BearingPoint joined the Berlin Social Academy (BSA) as a partner in 2019 for the first time. With the BSA, committed companies based in Berlin support the work of non-profit organizations by providing trainings and workshops. The employees of the participating companies are encouraged to pass on their expertise to non-profits and associations on a pro bono basis. In 2019 – the last on-site edition before the pandemic – more than 35 workshops attracted around 600 people from over 160 non-profits. 16 companies made this happen – and BearingPoint was one of them!
What makes the BSA special is that CSR managers like me engage actively to make the BSA happen. Beyond financial contributions, the company’s CSR managers also bring their hearts and hands to the table. Beyond bi-weekly coordination calls among the participating companies, we all take on additional tasks. For example, In 2019, I helped set up a pre-survey with non-profits to understand their needs and assisted with setting up the curriculum by contacting session hosts and revising the workshop descriptions before they went online. While this is an additional time commitment, it has proven to increase commitment and is probably a factor for the BSA being a successful and accepted format since 2013.
The continuous and open exchange has proven to make us relatively flexible. When the pandemic hit the world in 2020, we were required to adjust the set-up of the BSA from on-site to online. Also, we needed to reflect on the curriculum since non-profits signaled a demand for online empowerment and resilience management in the context of COVID-19. All CSR managers took the feedback back to their organizations and contacted people to help with the requested content. For example, one of our consultants, Elaine, offered her inside knowledge on Business Continuity Management in 2020 to help non-profits prepare for potential future crisis situations.
Our colleague Elaine Heierhoff from Frankfurt shares her thoughts with us here!
It was great to share my experience of setting up a business continuity management for BearingPoint wiith non-profits. It is so important to ensure that they get as prepared as possible for potential crises in the future - from data leaks over reputation to pandemics.
Elaine Heierhoff, Senior Manager at BearingPoint