Humble. Hungry. Connected. These are the three values that guide what we do at Pioneer. They make up the basic building blocks of how we make all our decisions from hiring a new teammate, to how we write a proposal with a client we have worked with for years. It is how we also approach how we give back to our communities.
Earlier this year we sent a survey to every Pioneer and asked questions about how people wanted to give back to their community. One of the largest opportunities we saw was that 68% of our team wanted to get involved in leadership positions with non-profits, but only 9% currently did. We made it our goal to educate ourselves on how we could get more involved in giving back through non-profit work. To start, we sought out help from leaders in local non-profits and on October 16th we held a virtual roundtable to listen to their advice. Our incredible panel included:
· Erica Campbell, Executive Director of Pinky Swear. Erica was just recently named a 2020 Minneapolis/ St. Paul Business Journal Women in Business honoree!
· Mia Hoagberg, President & CEO of Make-A-Wish Minnesota. A link to several “Wish Stories.”
· Dave Becker, President & CEO of Angel Foundation. Here’s a short vid about their mission.
From our panel we learned something that tied in to each one of our values.
· Humble: Although you may be 110% passionate about supporting a non-profit, trying to jump right into a leadership role or be on the board has its drawbacks. Instead, start small by offering your time, talent, and treasures in practical ways that match your capacity. If you can, get involved in a committee where most of the leading work of non-profits occurs.
· Hungry: VOLUNTEER. You do not need a leadership position to make a difference. Get out there and help! Get to know the non-profit more and find out where your strengths lie and where your support can make the biggest impact with the non-profit team.
· Connected: Be a part of something you are passionate about. Volunteer with an organization where you care about their mission and who they are helping. Alignment to the mission of the organization was called out as a non-negotiable (#1 qualifier) for non-profit leadership involvement.
To Team Pioneer it all boiled down to one thing – get out and help. Right now, many organizations are struggling and are constantly adapting with the pandemic, but one thing has remained the same. There is always more work to do, and we always need to be helping those who need it. As we move forward in our journey that is what we aim to do.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Luke Peterson is a Change Management Consultant in our Organizational Effectiveness Practice at Pioneer Management Consulting, a business strategy, business operations, organizational effectiveness management and data analytics firm based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He can be reached at luke.peterson@thepioneerteam.com