Today marks the end of Pro Bono Week. Each year in October, groups come together to highlight the need for and role of pro bono volunteerism in local communities.
A pro bono volunteer is usually a professional or corporation that makes a intellectual capital investment in a local organization. i.e. an accountant donates their time to help a nonprofit review their budget for next year.
We decided to post about Pro Bono week on the last day because UjimaSouth is working with people to develop their giving plans for 2016. While you are thinking about your giving levels for various organizations next year stop and consider how the groups might benefit even more from some of your professional expertise.
Here are a few ways we think nonprofits in the South can benefit from pro bono volunteers:
- Budget analysis. Many small to mid sized nonprofits do not have the infrastructure or funds to hire someone to help them develop a smart budget, especially those interested in expansion.
- Social media. Most clients of any organization is on social media in some way. Platforms like Facebook have made it increasingly difficult to reach followers. Investing a few hours to help a nonprofit’s team learn new tips would make a significant impact on their social media footprint.
- Marketing. Nonprofits usually have no trouble finding clients — finding supporters is much more difficult. Nonprofits must be knowledgable in different ways to tell the story of their work, especially their successes. This is a skill set that small nonprofits rarely have a budget for.
- Leadership Development. Nonprofit turnover is high. People usually begin working at a nonprofit because they are passionate; they leave when overworked and underpaid. Offering mentoring, motivational speeches and job shadowing is a way for corporations to invest in nonprofit staff when resources are not available for increased salary.
There are so many ways professionals and corporations can invest their time and extra resources in local nonprofit organizations. The list above is a place to start. Let’s take the end of Pro Bono Week and launch our ideas for next year.
We want to know:
What types of pro bono volunteering do you provide in your community/via your company?
How would you add to this list?
UjimaSouth looks forward to adding to this list.