Help Your Company Add a Pro Bono Service Program

Pro bono service goes beyond simple volunteering to help nonprofits by making use of your professional skills. Here's how you can urge your CEO to commit company time to pro bono work. Public Architecture, which helps architecture and other design firms add pro bono programs, wrote this handy letter that you can download and email to your boss.

Dear (Company Leader),

Today’s movement towards social change combines altruism with hard facts: not only is running a company with philanthropic interests good for society, it’s also good for business.

I am a believer in this movement and would like the opportunity for us to do meaningful work at work by making a commitment to pro bono service. Doing so as a company, we could use our expertise to solve social problems with a payoff that allows us to expand into new markets, build community relations, and support staff development.

We would not be alone; thousands of companies across the country have made a commitment to pro bono service including giants like Yahoo, Hyatt, Mattel, and Toyota.

Please consider joining these leaders in making our communities more viable and sustainable. Organizations like A Billion + Change, the Taproot Foundation, and Public Architecture offer a great place to start by providing platforms to connect with pro bono clients and resources to ensure good outcomes for both us and the client.

I am willing and able to do what I can do to make a pro bono commitment a reality for our company. Please let me know how I can help.

Sincerely,

(You)

Add emailing your boss about pro bono service to your to-do list. Download a PDF of the letter here.

GOOD HQ is challenging the community to commit to service throughout 2013. Go here to pledge 1 percent of your time—that’s 20 hours—being part of the solution this year.

Keyboard image via Shutterstock.