Every day, nonprofit groups around the country are meeting a wide variety of community needs, often with volunteer and corporate philanthropic assistance. Yet while these organizations are doing important and innovative work, they often cannot take their ideas to scale, in part because they lack the professional skills needed to operate as efficiently as possible, or to successfully plan for their growth.

To help rectify this situation, The President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation, and the Corporation for National and Community Service, initiated a challenge to leverage $1 billion in skilled volunteering and pro bono services from the corporate community.

This page highlights resources to assist corporations and service organizations who want to leverage the power of pro bono work.

New Whitepaper from the Taproot Foundation:
Pro Bono Strategic Consulting: The $1.5 Billion Opportunity (PDF)

What is Pro Bono Volunteering?

• Pro Bono FAQ - Detailed answers to some common questions about pro bono service.
• Making the Case for Pro Bono Volunteering - This comprehensive introduction to the topic includes: Toward a New Definition of Pro Bono; Win-Win Solution Overview; Research Proves Results; Research Shows Workforce Benefits; and Kinds of Services Nonprofits Need Most.
• Pro Bono Examples - Short spotlights of six companies that are making a difference with pro bono work.
• Pro Bono In-Depth Case Studies: Ad Council, Harvard Business School Community Partners, Monitor, Pentagram

How to Get Started

• Pro Bono / In-Kind / Donated Services for Mission-Based Organizations - Strategic tips from Jayne Cravens

• For Corporations and Businesses
• The Promise Employee Skill-Based Volunteering Holds for Employee Skills and Nonprofit Partner Effectiveness: A Review of Current Knowledge
• Resources for developing Employee Volunteer Programs
• Key Considerations for Launching a Skills-Based Volunteer Program
• For Nonprofits
• Business World Travel Kit - Learn to approach business leaders and present your cause.
• SmartVolunteer - if you need professional help but are not yet partnering with local corporations, check out SmartVolunteer to find talented individuals who want to help.
• Strengthening Leadership and Human Resources Capacity in the Nonprofit Sector: Pro Bono as a Powerful Solution - Explores in-depth the human resource challenges nonprofits face and notes that human resources strategies and skills are highly transferable across the sectors.
• For Individuals
• 10 Tips on How to Volunteer Your Business Skills to a Nonprofit

In the News: Benefits and Challenges of Pro Bono and Skills-Based Volunteering

• More than a helping hand for charities - Spotlights the rising popularity of pro bono, skills-based, and smart volunteerism.
• Got Skills? - Explains why pro bono work is as good for corporations as it is for nonprofits.
• Seeing Volunteers in a New Light - Outlines the benefits, as well as the challenges, of implementing skills-based employee volunteer programs.
• Volunteerism 2.0: Exploring a new way of lending our time for good - Explains how pro bono is more than skills-based volunteering.
• Skills-based volunteer programs benefit both sides of equation - Explains how corporate employees develop leadership skills by volunteering, which is more cost effective and impactful than training programs.
• The Latest Office Perk: Getting Paid to Volunteer - Emphasizes the importance that "millenials" place on working for a company that gives back to the community.
• Missing Out: New Deloitte Survey Finds Most Corporations Overlook Cost-Effective Opportunity to Unlock New Training and Development Resources
• New Survey Finds Skills-Based Volunteerism Valued, Underutilized - Analyzes the Deloitte survey and discusses the need for companies to become adept at leveraging their community investments to drive key business goals. This article from the Case Foundation includes links to other pro bono articles and resources.
• Volunteer Programs May Afford Effective Training Solutions - Expands on the idea that pro bono and skills-based volunteering contribute to employee development.

Effective Practices

• Establishing pro bono service for nonprofit organizations with corporate counsel
• Establishing pro bono service to deliver marketing and communications assistance to local nonprofit organizations
• Encouraging pro bono service in the advertising and communications industry
• Establishing pro bono service with a design firm
• Encouraging pro bono service with alumni from the business and management sector
• Instituting pro bono service with an intermediary organization
• Offering decentralized pro bono service with a management consulting firm

More Resources

• Taproot Foundation - Nonprofits can apply for a service grant here, corporations can learn to start or strengthen a prop bono program, and individual professionals can find volunteer opportunities.
• Pro Bono Action Tank - Be sure and check out the Resources section and the Blog.
• Resources on Corporate Partnerships