Giving Compass' Take:

•  Christina D. Warner at Thrive Global interviews Danielle Holly, CEO of Common Impact, to understand how skills-based volunteerism will advance social impact. 

• How can more companies incorporate skills-based volunteerism into their CSR missions? 

• Read about how skills-based volunteerism can help progress design careers. 

As a part of my series about “Big Ideas That Might Change The World In The Next Few Years” I had the pleasure of interviewing Danielle Holly. Danielle Holly is dedicated to creating previously unseen pathways for individuals to meaningfully contribute to making their communities thrive. 

She is currently the CEO of Common Impact, an organization that designs programs that directs our society’s most strategic, philanthropic asset — our people — to the seemingly intractable social challenges they’re best positioned to address. 

Can you tell us about your “Big Idea That Might Change The World”?

What if we were able to tap into and direct the passions and the talents of our citizens towards the social challenges they’re best positioned to address? Right now, people read news headlines and see the challenges that communities are facing. They want to help, but they don’t know how. And so that intent, those passions and skills remain dormant. Our big idea is a simple one — create the connection between people and the places they can make a difference. We call it skills-based volunteerism which is based on the core mission of directing people from passively reading headlines to being a part of the story.

How do you think this will change the world?

By tapping into our neighbors and citizens who want to be engaged but aren’t, we break down the barriers that are blocking us from connecting those resources to the areas of need. We unlock new resources, we better access those we already have, we help each other better understand these challenges and most importantly, how we can solve them.

Read the full article about skills-based volunteerism by  Christina D. Warner at Thrive Global