#skills-based-volunteering

#skills-based-volunteering

In his reflections on the 2025 Wall Street Journal CEO Council summit held in December, WSJ Leadership Institute president Alan Murray noted that CEOs are not actually preoccupied with AI, tariffs, or geopolitics. Instead, they're focused on something far more fundamental: people and culture. How do you build an organization that can adapt, collaborate, and innovate amid persistent volatility? That instinct is correct. Yet one of the most effective tools for strengthening culture and developing talent remains surprisingly underused-skills-based volunteering (SBV).

While they are frequently criticized for being performative or symbolic rather than genuinely impactful, CSR initiatives can be deeply meaningful for organizations, employees, not to mention entire communities. First and foremost, well-designed and comprehensive CSR programs generate positive social change for underserved communities and groups, address vital social and environmental causes, and allow welfare organizations to extend the quality and scale of their contributions.