To kick off National Volunteer Week, the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce, Deloitte and George Mason University teamed up to host the week-long 2013 Pro Bono Summit which started Monday, April 22nd at the Mason Inn in Fairfax. The event is presented in partnership with A Billion+Change , a national campaign to mobilize billions of dollars in corporate pro bono community service.
The top regional business leaders shared their best practices, innovations and new trends in skills-based volunteering. Also, numerous business and organizations prepared to demonstrate how it can build nonprofit capacity, positively impact communities and governments, and boost the business bottom line through leadership and skill development, enhanced brand awareness, employee engagement and much more.
“Pro bono service is a win-win for businesses and the community,” said Jim Corcoran, president and CEO, Fairfax Chamber. “Here in Northern Virginia, we’re fortunate to have such a tremendous brain trust of people and talent that it only makes sense to harness our valuable intellectual capital to better our community. We were thrilled to see the number of businesses that came out to express a passion for and commitment to skills-based volunteerism.”
Companies attending the event will be able to join A Billion+Change campaign. About $2 billion worth of pro bono services have been pledged by more than 280 companies since 2011. One of the founding companies of the A Billion+Change movement, Deloitte, recently committed an additional $60 million in pro bono services nationwide to nonprofit organizations over a three-year period.
“We find significant value in pro bono service and welcome the opportunity to share our lessons learned with the greater Washington business community,” said Gary H. Tabach, Southeast regional managing partner, Deloitte LLP. “Pro bono service at Deloitte is not about spare time or spare change. We put pro bono on par with client work and treat with the exact same quality management processes, which enables our people to engage in pro bono service during work hours and receive credit as they would for commercial engagements. We do this because we know our pro bono service not only makes an impact in the community, but it also provides a powerful platform for showcasing and developing our talented professionals.”
