman & Associates, Global Philanthropy & Civic Engagement
CALIFORNIA
An interesting pro bono engagement was with the Kairos Society. Their mission is to
“view today’s global problems as opportunities for entrepreneurs to focus on the
meaningful businesses and innovations that will radically change the world for the
better.” Kairos is a global college student entrepreneurs organization. Their annual
summit was held on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and consisted of an
incredible group of 350 college student entrepreneurs, plus 50 mentors of which I was
one. The Kairos 50, a group of the most innovative student-run businesses in the world,
had the morning to share their work, share ideas and elicit valuable feedback. Sixteen
of these businesses were 3D printing, in my opinion one of the most fascinating
technological advances. Another dozen of the businesses were nonprofit or social
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enterprises. The afternoon was filled with roundtable discussions and the fast pitch of
businesses that are candidates to be included in the next Kairos 50. My role as a
mentor was to challenge these entrepreneurs to think about society and the environment in the way they establish and run their enterprises. Leading up to the summit I
worked with the organization’s president to brainstorm potential partners, as well as
funders, to make the summit a success. While this was a smaller pro-bono opportunity,
it was an example of utilizing skills and expertise in corporate social responsibility to
share, encourage and challenge the world’s future business leaders to include societal
benefit as part of their business plans.
JODesign, LLC
TEXAS
We do several pro bono projects throughout the year but this last year, we had one
project that really stood out. We donate professional service hours to Susan G. Komen
for the Cure Greater Fort Worth, our local chapter, by way of marketing, public relations, and physical man hours at the race itself. In spring of 2012, Susan G. Komen
corporate headquarters pulled and then re-reinstated funding to Planned Parenthood.
The public backlash against Susan G. Komen was extensive. During the midst of this
crisis, J.O. offered their services free of charge. The J.O. PR team monitored social
media outlets around the clock in order to provide immediate counsel and public
relations management on behalf of Komen. We were the first affiliate to respond to
national media and because we allowed followers to air their grievances via Facebook,
public outrage aimed at the Fort Worth affiliate quickly subdued. As a result, our client
garnered national news coverage for their responsiveness to their social media network. There were several of these PR “crisis” situations throughout the year, and our
teams were always there to support our client’s need to educate the public. Because of
our assistance, we have kept the local chapter in a positive light and have allowed their
donations to remain at a better than national average level.
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65
Latent Design
ILLINOIS
In recognizing Katherine Darnstadt as the 2013 Young Architect of the Year, the
American Institute of Architects noted that she “engages in a community-based,
participatory design process that seeks to have a positive impact on communities with
no preconceptions about the outcome.” We ask what needs to be involved in design
beyond choosing a location and building a structure and taking risks working beyond
traditional professional boundaries. Darnstadt: Participatory design means designing
with, by, and for the people who will use the end product, and it always has a bigger
impact than creating the built space itself. It impacts the people in the organization,
their constituents, and the programming. With the one of our Billion+ projects, the
client initially hired me to design a community center with science labs. I asked what
science meant to them, and they described people in white coats. This is not how I
think about science for the next generation of women leaders. So I said, “Let’s talk
about future STEM careers, and while were talking, let’s look at how adding this facility
will change how you fundamentally operate, because it means you’re going to be doing
community development.” They had not considered this at all. As a result of this
dialogue, they wound up reframing who they were as an organization. We started a
year-long planning process that included a curriculum, which I later wrote, based on
the gender and race disparities I saw in my profession. This was so far from where we
had started, talking about the building. That wouldn’t have happened with just the
organization’s executives and the design team meeting in a room by ourselves.
Martin Communications
CALIFORNIA
From Fitzgerald Youth Sports Institute (FYSI) CEO Linda Keefe: Stephanie Martin has
been a game changer for FYSI. When she offered her pro-bono help, FYSI was at a
crossroads, unsure of which direction to take to enable future growth. Working in
conjunction with our leadership, she led a full analysis, conducting a diagnostic on our
resources and how they were deployed, using that data to refine the organization’s
mission, as well as build out actionable recommendations for improvement and
sustainable scaling. Some of this analysis dove into the staff’s activities and found that
while we were making strong impacts, we were not focused on key areas such as
evaluation of programs, marketing and fundraising. To ensure the staff was empowered
as part of this process and would embrace the changes necessary to strengthen our
program, Stephanie created a communication plan focused on engaging the team.
