The Ripple Effect of Pro Bono Work

I am so fortunate to have been overseeing corporate volunteer programs for more than a decade. And almost without exception, I feel that I get more than I give. But every once in a while, I get something more -- that unexpected emotional jolt.

This time it happened as I entered the room for what we at Schwab have dubbed our Pro Bono Challenge. The air in our normally subdued conference center was electric. Scores of my Schwab colleagues were engaged in animated discussions with the leaders from 15 nonprofits. Representatives from organizations such as Kiva Jewish Vocational Services, EARN, Larkin Street Youth Services, Boys and Girls Clubs of Silicon Valley, and others had descended on our San Francisco headquarters to join forces with some of Schwab’s brightest minds, to discuss and try to solve their biggest business challenges.

Let me back up. The Pro Bono Challenge is Schwab’s first-ever skills-based volunteering event, taking place in six cities nationwide during the months of October and November. Altogether this fall, roughly 300 Schwab employees have engaged in flash consulting sessions with 50 nonprofits, delivering more than $350,000 worth of consulting services.

Skills-based volunteering has been around for a while and is gaining traction every year. Clearly it’s a boon to a nonprofit that doesn’t have adequate resources to devote to marketing, technology, human resources and other critical tasks. (On average, nonprofits devote between 2 and 8 percent of their operating budget to infrastructure; the private sector spends on average 20 percent.) According to the 2011 Deloitte Impact Survey, 72 percent of nonprofits strongly believe that they could increase their social impact with the support of skilled volunteers, and 90 percent say that they need more volunteer help.

What we also know, however, and what became strikingly apparent at our session in San Francisco, is that the employee volunteers benefit as well. Close to 100 percent of Schwab volunteers considered the event to be a useful professional development opportunity. Creative thinking, problem solving, and collaboration were all cited as top skills they used and strengthened.

For my part, I worked with a team from KIVA, the organization that facilitates interest-free microloans to entrepreneurs world-wide. Thousands of successful individuals, from farmers to merchants to students in the most remote places on the globe all got their start thanks to KIVA.   But because the organization operates on a shoestring, they continually strive for operational efficiencies. On this particular day, our goal was to seek out ways to clarify and simplify the online lending process, thereby reducing the amount of hands-on support the KIVA team would need to provide. I was fascinated to learn that KIVA relies on traditional ‘know-your-borrower’ criteria, requiring applicants to secure 20 to 30 percent of their monetary support from family and friends. For me, coming from a highly regulated industry, it was incredibly refreshing, and moving, to hear them talk about the ‘handshake’ values that launched so many of our parents and grandparents.

For more than an hour we asked questions, and volleyed ideas back and forth. Attentions were riveted, antennae tuned, and brains worked furiously to find fresh solutions. It was pure, unselfish collaboration between parties with very different backgrounds and perspectives.

And now, two weeks after the fact, it’s the emotional impact that sticks with me. Partly it’s the memory of seeing my colleagues so engaged with their nonprofit partners. And partly it’s the knowledge that we were able to come together for a greater good. But mostly, I think, it’s that indescribable feeling you get when you know that your skills and knowledge are being put to their highest use. As professionals, I think that’s what we strive for every day.

Carrie Schwab Pomerantz is president of Charles Schwab Foundation and senior vice president at Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., Member SIPC. Charles Schwab Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, private foundation that is not part of Schwab or its parent company, The Charles Schwab Corporation.