By: Stephanie Creador
“Of all the things I do in my job, this is one of my favorites.” David Wolf
At Fidelity, we believe in the importance of giving back to our communities as well as fostering career vitality by enabling associates to enhance their existing skills and build new ones through different experiences. By teaming up with Common Impact, a non-profit which connects Fortune 500 companies and hundreds of the country’s leading non-profit organizations to work through capacity-building challenges, associates are able to invest their unique talents through skills-based volunteering.
Skills-based volunteering not only allows employees to assist a non-profit, but they also get the opportunity to use their skills in a completely different way than they would in their day-to-day jobs. These opportunities are available to all associates but are especially popular amongst Fidelity technologists. In partnership with Common Impact, Fidelity offers two different types of skills-based volunteering: long-term projects and Fidelity Impact Week, which are enterprise-wide opportunities for employees to give back with limited time commitment.
Long-term skills-based volunteering projects allow associates to oversee a project and deliverable from conception to completion typically taking 3 to 6 months. For these types of larger scaled projects, a team of 6 to 10 Fidelity volunteers are thoughtfully grouped together according to the non-profit challenge and associate’s skillset. Most recently, a group of Fidelity Brokerage Technology volunteers were partnered with America Needs You (ANY) to overhaul the organization’s website, which was outdated and difficult to navigate. After 4 months of collaboration with the leadership at ANY, the Fidelity team presented a fully revamped site with advanced technical features including mobile capability, updated “mega menu” navigation, page filtering, embedded social feeds and share buttons, built profiles for each staff and board member, along with creating close to 100 news and content pages. The site also leverages WordPress plugins for easier self-administration, SEO best practices, and high quality, editable images. To ensure the non-profit organization would be able to maintain the site independently going forward, the Fidelity volunteers created a 66-page guide filled with step-by-step knowledge and guidance. Technology associates at Fidelity participate in up to 18 long-term skills-based volunteering projects each year, such as this one with ANY.
I had the pleasure of virtually meeting @David Wolf, Vice President, Systems Analysis and @Nathalie Peter, Senior IT Data Analyst, both working in Fidelity’s Enterprise Technology Group. David and Nathalie often participate in skills-based volunteering and describe their experiences as a way to give back – all while gaining confidence, having fun, and trying something new.
For associates who want to get involved but may not have the capacity to commit to a long-term project, Fidelity’s Community Relations and HR teams work with Common Impact to offer Fidelity Impact Week events. In just 6-8 hours across a few days, teams of associates are able to support nonprofit challenges related to strategy, marketing, client relations, HR, tech, and more. Impact Week can be a great fit for a nonprofit with actionable recommendations, and it’s a great way for associates to learn about new community organizations and stretch their skills while meeting new colleagues.
Statistics show only 25% of individuals volunteer as knowledge of how to get involved, disconnection with the assignment and time are often issues. Fidelity’s partnership with Common Impact has brought skills-based volunteering to employees with options to fit anyone’s schedule. Since 2004 over 2,500 employees have volunteered contributing to over $16 million in social value to the non-profit community and we look forward to continuing to serve our communities. Interested in participating in skills-based volunteering? First step, apply to one of our many tech opportunities.
