Recently, I was browsing Patagonia’s website when I stumbled upon a link about putting your talents into action to make a positive impact. That all sounded great to me, so I clicked on Catchfire.org and discovered a whole world of match-making for business professionals like myself, who want to lend their unique skills to non-profits in need on a project basis.
Catchafire.org matches skilled professional volunteers with nonprofit organizations to help address their diverse needs, all done virtually. The online platform gives nonprofits access to more than 100 pre-scoped projects, such as creating an elevator pitch, organizing your business plan, conducting a board assessment, and developing a marketing plan.
The platform works by helping nonprofits post a customized project, screen volunteer candidates, and match volunteers to projects. According to their website at the time of writing this article, they’ve successfully helped 6,000 non-profits on 20,000 projects, saving an estimated $100,000,000!
In my case, having a strategy and marketing background, it was easy to find plenty of impactful and intellectually stimulating challenges that my skills could solve a hard-to-fill gap in several non-profit organizations.
It was surprisingly easy to create a profile and start browsing the hundreds of curated projects available. Initially, it was hard to choose just one, but I wanted to test the waters and not over-extend my capacity since I was also working full-time as a management consultant.
Once I heard back and landed the gig on a marketing plan for a nationally recognized organization that needed a marketing plan for a new volunteer leadership program. We had our first call with the person leading the project, who outlined the background and objectives the marketing plan needed, and we were off!
My experience was terrific; the organization was grateful for my help, and I was equally honored to contribute in such a way to an impactful cause.
I learned a great deal about balancing the needs of all the stakeholders involved in non-profits and ultimately helped to launch an exciting program that has gone on to make a tremendous impact on local communities.
Since many of us are hunkered down at home and need something to keep us challenged, I would recommend taking a look at the vast array of projects that may spark your excitement to lend a hand.
By Ian Crosno
About the author, Ian Crosno is a leading strategic business leader and implementation expert with hundreds of successfully completed projects during the past 20 years with roles in management consulting, multinationals, start-ups, and non-profits. Striving to lead with humility, Ian works with business leaders around the world who want to establish lasting.
