Common Impact and S&P Global Launch Skills-Based Day of Service Program

NEW YORK, August 8, 2017 /3BL Media/ -- Common Impact, a nonprofit that pioneered corporate skills-based volunteering, partnered with S&P Global on its first ever skills-based Day of Service program designed to build the infrastructure and know-how of local STEM-focused nonprofits. Employees from S&P Global supported data visualization initiatives for three nonprofits in Charlottesville, Denver and Houston.

“A nonprofit’s program staff can spend up to 25% of their time on manual data management and analysis and trying to understand the efficacy and impact of their services,” shared Danielle Holly, Common Impact’s CEO. “S&P Global realizes how critical this work is in meeting community needs effectively, and saw an opportunity to channel its deep data and analytical expertise to make this work a lot easier and more efficient for nonprofits.”

S&P Global employees voluntarily dedicate a day each May to give back to the communities, towns and neighborhoods where they live and work. This year, S&P Global employees committed over 100 hours of service during this day of service.

“S&P Global is committed to being a responsible neighbor in the markets in which we serve and live,” says Louise Raymond, Vice President of Corporate Responsibility at S&P Global. “We’re excited to join with Common Impact to create an opportunity for our employees to leverage their data and analytical skills to make a real difference.”

Skills-based volunteering is designed to bring together the unique skills of the corporate and nonprofit sector in order to solve community challenges. In addition to the capacity building injection it provides nonprofits, skills-based volunteering enables employees to give back in a new way – while deepening their skill set with new challenges outside of their day to day environment.

During the Day of Service, S&P Global data specialists worked with ReadyKids to create a dynamic, online infographic on program data, with OWL to visualize key organizational metrics on their website, and with Girls, Inc on defining foundational program metrics. These projects represent a new and growing focus for corporate skills-based volunteering, as data management and measurement in the nonprofit sector becomes more critical to sector leaders and funders.

Jacki Bryant, Executive Director of ReadyKids underscored the importance of S&P’s work on the project to its mission. "Every line of data you looked at represented a person who we serve,” she stated.  “Understanding the data will actually help us give the kids better service. [What the volunteers did] will affect their lives. That's what's the most important to us."

About Common Impact
Common Impact is a nationally-recognized nonprofit that works to build a society in which individuals and businesses invest their unique talents towards a shared purpose: strengthening the local communities in which we live and work. Founded in 2000, Common Impact has partnered with Fortune 500 companies and hundreds of the country’s leading nonprofit organizations to create this transformational change through skills-based volunteering. Learn more about Common Impact’s services, impact, and clients.

Inquiries please contact Lauren Chasanoff (lchasanoff@commonimpact.org).