Collective Success

Allstate employees contribute their professional skills and make new connections

Skills-based volunteering offers employees the chance to build new skills, meet new people and find purpose in their work.

Volunteering is usually associated with activities like cleaning up a park, painting a school or packing canned goods for the food pantry.

Skills-based volunteering, however, enables people to use their professional talents to support nonprofit organizations. According to the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship, more than half of U.S. companies offer these opportunities to their employees, and Allstate is one of them.

The Allstate Foundation has sponsored seven daylong skills-based volunteering events since 2021. These "Days of Service" have allowed Allstate employees to help 47 nonprofits in 2022 alone.

"We walked away with a plan that was clear, actionable and helps our organization move forward with some changes to our website and its optimization," said Toni St. John, director of development and communications for the Women's Law Center of Maryland. "Nonprofits like ours rarely have the technical support or funds to pull off these kinds of projects."

Although employees who volunteer are there to give, they're often surprised by how much they get.

'Another layer of purposefulness to my role'

Bohms worked with a Native American nonprofit called Nimiipuu Protecting the Earth during a Day of Service. Nimiipuu's leaders wanted to bring in volunteers to educate their tribe about preventing domestic violence after an incident in their community, and she knew how to help.

She drew on her previous experience recruiting volunteers while working as an activity director for a skilled nursing facility. One of her programs involved local high school students serving as prom "dates" for residents attending a facility senior prom. The high schoolers also helped with decorations for the event.

For Nimiipuu, Bohms researched area colleges to see if any mentioned volunteer work as part of their graduation requirements or had Native American or social work student clubs. She made a list of those she found and included it among the materials shared with the organization at the end of the day.

'I'm growing myself as I do these things'

During many of the events, Dolan has embraced the skills she's built in her day-to-day role – taking detailed notes or building an intricate spreadsheet. But over time, she's found she can move beyond those skills into areas she might not explore otherwise.

"I found what I like the most is being in a group where I'm not the administrative assistant for the team for the day," she said. "I'm actually able to contribute to the creative side. I'm learning more. I'm growing myself as I do these things and being able to step outside the box."

'That makes me proud as an Allstater'

Olvera was part of a project to support Urban Gateways, a Chicago-based organization that uses art to inspire young people to create positive social change. The experience prompted him to look for ways he might help other nonprofit organizations in his local community in Yuma, Arizona.

"I love storytelling as well – I do that through film," he said. "I started reaching out to local nonprofits to see if their board needs refreshed headshots for their executive page or a mission video to pitch fundraising efforts. That was inspired directly from this Day of Service.

"I'm constantly amazed at how much Allstate gives back in different ways," he added. "That makes me proud as an Allstater."