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After socializing the review with the staff and creating new work streams together, with
their input, the result was a deeper understanding of the opportunities for FYSI and its
future, and a staff who showed higher levels of engagement because they feel much
clearer about their role in creating success for FYSI long-term. The staff has shared that
it has been a privilege to work with her, not only for FYSI’s benefit but also individually,
having the unique opportunity to work with someone who has also served as an
executive coach, helping them to realize their skills and how best to use them.
The Moody’s Foundation
NEW YORK
Through extensive surveys, we have learned that Moody’s employees have an appetite
for pro-bono and skills-based volunteer projects. In response to this, The Moody’s
Foundation has been able to offer a variety of projects through its grantee organizations and other community partners. In the U.S. and the UK, Moody’s employees have
assisted nonprofits and their clients with digital archiving projects, business planning,
interview practice and preparation for youth and U.S. veterans, mentoring, language
translation, judging and assistance at youth business camps, facilitation of introductory
finance courses, technology assistance, IT assistance, website redesign and more.
Netsuite
CALIFORNIA
Organizations that have received a product donation from NetSuite.org are eligible to
apply for a SuiteVolunteers, NetSuite’s pro bono program. Pro bono services are
powered by NetSuite employee volunteers and are designed to provide a little extra
help to our grantees in using the NetSuite software effectively. Each quarter, services
are offered across a variety of NetSuite departments, leveraging NetSuite’s top talent
from around the world.
(list of services: http://www.netsuite.org/SuiteVolunteerProjects2013.shtml)
In Q1 2013- 23 projects were fulfilled by 46 NetSuite employees.
The Q2 program is underway, with 23 projects and 57 NetSuite employees!
Pro Bono Success Story: 1800 Runaway—http://www.netsuiteblogs.com/
blog/2013/01/suitevolunteers-pro-bono-service-in-action.html
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67
Nielsen
NEW YORK
The team was gathered for a status meeting as they do regularly, but this particular
meeting was for one of our pro bono projects. The team was analyzing Nielsen’s unique
data around food consumption for an important hunger relief organization. About
halfway through the discussion, the presenter had to pause and tears flushed over her
eyes. “I’m so happy we’re doing this,” she said. Then embarrassed, she added, “And I’m
sorry to get so emotional about it.” The regional president smiled reassuringly. “Don’t
be,” he said. “This is the right kind of thing to get emotional about.” At Nielsen, we take
great pride in our core business—every day we get to help companies feed and entertain
consumers in over 100 countries—but we have a different kind of pride around our pro
bono work in the areas of hunger, technology access, education and diversity. To fulfill
our pro bono commitment, associates around the world get to connect with their work
in new ways. They also grow to meet new types of challenges and they embrace new,
global leadership opportunities. In the process, they measurably strengthen our
communities and our business. We’re proud of their uncommon impact and we’re
thankful to A Billion + Change for galvanizing us around this important opportunity.
PEAK Resources, Inc.
COLORADO
PEAK recently hosted a mentoring day for 9th and 10th graders from the Denver Center for
International Studies. See the note below from the school’s Director of Strategic Initiatives.
