Common Impact is an American

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

headquartered in Boston,

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

. It catalyzes a new, connected economy by aligning business and social purpose, connecting business professionals to local nonprofits that need assistance in

information technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of Data (computing), data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information te ...

marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...

human resources Human resources (HR) is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms include ...

, operations, and finance. Common Impact's model for

social change Social change is the alteration of the social order of a society which may include changes in social institutions, social behaviours or social relations. Definition Social change may not refer to the notion of social progress or socio ...

involves

social innovation Social innovations are new social practices that aim to meet social needs in a better way than the existing solutions,Howaldt, J./ Schwarz, M"Social Innovation: Concepts, research fields and international trends" IMO international monitoring, 201 ...

employee engagement Employee engagement is a fundamental concept in the effort to understand and describe, both qualitatively and quantitatively, the nature of the relationship between an organization and its employees. An "engaged employee" is defined as one who is ...

, and corporate social responsibility.

History

Theresa M. Ellis co-founded Common Impact in 2000 with Zach Goldstein, both graduates of

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

. Ellis helped connect her friend, an IT professional, to a

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

nonprofit needing assistance with a

database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases s ...

while she was working for another nonprofit. She founded Common Impact to help more

corporate A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and r ...

professionals

volunteer Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...

their professional

skills A skill is the learned ability to act with determined results with good execution often within a given amount of time, energy, or both. Skills can often be divided into domain-general and domain-specific skills. For example, in the domain of w ...

and help solve

social problems A social issue is a problem that affects many people within a society. It is a group of common problems in present-day society and ones that many people strive to solve. It is often the consequence of factors extending beyond an individual's cont ...

in the areas of

health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...

housing Housing, or more generally, living spaces, refers to the construction and assigned usage of houses or buildings individually or collectively, for the purpose of shelter. Housing ensures that members of society have a place to live, whether i ...

, and

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

Projects

Many of the projects between corporate employees and nonprofit organizations involve improving databases, creating new marketing materials, and restructuring human resources tools. Before each project, Common Impact screens the nonprofit and matches it to a trained team of business professionals who are skilled in the project area. A few examples of projects include redesigning a website and evaluating marketing materials.

Impact

Common Impact "helps nonprofits evaluate their internal operations. Then it finds corporate volunteers who can work with them to improve their technology, marketing, and human resource functions." These projects have generated over $6 million in resources for the nonprofit sector. Businesses are increasingly recognizing the importance of

volunteering Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serv ...

professional skills as more employees want to help their communities More than 400 corporate employees from companies such as Cisco, Genworth Financial, Fidelity Investments and State Street Corporation have volunteered their skills by working with Common Impact. Some examples of projects Fidelity Investments volunteers worked on are fundraising, case management, databases, and website design.{{cite web , url= http://www.bcccc.net/index.cfm/fuseaction/Page.viewPage/pageId/1620 , title= In Good Company: Fidelity , publisher= Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship , access-date= 2008-07-25 , archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071225025951/http://www.bcccc.net/index.cfm/fuseaction/Page.viewPage/pageId/1620 , archive-date= 2007-12-25 , url-status= dead The organization has connected business professionals to over 150

nonprofit organizations A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

Greater Boston Greater Boston is the metropolitan region of New England encompassing the municipality of Boston (the capital of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England) and its surrounding areas. The region forms the northern a ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, and Richmond, Virginia. The

relationships Common Impact fosters have translated into an estimated 9,000 hours of skilled volunteer time donated to nonprofit organizations.

References

External links

Common Impact
Non-profit organizations based in Boston Social change Entrepreneurship organizations

History

Projects

Impact

See also

References

External links