Inspiring Change Through Skills-Based Service

A Billion + Change, a growing national campaign to mobilize billions of dollars of pro bono and skills-based volunteer (SBV) services from corporate America, is bringing into sharp relief the valuable role SBV programs play in building the capacity of nonprofit organizations to meet community needs at home and around the world. In less than a year, nearly 200 companies have pledged an estimated $1.8 billion worth of time and talent to nonprofits, keeping the campaign on track to inspire 500 companies to create or expand a SBV program in their workplace by 2013.

Campaign pledge companies like Capital One, HP, Deloitte and IBM shared the inspiration driving their SBV programs, and how they are achieving high-impact, transformative change through service at a special Pre-conference session, “Leading Service and Inspiring Change.”

“At HP, we ask ourselves how we can harness all the skills of our company to give back to our communities. For example, HP worked with nonprofits and ministries of health on a pro bono basis to develop a system to verify counterfeit drugs abroad and help save 700,000 lives lost every year due to counterfeit drugs. The concept of shared value to give back to both your company and your communities is very important,” said Caroline Barlerin, director, Communications and Global Community Involvement for HP.

PepsiCo, Kraft Foods, GlaxoSmithKline and the Advisory Board Company also discussed how their programs are addressing critical issues such as global health and education, water resource management and improving STEM education through skills-based service.

Today, Pranav Kothari, managing director of Mission Measurement, will lead a dynamic conversation about innovations in business and philanthropy and how corporate innovation can spark broader social change in “Beyond Business as Usual: Leading Innovation and Driving Social Change.”

These sessions are the latest in a national tour of A Billion + Change events that will culminate in a White House Forum on June 27, at which the campaign will start to imagine the phenomenal possibilities of collective action, with 500 companies working in partnership with nonprofit professionals to change communities for the better.

To learn more about A Billion + Change and to take the pledge for free, visit: www.abillionpluschange.org.