6 Matches in Less Than 6 Months: Sharon’s Story
Catchafire celebrates the power of volunteering to transform the effectiveness of nonprofits, and the lives of those involved.
A skills-based volunteer project is a 2-way street: it relies not only on a committed volunteer, but also a dedicated volunteer manager from the nonprofit to lead the engagement with compassion, enthusiasm, and gratitude. Sharon Asonganyi, Program Director at Jane Addams Resource Corporation Baltimore, is that kind of leader.
Jane Addams Resource Corporation (JARC) Baltimore provides high quality skills training and support services to help lower-income and unemployed workers achieve self-sufficiency. They also provide economic and workforce development to businesses to improve their competitiveness. As Program Director, Sharon wears many hats — whether that’s supervising a staff of 3, working with trainees on various issues that arise, or collecting impact stories to make grant applications more compelling. When she found out her organization was eligible for a free Catchafire membership through a program with one of their grantors — The Annie E. Casey Foundation — she was thrilled at the opportunity to elevate her work. “Annie E. Casey brought us together at an event and we had a live demo session,” Sharon said. “We were so excited! We had a lot of plans and dreams — this platform just opened up the possibility of having temporary staff members on demand.”
Since joining the Catchafire community in November, Sharon has already connected with several volunteers on key streams of work:
Evaluating their impact in the community
JARC provides training to skilled workers in Baltimore, and they’re determined to set these employees up to succeed at their future workplaces. To evaluate the effectiveness of their programming, Sharon wanted to design a survey for employers of former JARC trainees to better understand how their trainees are performing at work. She posted an Online Survey project and matched with Bob L., an experienced strategy consultant, to build out this tool. “Working with Bob was an amazing experience,” Sharon said. “His blend of seasoned experience working with nonprofits and technical skills enabled us develop an impressive instrument that will provide great insight in our relationships with our employer partners. Bob was professional in his approach, his communication was exceptional, and it truly felt like he walked with us in this survey design journey.”
Bob felt equally passionate about the match: “[I] enjoyed the opportunity to work with a committed team that has the vision to engage their stakeholders, the courage to explore unmet needs, and the humility to open new doors that advance their purpose,” he said. He was so enthusiastic about their work, he even offered to help with data analysis once they have some responses from distributing the survey.
Communicating success stories to potential funders
As Program Director, Sharon knows that getting a grant isn’t just about the numbers — it’s also about sharing powerful stories of individuals who have been impacted by JARC’s work. The examples need both written and visual components. To capture stories of successful JARC trainees, Sharon posted a Storytelling project and matched with Erin T., a talented writer from Toronto, Canada. Their long-distance relationship was a non-issue — over the course of a few Saturdays, Sharon set up a live video chat in her office with Erin, and had several trainees stop in to share their stories.
To bolster her storytelling effort with compelling visuals, Sharon matched with Jason M. on a Photography project. Jason drove all the way from New Jersey to capture photos of their training facilities. He was particularly passionate about JARC’s cause, citing his own mentors as the reason he was able to build his own photography business. Since he had extensive experience in the automotive industry, Jason knew how to capture the beauty of the training facility — and he was so moved, he decided to create a video for JARC on the spot! “It was very unexpected,” Sharon said. “We had dreams of someday doing a video. We’re so grateful for what we got. Each engagement with Catchafire has been like this. When we get people who are passionate about what we do, and they see how real of an impact we’re making, they go above and beyond what we want.”
Providing professional development opportunities to staff members
It can sometimes be difficult for nonprofits to provide professional development opportunities for their staff, but Sharon saw Catchafire as a way to fill that gap. For example, their on-staff employment coach was looking for tips on creative team building activities for some of their adult learners. Sharon and Natasha found John O., a former senior leader at HBO with 20+ years of experience in operations and training. They left the call with actionable next steps, and John even followed up to offer to do a role play with Natasha as practice.
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What’s next for Sharon at JARC? She’s just connected with 2 new volunteers: one on a Print Materials Design project to lay out JARC’s success stories in a visually compelling format, and another on a Salesforce Database Customization to migrate her existing data and manage it more effectively.
Having access to a pool of skills-based volunteers has been a game changer for Sharon and JARC. “Words fail to express the value of this service for our organization,” Sharon said. “Overall, the experience has been wonderful. The level of service that has been provided pro bono has been of excellent professional standards. Thank you for this resource that is expanding our ability to do more meaningful work in people’s lives.”
