VolunteerMatch Summit 2016 Reflections

This year's VolunteerMatch Summit brought together corporate, nonprofit, and public sector professionals to discuss how to create impactful partnerships and effectively engage corporate volunteers. Common Impact led an all-conference session that convened these diverse stakeholders around the impact and the challenges of cross-sector collaboration. Using participatory technology, the entire audience engaged in the session by guiding the conversation towards the subjects that interested them most. Topics that rose to the fore included the potential of well-executed skills-based volunteering, the importance of nonprofits' ability to turn down inopportune corporate opportunities, and a shared desire for communicative and flexible partners.

Our big takeaway is that the sectors are more aligned than ever before on their objectives for business success and social change. Opportunities like the Summit enable us to share the perspectives, experiences, and ideas, that will engender widespread and lasting community impact.