How VM Summit 16 Speaker Alicia Koch of Groupon "Scouts Out" CSR Innovation

On October 25, 2016, CSR and nonprofit professionals will come together in Chicago at VM Summit 16 to talk corporate volunteerism. In this series of Q&A blog posts, we’ll introduce you to the numerous experts who will make an appearance as Summit speakers. Get your VM Summit 16 ticket.

Name: Alicia Koch

Title: Program Manager, Employee & Community Engagement

Company: Groupon

VM Summit 16 Session: “Scout Out” Innovation

What is your session about? And what do you hope attendees will get out of it?

My session, in partnership with the Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana, will take a look at our signature skills-based volunteer event — “Scout Out Engineering” — along with an overview of how both Groupon and the Girl Scouts are using VolunteerMatch to recruit and track volunteers across our programs. Groupon will host its fifth “Scout Out” this fall, hosting over 300 scouts over the last four years for a fun-filled day of STEM programming with volunteers from our technical engineering teams.

My hope is that attendees will be encouraged to think outside the box and test out those crazy ideas when working with other companies or nonprofits to create the most impactful and mutually beneficial community partnerships. Who would have thought that bringing 80 middle school girls to a corporate office (with hot glue guns involved) would be such a great idea!

What is the biggest misconception people have about the corporate sector?

From my perspective, I feel that the biggest misconception of the corporate sector is that we have it all figured out – when realistically, nobody does. The way we do business has completely transformed, and we need to keep refining programs and partnerships and be transparent with each other in what’s working and what’s not.

What are you most looking forward to about VM Summit 16?

Groupon is proud to partner with VolunteerMatch, bringing corporate and nonprofit leaders to Chicago to rethink how we are using technology to reconnect people with their local communities. I am excited to hear from Jay Klauminzer, our VP of Sales and Merchant Operations & the Executive Sponsor of Groupon’s Employee Volunteer Program, in the opening keynote address. Jay has been incredibly supportive and active in this kind of work, and he provides an interesting perspective as a corporate leader, small business owner, and employee volunteer that I think attendees will really enjoy.

To learn more about Alicia, check out her bio on our Summit speakers’ page. And if you haven’t yet, register today for VM Summit 16!