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Company’s blitz helps non-profits

By Vanessa Small,November 06, 2011

From left, Advisory Board Co. employees Ashlie Kellner, Lori Murphy and… (Evy Mages/For Capital Business )

During an hour when they otherwise would have been at their bi-monthly meeting, 60 employees of the Advisory Board Co. filled out cards to service members stationed overseas and assembled 100 snack bags for D.C. Central Kitchen and 85 care packages for graduates of a college-preparatory program.

The service blitz was part of the company’s recent day of service.

It followed a flurry of volunteerism the week before, when 1,000 employees participated in 25 charity projects around the District. They planted trees, gardened at the National Arboretum, served lunch to people without homes at So Others May Eat and taught interview skills at Samaritan Inns.

“We put a lot of time this year in growing our work in the community and we wanted to celebrate that with these events,” said Katie Brewer, director of Community Impact, the company’s corporate philanthropy initiative.

The Advisory Board, a District-based consulting firm, has given $375,000 this year in pro bono services to health care and education nonprofits, community service projects and charity donations.

Each department is staffed with a leader assigned to organize community service events each quarter to fulfill volunteerism hours with activities such as teaching nutrition to children at Martha’s Table and critiquing résumés for members of StreetWise Partners, a job training organization.

Executives hold sessions to help Community of Hope, a nonprofit that provides services to the homeless, operate more efficiently. They offer branding strategies to health care and social service agencies.

The company also has a program that trains employees for nonprofit board service and places them in organizations around the Washington region within six to nine months.

“When you think about the unique skills here, matching them to health care or education nonprofits in the city that may not have the talent to solve these problems, it’s an obvious linkage,” said Scott Schirmeier, executive vice president.