Compass’ mission is to inspire the active engagement of business professionals with their local nonprofits to transform communities.

Compass provides team-based pro bono consulting services to nonprofits whose work benefits the local communities of Greater Washington, Philadelphia, and Chicago.

Compass goals:

• To help local nonprofit organizations carry out their missions more effectively and efficiently both in the short-term and for the long-term.
• To facilitate a strong relationship between select business professionals and nonprofit leaders.
• To bring the education, expertise and experience of seasoned business professionals to the nonprofit community.
• To cultivate in volunteers a deep, lasting, and personal commitment to the nonprofit community.

PROJECTS

On an annual basis in each city, Compass selects nonprofit clients through a rigorous application process. Compass offers different types of projects across six service lines: Strategic Planning, Strategic Alignment, Board Development, Funding Strategy, Strategic Marketing, Strategic Partnerships and Collaborations.

Greater Washington 2017-18 Projects

Greater Philadelphia 2017-18 Projects

Chicago 2017-18 Projects

VOLUNTEERS

Once clients are selected, Compass recruits volunteers with a wide variety of business experiences and places them on teams assigned to serve the nonprofits. Compass works closely with the local alumni clubs of its 17 partner graduate business schools:

Volunteer Roles

PROJECT LEADERS

Compass Project Leaders work closely with nonprofit client leadership to refine project scope and with their team of volunteers to guide the work plan. Most Compass Project Leaders are graduates of one of our partner business schools and have significant business experience. Project Leaders typically spend three to five hours per week on project work. Compass selects Project Leaders in August and September. Prospective Project Leaders rank their interest in projects on the Project Leader application, which will be available on the Compass home page in late August. Compass conducts in-person interviews with new Project Leader applicants.

VOLUNTEERS

Compass was founded by business school graduates and many of our volunteers have an MBA. Compass also accepts volunteers who have another relevant graduate degree, as well as those with significant relevant work experience. For non-MBA applicants, preference is given to applicants with consulting or nonprofit experience. Volunteers spend on average two to three hours per week on projects. Compass recruits volunteers in the early fall, announcing final team assignments in mid-October.

Volunteer Support

Compass is not just a matchmaking service between business professionals and local nonprofits. The Compass program has been fine-tuned with proven processes ranging from client and volunteer selection to project implementation. Compass provides trainings for all team members with additional training for Project Leaders. Compass provides access to veteran Project Leaders who act as Advisors to current teams. Compass further supports projects by providing access to data and information relevant to projects in an online Toolkit available to all volunteers.

“The knowledge, skills and abilities that this team brought into our small non-profit were invaluable and will help us move to the next step of successfully developing a program.” 
--- Executive Director, Compass Client

“Volunteering with Compass is such a rewarding experience. Compass provides valuable services to its clients and truly makes a difference to the nonprofits it works with. I’m so proud to be a part of the Compass community.” 
--- Project Leader

Since 2001:

• 400 nonprofits served
• 2,500+ individual volunteers
• $50+ million in pro bono consulting services

For more information, please email info@compassprobono.org or 
access the Compass website at www.compassprobono.org.

Greater Washington Volunteer Page

Greater Philadelphia Volunteer Page

Greater Chicago Volunteer Page

Compass conducts nine-month projects, lasting from early fall until late spring, in the Greater Washington, Philadelphia, and Chicago areas. Compass also conducts four-month projects (January – May) in Greater Washington.