This week, companies arrived in Washington, D.C., to promote their interest and involvement in providing pro bono services to non-profits. The forum, hosted by the White House, celebrates a national movement to drive the mission of non-profits utilizing the knowledge and experience of corporations.
Lantern Partners is one of the first 200 companies to take the pledge to offer their services to help their community through A Billion Plus Change. At Lantern Partners, we have focused our efforts to provide civic improvements for Chicago, working largely through the Civic Consulting Alliance.
We arrived at the White House, not fully aware of the existing support for the movement. That changed quickly as we started to recognize the momentum that has already been established.
Joe Echevarria, the CEO of Deloitte, was on hand to explain why he thought it was important for Deloitte to pledge $50 million in pro bono services this year. IBM has pledged $250 million, and in all, 208 companies have pledged to provide more than $1.8 billion in support. The executives agreed that their companies were stronger because they provided pro bono services. Their people were energized and committed. Furthermore, the teams extended their skillsets by working on these types of challenging projects. All agreed that they were also driving business development through the networks they were building.
The goal is to have 500 companies pledge.
Here is a cross-section of tweets that summed up the event:
@MsJackieNorris: “Great panel @whitehouse moderated by Jean Case CEO of @Casefoundation. Talking about the power of companies redefining @ABillionPlus”
@Civic_100: “@ABillionPlus Congrats on the successful White House forum, mobilizing corporations to engage in their #community is what it’s all about!”
@Davidafurman: “RT @Deloitte: .@DeloitteUS CEO Joe Echevarria in Washington today w/@ABillionPlus, urging others to do #probono. http://bit.ly/My3iUe #BillionPlus”
@Jean Case, CEO, The Case Foundation: “Thanks to all who joined @WhiteHouse today RT @aaron_hurst: Amen! The first 200 pledge companies are founders of@ABillionPlus.'”
@TheHenkerGroup: “@ABillionPlus: Stan Litow of @citizen_IBM “it’s not just using your skill, but building your skill” #sbv #BillionPlus”
@citizenIBM: “.@ABillionPlus drives pro bono services to fill resource gap. Blog by Senator @MarkWarner http://ibm.co/Lq2NIk #IBMPolicy”
@Aaron_Hurst, CEO, TapRoot: “Deloitte CEO ‘pro bono is part of our DNA’. @ABillionPlus.”
We at Lantern Partners are excited to see what the future brings with A Billion Plus Change, and we urge you to consider pledging YOUR company’s support
Take the Pledge. Get Results. Lead the Change.
