Capital One Pro Bono is how we commit our most valuable asset—our talented associates—to drive social change. Associates dedicate their time and expertise so that nonprofits and small businesses can serve more beneficiaries, become more efficient, and deliver on their missions more effectively.
Through Pro Bono, our associates support community organizations and small businesses by providing professional services leveraging their job-specific skills. Pro bono programming is a foundational component of Capital One’s Impact Initiative, an initial $200 million multi-year commitment to support growth in underserved communities and advance socioeconomic mobility by closing gaps in equity and opportunity. The Impact Initiative builds upon Capital One’s mission to change banking for good and supports affordable housing, financial well-being, racial equity, , small businesses and workforce development .
Capital One expanded its pro bono program in 2021 by growing our core services and by expanding the types of organizations and industries we support through pro bono. Over the last year, Capital One has partnered with over 100 community organizations across the country to drive meaningful impact. This past spring, five of Capital One’s brand subject matter experts worked with BiGAUSTIN, a Central-Texas based org that helps small business thrive by providing consultations, training, and loans to business owners who are looking for help.
Over the course of the project, Capital One provided over 125 hours of branding and marketing support including audience research, brand analysis and strategy development, as well as specific strategies for their newsletter, social channels and paid media . Their reinvigorated staff has already begun to execute on the new strategy and is well positioned to increase the company’s economic and community impact.
Pro Bono programming not only benefits the community, but it also adds value to the recruitment, retention, training, development, loyalty, and overall fulfillment of our associates. According to our 2022 survey results, 87% of Capital One Pro Bono volunteers are more likely to stay at Capital One because of their involvement with Pro Bono programming and 92% have increased their professional network and further developed relationships with their colleagues.
From a professional development perspective, 70% of volunteers developed or further refined a job specific skill in all eight of Capital One’s core performance management competencies. These early results indicate that high impact skills-based volunteer programs can be a differentiator in connecting the CSR business case to talent retention and development.
We are encouraged and inspired by some of the early success of the Capital One Pro Bono program and look forward to evolving our approach to meet the future needs of our business and the organizations we partner with.
Join Capital One’s Kelsey Corbin and Ashley Trick at the ACCP Annual Conference, for their session on Developing an Innovative Pro Bono program. Registration for the virtual sessions closes September 6, but there is still time to register for the in-person event in DC October 16-18 – and registrants will receive recordings of all virtual sessions.