Dear Tom, Wow! What an incredible experience you and your team provided for our
students yesterday! You can’t know just how grateful we all are here at the school for the
ways in which PEAK is giving our students wings to fly... literally through the travel scholarship funding as well as with tools and experiences for them to grow and figure out their
individual career paths. The garden growing will come soon! Our students were so enlightened after the time at the offices yesterday and I know that many seeds were planted (oh
the garden metaphors continue!). Thank you for your leadership of a team who is willing to
give their precious time to supporting our students! They were such wonderful speakers
and our students very much enjoyed their time learning from each person. I’m attaching a
few photos that I will also be adding to our Facebook page and hopefully website (depending on resolution) later today. We are extremely grateful for the incredibly powerful learning
opportunity you provided for our students, and look forward to working together this
summer to plan for our partnership next year! I hope that you will be able to share these
few words of thanks with the rest of your team too. With sincere gratitude, Kate Kate
Farmer Director of Strategic Initiatives Denver Center for International Studies at Montbello
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The Real Estate Council Foundation
TEXAS
One of our construction estimation professionals volunteered to help an adult literacy
program create a budget for renovations in preparation for a capital campaign. In the
course of his tour of the center, he organized a complete overhaul of the play area for
the children at the center, drawing more than 30 people and thousands of dollars’
worth of materials and equipment in a single Saturday. The children came in on
Monday to find their unleveled, dirt and weed-filled play area, with beautiful new sod, a
new fence and a gorgeous playhouse built on the Candyland game theme.
salesforce.com
CALIFORNIA
Ours is a story of how pro bono begets more pro bono. A year ago April, our employee
Samanthia Achuff participated in a “Tech Teach-In”. This was a program organized by
Google and Community Technology Network (CTN) to help train nonprofits in technology. Samanthia spend two hours that day helping nonprofits think about how to be
smarter in their use of Salesforce. She personally connected with CTN and subsequently offered to help them with their own instance of Salesforce. That engagement
involved an employee team who donated 48 hours of time helping CTN with the
platform. We were then inspired to design a series of in-house “Success Clinics” in
partnership with CTN. Samanthia and her colleagues recently hosted 20 nonprofits in
our office for a series of 1:1 sessions designed to help nonprofits better understand how
to configure Salesforce and improve their reporting. CTN helped us organize the event
and was our nonprofit outreach partner. The nonprofits reported a high degree of
satisfaction with the event and the employees had such a satisfying time that they
want to do several more this year. CTN has been a great partner for us and recently
recognized Samanthia as one of their volunteering “Superheroes” . This snowballing
activity means that in 12 months, we have been able to grow Samanthia’s initial
two-hour pro bono investment into 329 hours of pro bono service.
Tallahassee Chapter of AmeriCorps Alums
FLORIDA
By utilizing our talents and skills, we are able to give back to our community in areas
that are most needed to foster job training and educational value.
Take the pledge. Get results. Lead the Change.
69
Target
MINNESOTA
Target is committed to providing skilled volunteer efforts to support A Billion + Change.
Volunteerism is at the heart of Target’s culture and a part of its legacy of giving and
service. Target team members volunteer each year at thousands of community projects
across the country. Nearly half of the senior leadership is currently serving on a
nonprofit board of directors. And, roughly 70 percent of our attorneys and paralegals
participate in pro bono service. One of Target’s priority focus areas is K-12 Education.
Target’s Property Development Team is sharing their specialized experience and
knowledge in project design, management and execution by partnering with The Heart
of America Foundation to transform libraries at schools in-need. In 2012, 32 library
makeovers were completed—giving children the resources they need to learn. Target’s
Corporate Security Team is responsible for maintaining a safe and secure environment
at stores and other Target facilities. They provide forensic lab assistance to law
enforcement agencies free-of-charge for violent felonies or special circumstance cases.
These pro bono services currently comprise approximately 30 percent of the lab’s total
case load. The lab specializes in computer forensics, audio and video analysis and
latent fingerprints, and is accredited by the American Society of Crime Laboratory
Directors/Laboratory Accreditation Board (ASCLAD/LAB). Target’s law professionals
partner with legal services organizations to provide legal advice and representation to
individuals and organizations that lack access due to financial, geographic and other
constraints.
