Who bears the cost of building stronger, more resilient communities?

The pandemic challenges us to take a hard look at everything, including the relationships between corporations, volunteers, and nonprofit organizations — and who is bearing the load of supporting communities. 

Magic happens in the space between nonprofits, volunteers, and community members. Nonprofits tackle important issues that may not immediately result in profit and that the government is not able to address; they can take a longer-term view than corporate executives, who are beholden to quarterly shareholder reports.

STEM education offers an example: nonprofits such as FIRST Robotics and Code.org have been leaders in the field, engaging and supporting learners of all backgrounds to build critical STEM skills. For-profit organizations are not able to innovate in such a way because of the mandate to quickly drive revenue and to focus on solutions that support education standards. 

I run a global technology education nonprofit and one of our core pillars is engaging industry employees as technical mentors for our participants, most of whom are girls and women from under-resourced communities. These community members urgently need access to high-quality online learning during COVID.  

The companies we speak to are looking for ways to engage employees and improve morale. Their employees want to contribute their skills, feel connected to others, and do more purposeful work. Virtual volunteering offers some meaningful opportunities to do this, but at the same time, budgets have been cut. Companies don’t have funding to support employee engagement; their corporate philanthropy dollars have been dedicated elsewhere, whether it’s to COVID relief or supporting social justice — and rightly so.

Community issues are social justice issues, so I see these initiatives as both intersectional and interwoven. At our organization, volunteer mentors play a vital role in delivering our mission of equipping young people with the skills they need to tackle COVID-like challenges in the future. Our data strongly shows that mentorship is key; learning gains are most significant when teams of girls have mentorship, and teams with mentors have a 95% completion rate.

During more stable times, this is what corporate-community partnership has looked like: 

Corporations, volunteers, and community members all enjoy benefits that usually outweigh the costs. For corporate partners, the biggest costs are financial: the employees’ time to volunteer, and, in the best cases, financial support for the organizations and nonprofits that coordinate and enable these rich experiences. If the corporation doesn’t cover the cost of the collaboration, then foundations and individual donors cover the programmatic costs.

The picture looks very different during COVID. Our entire world looks and feels different on so many levels — including the interplay between industry and the community. More than ever, community members need support and employees need inspiration and a sense of purpose. But corporate budgets are tight, time is scarce, and cognitive energy is limited.

As a result, a gap is emerging for nonprofits, and for small organizations in particular.  Many of them can’t keep meeting the critical needs of their communities without financial support.

I understand that when your house is on fire you don't go into the garden and start planting fire-resistant plants. You focus on putting out the fire. We all need to focus on the fire right now. But firefighting for more than a year is exhausting.

Here are some steps we can take to collectively and more sustainably strengthen our community fabric:

For corporations: The first step is to help your employees engage. We are all carrying double or triple our normal loads right now, so if your employees are volunteering their time to support their communities, please make sure that they are compensated for this time, at a minimum. Ideally, make room in their workloads and performance expectations. Research shows that skill-based volunteering results in healthier, more engaged, creative, productive, and empathetic employees. 

Another step could be to match your employees’ time with donations to the organizations they volunteer with. 

Finally, take the time to recognize the situation that organizations in your community are facing. Honest conversations and empathy will be the bedrock on which we will rebuild.

For nonprofits: Don’t be shy. Share the challenges you’re going through with your corporate partners and collaborate on creative solutions to fill resource gaps. 

We need to keep moving, together, to build more resilient communities and a stronger society.