Skills-Based Volunteer Project Advisors

Save to Favorites

Skills-Based Volunteering (SBV)

...is a specialized program of the Covestro Institute for Engagement at the Bayer Center for Nonprofit Management of Robert Morris University that encourages community, engagement, and innovation between corporations and nonprofit organizations. Consulting teams of three to four employees are trained to apply their professional competencies to a specific challenge facing a nonprofit. The trained team then works with a chosen organization and addresses or solves the issue. They help a nonprofit have the right information and tools to make good decisions.

...are Executive Service Corps (ESC) volunteers who provide management, consulting, facilitation, training, and team advising. For one SBV project, they give 30 to 40 hours of volunteer time over a four-month period, managing the team of employees, serving as translators between the nonprofits and corporate teams, troubleshooting during projects, refining project development, coaching team members, encouraging regular and clear communication, and ensuring deliverables.

...are specific for this position and project. They include:

• A working knowledge of both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors
• Project management
• Clear and regular oral and written communication
• Ensuring timely and complete project deliverables
• Defining meaningful and attainable scopes of work
• Revision of scope of work if needed

...are ongoing, but project-based. They include a meaningful relationship with the community at large. As a project advisor, you will:

• Complete a volunteer profile and skills survey
• Attend "How to Become a Consultant" training
• Shadow an active project advisor for one project
• Commit to up to two SBV projects annually
• Attend each project launch and celebration to which you are assigned
• Attend at least one nonprofit site visit per project

...vary per organization. Their needs, combined with the skill sets of corporate employees, develop targeted solutions for scopes of work that focus on:

• Marketing plans
• Financial analysis
• Market research & planning
• Process improvement
• Facilities and operational management
• Tool creation & data analysis