Adapting to a shift in the volunteer landscape is one of the exciting challenges that the Arts & Business Council of New York (ABC/NY) and many arts organizations now face. As a new team running ABC/NY, my colleague Caleb Way and I are putting our heads together to come up with innovative ideas to expand and modernize our local volunteer matching program. To give some context, the Business Volunteers for the Arts® (BVA) program was founded by ABC/NY in 1975 with the mission of serving to connect nonprofit arts organizations with pro bono volunteers. However, as web-based volunteer matching services such as VolunteerMatch and Taproot have taken off, and businesses expand their volunteer or corporate responsibility (CSR) programs to include more expansive and flexible options for employee engagement, the old model of staff-managed volunteer matchmaking is simply not enough. ABC/NY’s new strategic direction combines the idea of volunteer matching with a much broader menu of employee engagement options.

In this new era of volunteerism and CSR, businesses are looking for ways to retain employees and inspire creativity, innovation, team-building, and leadership. In fact, according to a 2007 research report by The Conference Board along with Americans for the Arts and The American Association of School Administrators called Ready to Innovate, 97 percent of employers considered creativity of increasing importance in their workplace. Even more, 85 percent of employers seeking creative employees said they were having difficulty finding qualified applicants with the right characteristics. So why wouldn’t we encourage businesses take matters into their own hands and help their employees develop creative skills? Whether it is a traditional group volunteer opportunity, pro bono consulting, or bringing the arts into the workplace, partnering with arts organizations can offer many valuable benefits to businesses and their employees that lead to greater recruitment, retention, and innovation. The overarching goal of our BVA program is to engage business professionals in a multitude of ways that foster long-term, mutually beneficial partnerships between the arts and the business communities.

On November 18 from 6-9pm, ABC/NY will take a step in this direction by hosting an Arts Volunteer Fair that showcases local arts organizations such as Free Arts NYC, the Bronx Museum of Art, Materials for the Arts, and WNYC Radio. Professionals from all business sectors in New York City will have the chance to explore projects presented by arts organizations and choose to participate where their skills and interests overlap. As we prepare arts organizations for this evening and the shifting landscape of the volunteer world, we are encouraging them to think about the impact that their projects can have on a business volunteer and how a one-time project can evolve into a long-term relationship. In our program, our goal is to push that concept even further by providing tools and resources to develop projects intended to engage the business community and creating deeper ties that will eventually lead to increased support through board service, programmatic collaborations, and sponsorships. By creating a two-way volunteer street–on which the very real needs of arts organizations are fulfilled while enhancing vital skills and leadership experience for business professionals–we can facilitate the mutually beneficial partnerships that are crucial to sustaining the nonprofit arts field and furthering the creative and innovative spirit of the business world.