Volunteering & Community

Taproot has long made the case that a strong corporate pro bono program is a triple win—nonprofits receive the support they need, companies build deeper relationships with their communities, and employees have the opportunity to apply their skills in new and meaningful ways. While there is a robust foundation of evidence supporting the claim that pro bono is a powerful social impact strategy, practitioners often struggle to articulate the business case for pro bono.

The NASCAR Green Race for Trees Campaign – a sustainability partnership between the Arbor Day Foundation, NASCAR, Texas A&M Forest Service, Texas A&M AgriLife and Harris County Master Gardener Association - will distribute 500 new trees this year to homeowners in Houston.

Xylem employees in Germany have been active during Xylem Watermark’s October Month of Service and have engaged children in their volunteer efforts. Last week, the Ludwigsburg site participated in a creative event, where they built a beautiful wooden shed at a youth farm for local children. Their neighbors at the Langenhagen site supported the Friends Children Forest in Hannover by planting trees and restoring a stream. Both the Ludswigburg and Langenhagen teams are showing how their volunteer efforts are improving their communities during Xylem’s Global Month of Service!

Happy Pro Bono Week! Pro Bono Week recognizes the skilled volunteers who put their talents to work making a positive difference in communities around the world. Common Impact is excited to celebrate the nonprofits, volunteers and leaders that make pro bono so successful - not just in October, but throughout the year!

AEG’s LA Galaxy Foundation welcomed more than 100 high school female athletes for the inaugural LA Galaxy High School Girls Summit presented by Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) at StubHub Center on Saturday, October 13.

In recent years, the push for businesses to be about more than business and embrace a social purpose has risen from a murmur among millennial workers and the occasional CEO to a resounding call across the business world. Executives, employees, consumers, and even investors are looking beyond the bottom line and asking, “What does it really mean for companies to have social impact?”

Is that a space shuttle? No, it’s a pirate ship! Oh, wait, could it be a castle? It could be any one of these and more, as KaBOOM! makes its way to Wayside Altamira Academy (AMA), to help enhance outdoor play time, imagination and fun for pre-K to fifth grade students in Austin, Texas.

This week, social good organizations across four continents will receive pro bono services during Pro Bono Week. This annual celebration of the pro bono ethic honors thousands of professionals who volunteer their skills and expertise to support nonprofits all around the world. Pro Bono Week reminds us how crucial and important skilled volunteers are in helping to build the capacity of the social sector. By donating their time and expertise, pro bono volunteers have the chance to give back, connect with their communities, and deepen their skillsets.

Common Impact, a national leader in skills-based volunteerism, Social Venture Partners Boston, a nonprofit focused on local engaged philanthropy, and Impact 2030, a collaborative that uses corporate volunteerism to advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, demonstrated the power of cross-sector collaboration and skilled volunteerism through Skills for Cities Boston, which took place on September 25, 2018 at The Boston Fed.

According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, a person dies by suicide every seven hours in the state of Michigan and it is the 10th leading cause of death in the state.

“A lot of people think they can beat mental illness on their own, so they suffer in silence or take their own lives,” explains Jazmyne Kincaid, FCA US employee at the Jefferson North Assembly Plant in Detroit. “I hope to be a helping hand to someone struggling with a mental illness and share with them the resources around us that can help guide them toward health.”