Tech Impact
PENNSYLVANIA
At Tech Impact we do not mind getting our hands dirty, especially for a good cause. We
not only exclusively work with nonprofit organizations, we believe in kicking in some
“sweat equity” as well. We teamed up with our friends at Reed Technology to deliver
over 100 hours of volunteer time on a Friday. We decided that Habitat for Humanity
would be the beneficiary of our volunteer time. If you are not familiar with them,
Habitat is a terrific organization. They believe, as we do, in giving a hand up and not a
hand out. Their vision is “a world where everyone has a decent place to live.” That does
not come easy. It takes a lot of work to build a home or rehab an abandoned property,
but that is exactly what they do. They rely on volunteers to help them build and rehab
these homes. Last week our group was divided into teams that worked on demolition of
an abandoned property, the finish work on a home that is almost complete, and helping
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out at the ReStore (a place where Habitat sells donated home supplies and uses the
revenue to purchase more property). So, yes, some of our folks got a little dirty working
in the basement of the demo property, but it was all for a good cause. We believe in
giving back to the communities where we live and work, we believe in the important
missions of the same nonprofits that we serve. We believe in getting a little dirty in
order to make progress. Thanks to the entire crew at Tech Impact and Reed Technology
that gave of their time and resources to give someone a hand up. To learn more about
Tech Impact, visit www.techimpact.org
Thread LLC
PENNSYLVANIA
From Vivien Luk, Executive Director of Team Tassy, Thread’s primary volunteering
beneficiary: “As a startup nonprofit, capacity is painfully limited. There’s an abundance
of volunteers we can draw from, but quality volunteers who care are harder to come by.
Thankfully, at Team Tassy’s inception, Thread has committed to supporting our path to
success through volunteerism. The staff is outstanding, experts in their own fields, and
mostly important, they serve with empathy. Being a start-up themselves and a staff of
only five, Thread provided us with over 1500 hours of service, which is over $34,500 in
in-kind donation and expertise we cannot get anywhere else. We look forward to
continuing our partnership to serve more of the poor in Haiti so that they can lift
themselves out of poverty.”
True Impact
MASSACHUSETTS
At True Impact, we specialize in helping companies to measure the social and business
impacts of their community investments. As part of our pro bono commitment, we
partnered with New Sector Alliance, a nonprofit intermediary that places undergraduates in capacity-building fellowships with nonprofit organizations, to train those
Fellows in principles of impact measurement and to guide them in the development of
measurement plans for their host organizations. This pro bono project provided us a
perfect piloting opportunity for a new web-based measurement training concept we’d
been planning for a while. The experience helped us to validate the service concept,
and identify several great ideas for improvement (courtesy of the Fellows’ feedback).
Since then, we’ve successfully launched the offering as our KPI Development
Workshop, which has taken off!
Take the pledge. Get results. Lead the Change.
71
TRUiST Inc.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
There’s truth to the ‘power in numbers’ concept, especially when a group is collectively
working for the greater good. Not only is work done more efficiently, but it creates the
sort of team building experience where work feels less strenuous and more empowering when others are benefiting from it. Because Truist offers allotted paid time off for
volunteering, employees are able to get out from behind their desks and work as a
team to make a real impact in the local community. It creates an experience where
work feels less strenuous and more empowering when others are benefiting from it.
UnitedHealth Group
MINNESOTA
This past year, UnitedHealth Group began offering a new online microvolunteering tool
to help employees find and complete challenges posted by nonprofits. The volunteering is done in short bursts, as little as 15 minutes, during available break or lunch time,
for example. It allows employees to engage in volunteering that fits their specific skills,
no matter how much time they can give. Microvolunteering made it possible for Dianna
Hamilton, a Denver-based telecommuter and mother of five to take part in more than
50 different activities in 2012. Her ability to volunteer previously was “super limited.”
“It’s difficult to volunteer for long periods of time when you have kids to take care of,”
said Hamilton. “I love the concept. Microvolunteering enables me to make a difference
by volunteering online from anywhere in the world, for nonprofits around the globe, at
any time.” Hamilton has completed projects like helping a children’s hospital build a
local cancer resource database. “I can see ideas generated from people all over the
world, and I can have a global impact,” added Hamilton. “At the end of the day, giving
back and helping others is very important to me as an individual and as a mom. It’s nice
to work for a company that makes it possible to make a difference. Everyone has five
minutes to spare.” Nearly 1,500 employees responded to 757 microvolunteering
challenges in 2012, helping charities and nonprofits in 28 countries on projects ranging
from marketing, graphic design and editing to finance and fundraising.
