6 Million Business Professionals Offer Their Skills Pro Bono, but Where’s the Line of Nonprofit Executives Signing Up?

LinkedIn reports that there are 6 million professionals who say they want to use their business skills for social good, but only 50,000 pro bono engagement opportunities have been posted by social change organizations. The leading organizations in pro bono and skills-based volunteering service want to know why.

Last week The Taproot Foundation convened 65 leaders of the pro bono movement in Chicago for the 3rd annual U.S. Pro Bono Summit. This invitation-only gathering included senior leaders from both the corporate and nonprofit sector whose programs connect nonprofits with business professionals with critical resources via pro bono consulting. From June 2-4, candid discussion ranged from how to identify the right corporate program model, how technology has advanced the sector, and how board engagement can boost the pro bono movement. With the needs of social change organizations at the forefront of every discussion, the single most urgent question discussed among pro bono service providers became apparent:

How can we connect the millions of ready, willing and able business professionals with the hundreds of thousands of nonprofit leaders that have specific needs in marketing, IT, finance, HR, strategy, and more?

Two solutions

Solution 1: Just do it! Social change organizations can leverage one of the existing resources by posting a project today. Pro bono service organizations participating in the U.S. Summit, such as Common Impact, Billion+ Change, Stone Soup Films, and PYXERA Global are working to make “pro bono raising” as important as fundraising in the minds of strategic nonprofit executives and leaders nationwide. Identify the first project and get critical pro bono services today by posting a scope of work that your nonprofit needs to accomplish:

• Taproot Foundation online pro bono marketplace: Taproot+
• LinkedIn for Good Volunteer marketplace: LinkedIn for Nonprofits
• Other resources for pro bono service: here

Solution 2: Contribute to our research. LBG Associates Pro Bono Survey for Nonprofits

Please help us understand what’s keeping nonprofit professionals from engaging these 6 million professionals. Take this survey (20-30 minutes to complete).

Survey Deadline: Friday, June 12th.

We, and every attendee at the US Pro Bono Summit, are committed to helping social change organizations connect with business talent available to advance the critical missions of organizations around the world.

More information

Taproot Foundation: Learn more about the U.S. Summit and its supporters: U.S. Pro Bono Summit

About the Survey: The LBG Associates Pro Bono Survey for Nonprofits is open to employees of nonprofit organizations. The study is being conducted by LBG Associates in partnership with the Taproot Foundation, Points of Light, and Common Impact. It aims to understand how nonprofit professionals are accessing or not accessing pro bono business talent and where the barriers to further engagement continue to exist. You don’t have to have used pro bono services to participate. It’s just as helpful to understand why you haven’t used pro bono service or how it hasn’t worked for you.