High-impact problem-solving for nonprofits in a matter of hours
Providing pro-bono opportunities to nonprofits
In an effort to address social injustices impacting our communities, we’re making pro bono opportunities available - at scale - for our people to help support nonprofits through Skills for Society. The reality is those most at risk of getting left behind are often those that rely on nonprofits most, and during these unprecedented times, many nonprofits are struggling to keep up.
Since 2018, we’ve held over a dozen ScopeAthons with the Taproot Foundation, where we have helped over 120 nonprofits understand the root cause of a challenge they face and map a path forward. As soon as COVID-19 closed offices, we quickly transitioned our Skills for Society ScopeAthons from in-person to virtual in order to continue to help non-profits get the pro bono support they need so they can focus on their mission.
Defining impact to improve their value proposition
We know from our client work that stripping the layers and determining the true cause of an operational challenge helps make the path forward more clear, as well as infinitely more manageable. And this is exactly what a ScopeAthon intends to do for each participating nonprofit. At a recent virtual ScopeAthon, over 70 PwCers worked in small groups to tackle challenges presented by 12 nonprofits.
One of the organizations, a nonprofit that helps prepare high-achieving Black and Latinx students from underserved communities for success at top schools and colleges, sought help to better communicate their value proposition. The organization recognized that despite having a successful track record for over thirty years, they don’t have the brand recognition of others in the space. By improving the measurement of their impact and how they communicate that to stakeholders, they believe they can unlock more grants and opportunities to further help the beneficiaries served by their mission.
Their PwC ScopeAthon team dug into the challenges presented, and focused on helping the organization develop a new, more specific approach to measure and showcase student progress. Together, they created a plan for an evaluation matrix, surveys and data points that would help chart, quantify and analyze student growth. The nonprofit emerged from the half-day session with a clear plan on how to better collect and review data internally. They left armed with metrics they can apply for a wider array of larger grants and a way to better quantify and describe the impact of their work. These key elements support their ability to communicate their value proposition, ultimately helping them reach more supporters, mentors and, most importantly, students in need.
Serving those who need it most in our communities
At the conclusion of these events, participating nonprofits have the option to take the plan forward on their own, or to continue to work with PwC on a pro bono project. Either way, our goal is to help untangle a seemingly complex challenge so the organization can focus on what they do best: serving those who need it most in our communities.
“The work we completed has put [us] on track to begin the evaluation process,” one member of the organization said after the event. “Hopefully now we can accurately represent all of the wonderful things we do with young people.”
Through Skills for Society, we’re applying the same skills and individualized approach we use for clients to support nonprofit effectiveness and digital transformation while addressing social injustice.
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