A BILLION + CHANGE
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VolunteerMatch
CALIFORNIA
On May 16 and 17, 2013, we celebrated 170-plus corporate partners at our annual
Client Summit event, held this year in New York City (solutions.volunteermatch.org/
summit). It was gratifying to see how many of the workshops, keynotes, and casual
conversations touched on the pro bono accomplishments of our clients, who represent
a large number of Fortune 1000 companies. From discovering new ways to volunteer
one’s skills in a corporate program, to reporting the impact of pro bono volunteer
efforts, the VolunteerMatch platform makes it easier for companies to manage
successful volunteer engagement programs.
Waggener Edstrom Worldwide
WASHINGTON
Waggener Edstrom employees volunteered at the Oregon FIRST Robotics competition at
Portland’s Memorial Coliseum in March. US FIRST was founded in 1989 to inspire young
people’s interest and participation in science and technology. Waggener Edstrom contributed some pro-bono hours to bolster Oregon FIRST Robotics’ PR efforts over the past four
months, and the event was the culmination of the six-week competition. The day started
with a VIP breakfast where we heard from key sponsors and, most importantly, FIRST alumni
and current participants (students ranging from 8th to 12th grade). They told stories of how
the organization has and is changing their lives. The alumni representative, Jean Tenca, went
on to college, and he today works for Tektronix and serves as a mentor to a FIRST team. The
current student speaker, Samantha Danino, hails from Umatilla, Ore., where only 6 percent
of the population has a college degree. She and her teammates are excited to dramatically
increase that percentage via their participation in FIRST. It’s hard to imagine the team spirit,
camaraderie and energy of the entire competition. Teams have mascots and cheer sections.
There is an announcer, just like you’d expect at any produced sporting event. Music plays
between rounds, and judges, cheerleaders and others sing and dance. Robots are swapped in
and out of rounds quickly. The whole thing feels like, well, organized chaos. The students
were excited, enthralled and, in some cases, downright exhausted. One of the volunteers put
together a Picasa album that hints at the Oregon event’s atmosphere. For our outreach
efforts, we secured print and broadcast coverage along the way. KPTV’s On the GO with Joe
and KATU’s AMNW did segments on the student teams leading to the event, and KOIN and
KATU sent photojournalist to cover the event with brief coverage appearing on the 5 p.m.
and 6 p.m. broadcasts. More information: http://waggeneredstrom.com/blog/2012/05/01/
wes-oregon-first-robotics-pro-bono-work-supports-stem/
Take the pledge. Get results. Lead the Change.
73
WinnSom Ins Agency
NEW YORK
The pro bono experience has been awesome reaching out to the Queens Economic
Development Center and the Simply to Empower team. It’s amazing to see the joy in
these women entrepreneurs faces once they know they can sleep well if they have
insurance in place protecting their hard work as they have families who rely on the
success of their businesses. It has been a great experience for me knowing that through
information sharing and education and with recent development in weather changes, a
lot of women are more inclined to protect their assets or investments more than before.
In addition, the following companies have taken the Billion + Change Pledge between
November 2011 and June 2013:
Adaptive Leadership Strategies,
LLC—Virginia
Autodesk, Inc.—California
Adobe—California
Axsiom—New York
Advent Software, Inc.—California
B.E.S.T—Florida
Agencies of Change—Texas
BBCH PLC—Virginia
AIGA DFW—Texas
Benz Communications—California
Alcoa—New York
BET Landscaping—Pennsylvania
Allfirst LLC—Virginia
BJ’s Restaurants—California
Allstate—Illinois
BlackRock—New York
Alston & Bird LLP—Georgia
AltruHelp—Massachusetts
Blue Engine Message & Media—
Washington, D.C.
American Airlines—Texas
Bluestone + Killion, LLC—New Jersey
AmeriCorps Alums of North Texas—Texas
Boston Beer Company—Massachusetts
APCO Worldwide—Washington, D.C.
