Senior Director, Social Impact
ACCP member company BDO believes that meaningful corporate social impact is about more than just financial support; it’s about fostering deep, purpose-driven relationships that create lasting change. That’s why their collaboration with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America (BBBSA) is more than just a sponsorship; it’s a commitment to mentorship, career development, and community engagement.
Aligned with the firm’s core purpose—helping people thrive every day—this cause partnership empowers both employees and the next generation by creating pathways to economic empowerment. Through hands-on mentoring opportunities, skill-building initiatives, and employee-driven volunteer programs, BDO is proud to support Big Futures, BBBSA’s national workplace mentoring program, while strengthening the company’s connection to the communities it serves.
How does the partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America align with BDO’s core business strategy?
Our firm’s core purpose – helping people thrive every day – is the motivation behind everything we do. From how we work to how we show up for our people, the planet, our communities, and our clients – we strive to embody this core purpose. When selecting our first nonprofit cause partner, BDO sought an organization that aligned this purpose with our people’s interests.
Key considerations included the organization’s impact on children and youth and the potential benefits of BDO’s support and volunteerism. Ultimately, BBBSA was chosen through a firm-wide employee survey.
The relationship with BBBSA is a natural fit, reflecting our shared values of mentorship, connection, and collaboration. Together, we will aim to create pathways to economic empowerment and brighter prospects for the next generation through mentorship. Our collaboration proudly supports BBBSA’s Big Futures – the nation’s largest workplace mentoring program, which offers hands-on mentoring opportunities and career planning.
Our relationship will also bolster our employee-driven volunteer program, BDO Counts, providing opportunities for our people to engage in their communities through virtual and in-person volunteering with BBBSA.
How has the partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters contributed to attracting, engaging, and retaining talent at BDO?
From the outset, our social impact program has been propelled by the dedication and input of our people. They played a crucial role in selecting our social impact cause areas—children and youth, education and literacy, human rights, and the environment—ensuring that our firm’s priorities align with the causes that matter most to them. Similarly, we engaged our employees in the selection process for our cause partner, with nearly half casting their vote for BBBSA.
While we are still in the early days of this cause partnership, we are already seeing the impact on talent engagement. In the first months of our collaboration, we’ve had over 400 professionals volunteer for BBBSA and a waitlist of many more eager to make an impact.
In addition, we’ve also integrated the cause partnership into our leadership development program, building out dedicated time during training conferences for our leaders to participate in group mentoring. In collaboration with BBBSA, our professionals meet with local students to provide coaching and advice that will help guide them on their journey toward their future careers.
Through these events, we hope to empower and inspire young people to consider a wide range of career opportunities, including professional services. At the same time, these volunteer events help our people connect to BDO’s purpose of helping people thrive and motivate them to grow with us.
In what ways has this partnership strengthened BDO’s relationship with the communities you serve?
The transformative power of workplace mentorship delivers measurable, lasting impact to communities. In fact, a recent longitudinal economic study confirms that being a “Little” through Big Brothers Big Sisters significantly improves lifetime economic outcomes.
To help maximize our impact in our communities, we focus on understanding how to best serve them. We collaborate closely with the leaders of local BBBSA agencies for each event to understand their priorities and the unique needs of the youth they support.
For example, at a volunteer event with Big Brothers Big Sisters Lone Star, our people created uplifting notes for student mental health kits. They made mums – a distinctive Texas tradition – for students to wear while celebrating homecoming events. By adopting an intentional and collaborative approach to our volunteer efforts, we aim to create meaningful experiences tailored to each community, achieving maximum impact for the youth involved.
So far, our people have volunteered their time and skills to create 380 motivational mental health kits for students and have participated in group mentoring events to support local teens on their career journeys. Feedback from these mentoring events revealed that students most appreciated the valuable career advice, networking opportunities, and insights into professional service career paths.
What makes BDO’s partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters unique or innovative?
Our cause partnership exemplifies BDO’s core purpose of helping people thrive daily by promoting collaboration, building on our mentorship and leadership development programs, and helping inspire the next generation to explore careers in professional services.
- Collaborative Selection Process: Our people were actively involved in selecting both our social impact cause areas and choosing Big Brothers Big Sisters of America as our first cause partner. This collaborative approach ensures that our social impact efforts align with our team’s values and interests, fostering a deeper connection and commitment to the cause.
- Building on Existing Programs: Like BBBSA, BDO’s commitment to mentoring is longstanding. We offer a wide range of formal and informal mentoring programs to support our people’s learning styles and preferences. Additionally, we have integrated BBBSA volunteer events into our leadership development curriculum, leveraging mentorship to foster personal and professional growth for both the young individuals involved and the BDO professionals who serve as mentors.
- Inspiring Future Careers: Big Futures programming introduces, equips, and inspires our future talent pipeline through various hands-on mentoring opportunities. Our mentor events with local Big Brothers Big Sisters chapters are aimed at helping students with academic, personal, and professional goals while also exposing young people of all backgrounds to the possibility of a successful career in the industry. For those looking to explore the career path further, we offer resources to help them on the next stage of their journey.
As we continue to grow our partnership with BBBSA, we remain committed to evolving our efforts to meet the needs of our employees, the students we mentor, and the communities we support. Through mentorship, leadership development, and purpose-driven volunteerism, we are investing in the future workforce and deepening our firm’s culture of giving back.
