The Skillman Foundation

The Skillman Foundation is thrilled to partner with Catchafire to bring time-sensitive, virtual operational support to 200 youth-serving organizations in Detroit. Through this partnership, invited nonprofits will have access to virtual, skills-based volunteers, empowering them to address COVID-19 crisis response and recovery needs in the short term and further support their missions in the long term.

This partnership marks the fourth grantmaker to join the One Michigan collaborative—a statewide program that gives nonprofits access to on-demand capacity-building support. Other grantmakers in the collaborative include founding member Michigan Health Endowment Fund (The Health Fund), Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation, and Washtenaw Coordinated Funders, inclusive of the Office of Community & Economic Development, United Way of Washtenaw County, and St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor.

“We are thrilled to be a part of One Michigan and to strengthen and support Detroit youth-serving nonprofits,” said Punita Dani Thurman, Vice President of Program & Strategy at The Skillman Foundation. “It is important that they are operationally strong and this partnership allows for talented and skilled leaders to support nonprofits in a truly innovative way.”

As part of One Michigan, nonprofits get access to Catchafire’s innovative virtual platform and programming to leverage a network of more than 100,000 skilled volunteers who will to help pro bono with operational needs such as website development, online marketing, strategic planning, professional development, and other areas of critical work in fundraising, program delivery, human resources, marketing & communications, finance, and technology & operations.

Nonprofits post their immediate needs by choosing from over 140 projects, already outlined with steps and deliverables. Talented professionals apply to complete these tasks, and the organizations select a volunteer to do the work. Through these engagements, nonprofits get critical needs filled, and volunteers become deeply connected to the nonprofits’ missions. Over time, these connections can establish long-term relationships where pro bono professionals become repeat volunteers, social media advocates, donors, and potential board members.

Now more than ever, nonprofits leverage virtual support services like Catchafire to help with COVID-19 response, recovery, and resiliency efforts. In Michigan alone, nonprofits with access to Catchafire completed 236 virtual pro bono projects on the platform since March 1, 2020. These projects have focused on fulfilling time-sensitive needs like transitioning to remote work; developing HR policies to keep staff safe and healthy; planning and organizing virtual fundraisers; better understanding the needs of beneficiaries; transitioning programs to a virtual environment; and receiving support with CARES Act, among other programmatic, fundraising, and operational needs. In the process, they’ve leveraged nearly 3,800 hours of volunteers’ time, saving more than $785,000 combined.

To learn more about One Michigan or to learn how to participate as a grantmaker, please reach out to Terry Whitfield, program officer at The Skillman Foundation or Ash Didwania, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at Catchafire at ash@catchafire.

About Catchafire

Catchafire is a full service, on-demand solution designed to address the wide-ranging and complex needs of nonprofits by connecting them with talented pro bono professionals. Through Catchafire’s innovative web-based platform and network of more than 10 million professionals, nonprofits have access to people with expert skills who can help them with operational needs such as developing a website, building a strategic plan, designing a brochure, professional development, and other areas of critical work. Catchafire’s scalable and cost-effective model makes it possible for grantmakers to provide a full suite of capacity building services to any nonprofit that the foundation seeks to serve. Catchafire and its foundation partners are not only helping nonprofits improve their capacity, sustainability, and effectiveness, but also leveling the playing field by making capacity building available to any nonprofit or changemaker.