BOULD—Colorado
Apollo Group—Arizona
Bradattig.com—Oregon
Architecture 4, LLC—Illinois
Broome Crosby—New York
Ashoka—Virginia
Bryant Park Financial Advisors—New York
AT&T—Texas
Buckeye V.A.—Ohio
Avalex Enterprises—Florida
A BILLION + CHANGE
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Business Council for the Arts—Texas
Coinstar, Inc.—Washington
C.Fox Communications—Maryland
Commit!—Texas
CA Technologies—New York
Common Impact—Massachusetts
Café Momentum—Texas
Core Thought—Colorado
Cannon Design—Illinois
Cornerstone OnDemand—California
Capital One—Virginia
Corporate Executive Board—Virginia
Carmichael Lynch—Minnesota
Cascade Strategy, Inc.—Washington, D.C.
Corporation for National and Community
Service—Washington, D.C.
Catchafire—New York
CorpsGiving—Colorado
Caterpillar—Illinois
Cotton7 Global Enterprises—New York
Cats and Dogs Coffee—Pennsylvania
Cox Enterprises—Georgia
Cause Cast—California
Crespin Enterprises—Virginia
Cause Consulting—Massachusetts
CSC—Virginia
Cbeyond—Georgia
CSRwire LLC—Massachusetts
CDC Development Solutions—
Washington, D.C.
CSWG—New Hampshire
Champion Performance Development—
New Jersey
D2C Ventures—Illinois
Chandler Insurance Agency—Arkansas
Datascope Analytics—Illinois
Chanler Communications—Maryland
Davis Polk & Wardwell—New York
Chevron—California
Davis Public Relations and Marketing—
South Carolina
CHOOZE—Texas
Cisco Systems, Inc—California
D Magazine Partners—Texas
Dallas Engaged Professionals—Texas
Citi—New York
De La Torre Orthotics and Prosthetics,
Inc.—Pennsylvania
Citizen Paine—California
DeGarmo Creative—Virginia
Citizens Bank—Pennsylvania
DIRECTV—California
Clark-Harris & Co.—Texas
Discover—Illinois
ClickNathan.com—North Carolina
Discovery Communications—Maryland
Cognosco Learning—Massachusetts
DLA Piper—Maryland
Take the pledge. Get results. Lead the Change.
75
Donna Jo Tubb—Farmers
Insurance—Texas
Gammon & Grange, PC—Virginia
Dow Corning Corporation—Michigan
Garden State Woman—New Jersey
Downtown Partners Chicago—Illinois
General Mills—Minnesota
Drexel University—Pennsylvania
Genworth Financial—Virginia
Dual Currency Systems—Minnesota
GeoWhiz™ Universe, LLC—Texas
eBay Inc.—California
Give an Hour—Maryland
Eco Hatchery—California
Ecolab—Minnesota
Give Something Back Office
Supplies—California
Edgeworth Economics—Washington, D.C.
Giving Strong, Inc.—Maine
Edile LLC—Pennsylvania
Givkwik Inc—California
Entergy—Louisiana
Go Girl, Ltd.—Minnesota
Entrepreneurs Foundation—California
GolinHarris—New York
EP Photography—Texas
Goodify—Massachusetts
ErgoConcepts, LLC—Maryland
Google—California
Ernst & Young—New York
Governmental Strategic Solutions,
LLC—Illinois
Gap, Inc.—New York
Eryn Morgan: Organize
Creatively—Pennsylvania
ESC-US—New York
Grameen Foundation (Bankers without
Borders)—Washington, D.C.
Experian—California
Grant Thornton—Virginia
Farmers Bank & Trust—Texas
Green Hasson Janks—California
Fathom—Pennsylvania
Guardian Storage Solutions—Pennsylvania
Federal Market Group—Virginia
Harvard Business School Alumni Pro Bono
Consulting—Massachusetts
Fluffpop—Texas
Focus Forward, LLC—Wyoming
Harvey Lindsay Commercial Real
Estate—Virginia
Focused Management Solutions—Florida
Hasbro—Rhode Island
Fulbright & Jaworski LLP—Texas
HavServe—Maryland
Fundare Consulting—California
Hefren-Tillotson, Inc.—Pennsylvania
Fuse Corps—California
Herren Associates—Washington, D.C.
