What can you accomplish in a day? Quite a lot, according to the companies and non-profits who attended the recent skills-based volunteering workshop titled Done in a Day.
Organised by the Community Foundation of Singapore (CFS) and Empact Pte Ltd, with NVPC as an outreach partner, the workshop saw five companies contributing their skills and expertise to benefit seven non-profit organisations (NPOs). From solving IT issues to reviewing marketing collaterals and HR structures, the corporate volunteers put their skills to good use for the day.
Take for example Singapore Pools and Parkinson Society Singapore (PSS). For a long time, PSS had faced the challenge of implementing guest Wi-Fi for the beneficiaries at their centre while making sure that it did not compromise IT security. At the workshop, Singapore Pools came to their rescue. The company had identified IT capability as one of their strengths, and it was excited that they could use their technological expertise and network to plug capability gaps faced by NPOs.
So Singapore Pools donated IT hardware to PSS, which drastically reduced the cost of the project. Singapore Pools’ strong relationship with their vendors also meant they were able to negotiate for a better subscription package for PSS to upgrade their system. Now, their beneficiaries can freely use Wi-Fi at their entre with minimum security breach to their network.
Singapore Pools’ volunteers also poured their heart and soul into the project. They went above and beyond what was expected, providing two proposals for PSS, creating an operation manual on the Wi-Fi access, and even offering troubleshooting services in future.
Ms Neo Siew Hiong from PSS is heartened by the partnership forged with Singapore Pools through the workshop and believes that their relationship can turn into a long-lasting one. In fact, Singapore Pools recently offered for free the use of their venue space for a PSS public talk.
Corporates who would like to join NVPC’s Corporate Giving Practitioner Network to network and engage with other corporates in skills based volunteering and other corporate giving topics, please email [email protected].
