Do you want to know how to create impact through social mentoring as a volunteer?
In every large company there are a certain number of employees focused on marketing and business, who have a great capacity to contribute to the increase of the business turnover.
In the end it’s everybody’s business, but if it doesn’t sell, the rest of the orchestra doesn’t play.
Why do we point this out?
Because, many times, a problem that social organizations have is that they do not know how to sell themselves or how to focus their activity. Large companies have an enormous talent base that they can contribute to these companies and/or social entities.
One way to focus this talent, beyond traditional corporate volunteering (which as we already know has many benefits) is through social entrepreneurship consultancies.
Social mentorships are specific programs in which entities present proposals for new lines of business and impact to receive feedback and be accompanied by professionals from companies with experience in the field.
Ventures4inclusion: Indra's program
With this objective in mind, Indra has developed the #Ventures4inclusion program, now in its third edition. A good example of social mentoring as volunteering.
In this latest edition, proposals from 10 entities and social entrepreneurs were collected and three winning projects were proclaimed. All of them received the support of volunteers for their programs. In addition, the 3 winning entities were able to count on the talent of Indra volunteers in a more intensive way.
With extensive experience in consulting for large businesses, for these volunteers to be able to work side by side with a social entity and develop a business strategy is something they can do naturally and easily, providing a great differential value.
Among the work done this year, we saw how a group of consultants helped a social organization to create a new line of business of embroidering T-shirts with logos for use in volunteer activities.
- They helped define the target customer
- Estimated selling price
- They set turnover targets
This is from the business side of the project. But from the more social side it is worth mentioning that this program will employ people with disabilities to run the business. Thanks to the advice of the volunteers, a professional certificate system was developed, which the entity will be able to provide with a double benefit:
This is from the more entrepreneurial approach of the project. But from a more social point of view, it is worth mentioning that this program will employ people with disabilities to carry out the business. Thanks to the advice of the volunteers, a professional certificate system was developed, which the entity will be able to provide with a double benefit:
To the participants it will allow them, in addition to training, to be able to perform embroidery work for other companies. This will make them more financially independent.The organization, for its part, will find a new source of income that will help it to increase its positive impact.
Benefits for the company
And what benefits does a company like Indra obtain, in this case, from developing a social mentoring program as corporate volunteering?
The volunteers who participated state that:
- They feel that they are participants in a task that will generate impact in the medium term, once the program is over. Compared to more traditional corporate volunteering, in which the impact for the participant is immediate, it is much greater.
- And the greater their satisfaction, the greater their sense of belonging to the company and their well-being, key performance indicators.
Social mentoring as volunteering can be a great bet and comes to complement and reinforce the rest of corporate volunteering activities carried out by companies.