A BILLION + CHANGE
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Hidden Gems Solutions LLC—New York
KPMG—New York
Hilton Worldwide—Virginia
Kraft Foods Group—Illinois
Hitachi Foundation—Washington, D.C.
La Prima Food Group Inc—Maryland
HMC Architects—Ontario
Lantern Partners—Illinois
Hogan Lovells US LLP—Washington, D.C.
Laura E Asiala, Consultant—Michigan
Hotspot Digital—Washington, D.C.
LBG Associates—Connecticut
HP—California
let’s dabble, LLC—Illinois
HR Evolved—Texas
LinkedIN—California
HumCap—Texas
Lisa Cleri Reale & Associates—California
iHeartKids—Michigan
Main Event Caterers—Virginia
Ilumina Solutions—Virginia
Make + Made—Texas
Imperative—New York
Markosky Law Office—Pennsylvania
ING—Georgia
Marsh & McClennan—New York
Insite Interactive—Texas
MassChallenge—Massachusetts
Integrated Media, Inc.—Maryland
Intel—California
MasterCard Worldwide—Washington,
D.C.
IntelliDyne, LLC—Virginia
Matchstic—Georgia
iStrategyLabs—Washington, D.C.
Mattel, Inc.—California
ITT Exelis—Virginia
McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP—
Washington, D.C.
Ivy Cohen Corporate Communications—
New York
JK Group, Inc.—New Jersey
John D. Dudley Co.—Illinois
JP Morgan Chase & Co.—New York
KB Concepts—Virginia
Keller Williams Realty, Arlington—Virginia
Kennemetal Inc—Pennsylvania
McLeod-Grant Advisors—California
McPhillips, Roberts & Deans,
PLC—Virginia
Mediavine Marketing—Illinois
Medico—Texas
Medtronic, Inc.—Minnesota
Melissa Ott Design—Pennsylvania
Kiely Group—California
Melley Foot & Ankle
Center—Pennsylvania
Kilpatrick Townsend LLP—Georgia
MEplusYOU—Texas
Take the pledge. Get results. Lead the Change.
77
Merck & Co., Inc—New Jersey
Peoples State Bank—Louisiana
Microsoft—Washington
Pepco Holdings, Inc.—Washington, D.C.
Minnesota Timberwolves—Minnesota
PepsiCo—New York
Mizzen+Main—Texas
ML Dushkin—New Jersey
Perla Group—Coaching &
Consulting—Pennsylvania
Mondelez International—Illinois
Pfizer—New York
MonkeyTag—Texas
Phil and Company—New York
Morgan Stanley—New York
PIMCO—California
Moringa Living, LLC—Pennsylvania
Pinnacle Consulting ~ People First
LLC—Maryland
Morningstar, Inc.—Illinois
Motorola Mobility—Illinois
pip of Detroit Passion in
Philanthropy—Michigan
Mount Lebanon Baptist Church—Virginia
Pitney Bowes—Connecticut
MWW—New York
Pittsburgh Plastics Manufacturing
Inc—Pennsylvania
National Instruments—Texas
Nebraska Global—Nebraska
Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough,
LLP—South Carolina
Portfolio Recovery Associates,
Inc.—Virginia
ProTech Compliance—Pennsylvania
NetOffice Communications—Washington
PwC—New York
New Day Solutions—Florida
RAFFA, P.C.—Washington, D.C.
New York Life Insurance—New York
Red Thinking—Virginia
Nexus Energy—Texas
RF|Binder—New York
Northern Trust—Illinois
Riggs Partners—South Carolina
NPower—New York
Ritz-Carlton—Maryland
Openbox9—Washington, D.C.
