Big Brothers Big Sisters receives Service Enterprise certification 

Big Brothers Big Sisters, A Community of Caring has earned Service Enterprise certification from Points of Light. A Service Enterprise is an organization that fundamentally leverages volunteers and their skills throughout their organization to successfully deliver on its social mission. The agency joins just a handful of nonprofit organizations in Michigan to achieve the certification.

Big Brothers Big Sisters’ staff completed an extensive assessment, more than 20 hours of training and consulting, and extensive internal planning and change to better integrate volunteers in the agency’s day-to-day operations. By achieving this level of excellence and certification, Big Brothers Big Sisters is now better equipped to leverage the time and talent of volunteers to meet the organization’s mission.

Knowledge gained during the Service Enterprise certification process led to a new onboarding, training and orientation process for all of the agency’s volunteers – Bigs and those who volunteer in other capacities. Agency leadership learned the importance of seeking skill-based volunteers to assist in achieving the mission.

“We are now looking for members of the community who are willing to share their special skills and talents to support the agency behind the scenes,” says Kathy Praedel, partnership manager. “For example, two skill-based volunteers created our new training and orientation process. Utilizing their expertise saved us valuable time and money.”

Research conducted by the TCC Group, a national program and evaluation firm, found that organizations operating as Service Enterprises outperform peer organizations on all aspects of organizational effectiveness, and are more adaptable, sustainable and capable of scaling their work.

For more information regarding volunteer opportunities with Big Brothers Big Sisters, please call customer relations at 269-382-6800. For further information regarding the Service Enterprise Initiative, please visit http://www.pointsoflight.org/service-enterprise-initiative.