Skills-Based Volunteerism: Barriers & Benefits

An article recently published by the Center for Effective Philanthropy discusses the "Power of Connecting Grantees to Skills-Based Volunteers." 

The author of this article makes the case that connecting skills-based volunteers to local nonprofits does three things:

• Builds community
• Engages young donors
• Builds nonprofit capacity

Last year, The HCA Foundation hosted a skills-based volunteer event called "Hack for the Community" to connect local nonprofits to HCA IT professionals.  Our goals for this volunteer event included the three benefits outlined in this article.  The volunteers built IT solutions to expand the capacity of local nonprofits.  The event provided and opportunity for new employees to engage with community organizations. And, many IT professionals continued to volunteer with their Hack for the Community nonprofits after the volunteer event was over.  We hope that these relationships develop into the goal of building community.

Many local nonprofits are seeking out ways to build community, engage young donors, and build up their capacity.  If skilled volunteers can accomplish these three goals, then the question is, how can local nonprofits engage more skilled volunteers?

• What are the barriers to engaging skilled volunteers?
• How are local nonprofits currently benefiting from skilled volunteers?
• What types of skilled volunteers do local nonprofits need?