Going Beyond Donations For Giving Tuesday

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 3, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- As businesses across the United States step up with donations and service projects today as part of Giving Tuesday, a few companies are going beyond one time contributions and are focusing on building up the overall capacity of local nonprofits. This growing trend of donating "intellectual capital" is changing the landscape of corporate volunteerism— and, according to the Center for Nonprofit Management, it also highlights a growing need for effective management skills in the not-for-profit sector as a whole.

Many local nonprofit organizations are tackling increasingly difficult issues with limited budgets, a reality which is driving up the value of traditional business management skills in this sector. And corporate partners have stepped up in response: rather than encouraging employees to give money or perform community service to give back to their communities, companies such as professional service firm Deloitte donate management consulting services in more than 350 projects for community organizations in the United States and around the word.

In these pro bono engagement projects, companies forge long-term relationships with community organizations in order to truly understand their needs and goals. They help these organizations identify key needs and strengths, create target outcomes and devise methods to reach these outcomes.

The Center for Nonprofit Management in Los Angeles, California holds this same ideal. For over three decades, the Center has provided training and management assistance to thousands of nonprofit leaders and their organizations, all with the goal to increase the knowledge, skills, and resources they need to fulfill their mission. The Center also recruits volunteers from the for-profit sector to serve as pro-bono consultants for their network of nonprofit organizations, providing expertise in areas such as executive leadership, human resources and financial management.

"The organizations we work with are dealing with some of the toughest issues in society, and financial assistance isn't the panacea to these problems," said Regina Birdsell, President and CEO of the Center for Nonprofit Management. "Leaders of these organizations need professional management skills that you'd find in an MBA program or through work experience for management consulting companies. We're proud to provide those kinds of resources to the Southern California nonprofit community."

About the Center for Nonprofit Management

For 30 years, the Center for Nonprofit Management has stood as the premier resource for the Southern California nonprofit community. By providing assistance in a variety of areas, the Center for Nonprofit Management has supported thousands of organizations as they meet the needs of their communities. For more information, visit www.cnmsocal.org.

SOURCE Center for Nonprofit Management