Ginny Volponi is the 2018 Volunteer of the Year for the Covestro Center for Community Engagement. After retiring from BNY Mellon as Chief of Staff for Global Securities Operations, she has been an integral part of our Executive Service Corps (ESC).

She has served as a Project Advisor and Cohort Coordinator for the SkillShare program, a consultant with the Bayer Center, a Ready to Compete captain, and a BoardsWork! facilitator for nonprofits. She also helped to refine the business plan for the Covestro Center’s SkillShare program.

Her investment in the community is deep, and her guidance in shaping our programs is critical.

She has worked with Providence Connections, Propel Schools, Heritage Community Initiatives, and coordinated full SkillShare cohorts through PNC and Covestro’s SkillShare partnerships with us. Ginny has also served as a nonprofit consultant for the Western PA School for Blind Children and others. She is now working with our Ready to Compete program, coordinating the efforts of volunteers in delivering financial management assistance to nonprofits.

She has served on the boards for POWER and Treasure House Fashions and led the community outreach committee for the Pittsburgh Women’s Initiative Network at BNY Mellon.

Thank you, Ginny, for your gifts of service to the nonprofit community, of passion to strengthen partnerships with the corporate community, and of leadership to shape and grow our work internally.

 

Recently the Foundation Center and GuideStar have joined forces to become Candid., a single nonprofit organization dedicated to connecting people who want to change the world to the resources they need to do it. Their release announced, “Although our two organizations have always shared a commitment to the same values, becoming Candid will allow us to combine our knowledge and passions to start a new era—and allow us to do more than we could ever do apart.”

What does this mean for you as a nonprofit advocate? You can research organizations, find funding, explore relevant issues, improve your organization, use data to tell your story, and more. To learn about this merger, visit their FAQ page. [Read more…]

The words “corporate social responsibility” have been a buzz in business for decades. But what do they really mean? And why do they matter?

Alessadra Cavalluzzi, author of A Million Dollars in Change, writes that, while CSR is coveted by employees, “fewer than 10 percent of midsize companies use their community involvement programs to drive employee engagement.” She notes that many of these business models don’t have the resources dedicated to manage this sometimes complex initiative.

Deloitte also released a survey in 2018 that was very clear in its tone and message: “Millennials’ opinions about business’ motivations and ethics, which had trended up the past two years, retreated dramatically this year, as did their sense of loyalty.”

This is bad news for business, and communities themselves. So what needs to change? Priorities.

Chief Executive for Corporate Purpose, or CECP, emphasizes the power of cross-sector partnership by “infusing the needs of the stakeholder — including communities, customers, employees, and investors — into core business strategies.” Their comprehensive interactive report makes a solid business case for CSR and what that looks like in today’s amorphous trends and forecasts. It focuses on topics like long-term strategies vs. short-term budget pressures, demographic shifts in the workforce, employee empowerment and equity, trust, and a call to action, just to name a few.

Corporate social responsibility is here to stay, and businesses need to place an authentic amount of energy and effort into developing their community footprint. Robert Morris University’s Covestro Center for Community Engagement is here to help guide this movement of authentically and strategically investing in society.

By Dr. Carrie Tancraitor

Nonprofit board members have A LOT of responsibility. These individuals are charged with guiding decisions to ensure the organization effectively carries out its mission. One of their most critical jobs to fulfill this obligation is to select and compensate the executive director. [Read more…]

The Building Movement Project has released Race to Lead: Women of Color in the Nonprofit Sector, which examines the impact of both race and gender on the career advancement and experiences of women of color working in the nonprofit sector.

From survey data, write-in responses, focus groups, and interviews, the report highlights the intersection of barriers facing women of color in nonprofits. The report also includes a section focused on responses from Asian/Pacific Islander, Black, Latinx, Native American, and transgender women of color.

Program to Aid Citizen Enterprise (PACE) has partnered with The Bayer Center for Nonprofit Management to explore this research further in a free two-part series and seeks to bring greater opportunities to Pittsburgh nonprofits by insisting on practices that promote fairness. [Read more…]