National Volunteer Week Twitter Chat: Activating Civic Engagement through Skills-Based Volunteering

In honor of National Volunteer Week, Common Impact is hosting a Twitter chat on Tuesday, April 25th at 12 pm EDT to explore how corporate skills-based volunteer programs activate civic engagement in employee volunteers.  Skills-based volunteerism gives employees a chance to roll up their sleeves and truly understand the challenges facing nonprofit organizations and the social sector.  The deeper understanding and relationships that are built through skills-based volunteering activate and direct employees passions and talent towards the community issues over the long term – transforming employees into life-long volunteers, board members, and donors.   

Key Takeaways:

• The basics of skills-based volunteerism and the benefits for companies, employees, and nonprofits
• The ways in which SBV activates corporate employees through strong relationships with nonprofit leaders, their own professional development benefits, and through an understanding of how they can support their community
• How continued engagement of corporate volunteers can lead to long-term impact for nonprofit partners
• Best practices around how to make skills-based engagements both successful and meaningful for both the corporate and nonprofit sector

Our Panelists: 

• Yvonne Siu, Senior Manager, Corporate Resources and Programs, Corporate Institute at Points of Light
• Amanda Lenaghan, Manager at Schwab Community Services & Charles Schwab Foundation
• Nate Marsh, Managing Director of Business Intelligence and Whitney Buckley, Director of Marketing at Citizen Schools
• Sam Fowler, Director of Development at Boys and Girls Club of Greater Scottsdale

Who Should Participate? 

Nonprofits, companies, and individuals who want to make a difference on and around National Volunteer Week, and are interested in learning how skills-based volunteering programs can increase corporate civic engagement and create meaningful volunteer experiences.   How to Join:      Log onto Twitter on Tuesday, April 25th at 12 pm EDT/ 9 am PDT and follow the hashtags #givingskills and #NVW. Our questions will be posted to the Panelists who will answer Q1 with A1, and Q2 with A2, but we encourage participants to get involved in the conversation as well! Remember to always include the hashtags #givingskills and #NVW and feel free to talk to others in the chat, ask questions, provide your own resources and be social!   National Volunteer Week, brought to you by Points of Light, is an opportunity to recognize and thank volunteers who lend their time, talent, voice and support to causes they care about in their community. Their stories can serve to inspire others to find ways to take action that creates change.  Service Unites, the theme for National Volunteer Week captures the power of change makers to come together across divides to build stronger, more vibrant communities through service.