Ross Akard Gallery—Texas
Orion Associates—Minnesota
Saavy Business Solutions—New York
Pacific Gas & Electric
Company—California
Sabre Holdings—Texas
PENCIL—New York
SAP—Pennsylvania
People Ideas & Culture—New York
Savii Group—California
Sagawa Jospin—Maryland
A BILLION + CHANGE
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SAVO—Illinois
Symphonic Source—Texas
Schmelzer Strategies—Maryland
Synthesis Solutions LLC—Illinois
ScoreMore LLC—Texas
Talking Eyes Media—New Jersey
SEAM International—California
Taproot Foundation—California
Segue Technologies, Inc.—Virginia
TCAC AmeriCorps—Tennessee
SenSource, Inc.—Ohio
Teach Fishing—California
Sequent Management Group—New York
Team Better Block—Texas
SevaYatra LLC—Texas
Tech Wildcatters—Texas
Shareea Butler Photography—Texas
Technology Spa—Texas
ShowClix—Pennsylvania
TEXAR Federal Credit Union—Texas
Sidley Austin LLP—New York
The Aidmatrix Foundation—Texas
Sigma-Aldrich—Missouri
The Cynti Oshin Group—Washington
Simply Fluid—Pennsylvania
The EGC Group—New York
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP—New
York
The Henker Group—Maryland
Slalom Consulting—Washington
The Pin Show—Texas
Social Impact Architects—Texas
The SISGI Group—New Jersey
Social Imprints—California
The Toro Company—Minnesota
Sonicanvas—Pennsylvania
The Village Salon at Long Valley—New
Jersey
SOURCE Non-Profit
Consulting—California
Spirit of Giving Network—Florida
Spriggs Law Group—Virginia
The Kinzey Company—North Carolina
Think Tank PR + Marketing +
Design—Illinois
Starbucks—Washington
Thriv: The Event Marketing Group—
Washington, D.C.
State Farm—Illinois
Tidewater Home Funding—Virginia
Stokes Consulting—Pennsylvania
TiER1 Performance
Solutions—Pennsylvania
Stout Risius Ross—New York
Studio V Design, LLC—Illinois
Tiffany Sopp School of
Dance—Pennsylvania
Symantec—California
Timberland—New Hampshire
Take the pledge. Get results. Lead the Change.
79
Total Comfort Solutions—South Carolina
Wells Fargo—North Carolina
Toyota—New York
Western Digital—California
Toys”R”Us, Inc.—New Jersey
Western Union—Colorado
Tri-State Wireline—Pennsylvania
Wheeler Interests—Virginia
TZOM Films—Texas
WHISPER globally inc—New York
UBM plc—California
Williams Group—Michigan
Universal Orlando—Florida
Workday—California
Universal Stewardheirship, Inc.—Arizona
World Healing and Restoration Ministry—
North Carolina
UPS—Georgia
USL Technology Consulting Inc.—
New York
Xenos Media Group, LLC—Illinois
Valentina Vavasis
Consulting—Pennsylvania
YourCause—Texas
VeraWorks—California
Zande + Newman Design—Louisiana
Verizon—New Jersey
Zola Design, LLC—Pennsylvania
Verynice—California
Cook Illinois Corporation—Illinois
Vima Solutions LLC—Texas
VMware—California
Gift Of A Helping Hand Charitable
TR—Michigan
Walker Sands Communications—Illinois
Cabinets Plus—Illinois
Wall, Einhorn & Chernitzer, P.C.—Virginia
The Resource Network—Virginia
Walmart—Arkansas
Gura Clinical Services, LLC—sIllinois
Washington Workplace—Virginia
LMI—Virginia
Yahoo!—New York
Z5 Consulting—Pennsylvania
Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP—New York
*This list does not include pledges that have elected to not be listed and the 1,200 architecture
and design firms represented by Public Architecture’s 1% program.
A BILLION + CHANGE
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POWERED BY:
with generous pro bono support
With additional founding
sponsorship from:
An initiative of:
Housed and
managed by:
Honorary Chairman:
Senator Mark Warner
A Billion + Change
@Points of Light
1625 K Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006