For many, October means autumn – changing of the leaves,shorter days, cooler nights and Halloween as a few examples. For SAP however, October means volunteering, and lots of it, during our annual Month of Service.
Month of Service, now in its 9th year, is SAP’ssignature volunteering initiative, and has become a vital part of the SAP DNA. Across the globe, volunteers donateapproximately 50,000 hours and take part in custom volunteering events designedto make an impact on our non-profit partners, help the community and create memorable initiatives that are enjoyable for our volunteers.
Skills to help the World Run Better
The value of skills based volunteering for our non-profit partners is immense as they are able to tap into numerous skills of SAP volunteers including legal,
marketing, communications, public relations, sales, HR, development and programming professionals. For many of our partner organizations, these skills simply do not exist within their framework, and to engage with volunteers on this level truly makes an impact on their operations.
On the volunteer side as well, skills based volunteering can be incredibly rewarding. In many cases, skills based volunteering involves working more closely with an organization than a traditional volunteer activity, and provides an in depth look at both the organization, and also a closer look at the sector or issue the partner is serving. Additionally, it provides an opportunity for younger professionals to hone their experience and skills, or for senior employees to share their skills and provide coaching and mentoring in their area of expertise.
We want to volunteer with YOU!
The most successful examples of skills based volunteering occur when there is a partnership between the charitable organization and the skills based volunteers. Unlike traditional volunteerism, skills based volunteering may initially take some time to define projects, scope, logistics and approach, but the impact these projects can make can far outweigh the initial time investment.
As SAP CSR continues to evolve our skills based volunteering program, we would like to invite you – our grant and community partners – to explore areas within your organization or programs that could benefit from SAP employee volunteer skills. We are always looking for exciting and engaging programs to offer to our dedicated group of volunteers and would love to showcase the incredible work that our partners are doing across North America.
To discuss your skills based volunteering projects or ideas with us, contact your local grants liaison or email csr.na@sap.com.
Erin Gillard, CSR Canada lead and 'Month of Service Veteran'
Additional Reading and Resources:
Volunteer Canada in Partnership with Carleton University: Skills-Based Volunteering: A Discussion Paper:
http://volunteer.ca/content/skills-based-volunteering-discussion-paper
Points of Light Network: Skills Based Volunteering: http://www.pointsoflight.org/skills-based-volunteering
Hands on Network: Skills Based Volunteering: http://www.handsonnetwork.org/nationalprograms/skillsbasedvolunteering
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