志愿者服务的价值所在

Recently, I was sitting with several dozen inner-city teens, talking with them about college and careers. It was a free-wheeling conversation. I was peppered with questions–including, “How can I get your job?”
最近，我和几十名市内贫民区的青少年在一起，畅谈大学和职业，讨论的氛围非常自由。他们的问题几乎让我应接不暇，其中包括“我怎样才能进德勤呢？”
   
I left absolutely convinced that as a result of that session, at least one kid who otherwise would have missed going to college will, in fact, be going. Let me tell you, it made my day, if not my week.
那次谈话后，我很确定，至少有一名原本可能会放弃上大学的孩子去上学，事实上，他本来就要放弃了。让我告诉你，能帮助他们，我真的是很高兴。
   
And it reminded me of an often overlooked way to meet people’s needs, particularly in these hard times as non-profit organizations are seeing double-digit drops in funding–as demand goes through the roof. I’m talking about skills-based volunteerism. That is, donating high-value, professional skills–for free.
那次谈话让我想起了一种常被忽略的助人之道，尤其是在目前这种困难时期，非营利性机构的资金来源正面临着两位数的下滑，而需求却达到了最高限度。我所说的助人之道就是以技术为基础的志愿服务，即免费提供高价值的专业技术服务。
   
Our company, Deloitte, recently conducted a survey on corporate volunteering. We found that 91% of respondents agreed that skills-based volunteering would add value to training and development, especially in fostering leadership and business skills. But only 16% of companies offer skills-based volunteering as an option for employees. Only one out of six.
我们德勤最近做了一次关于企业志愿服务的调查。调查结果显示，91%的受访者都认为，以技术为基础的志愿服务能为培训和发展增加价值，对于增强领导力和商业技巧更是如此。但目前只有16%的公司将以技术为基础的志愿服务作为员工的选择，仅占1/6。
   
Given the obvious need out there and also given President Obama’s impassioned call for national service, we’ve gone way beyond surveying about volunteerism. We’ve pledged $50 million in services–that’s right, $50 million worth of our employees’ time–over three years to help non-profit organizations boost their effectiveness.
目前需求非常明显，奥巴马总统也慷慨激昂地呼吁增加国家服务，我们公司不仅仅停留在调查志愿服务的层面。我们已经承诺，在未来三年内，将提供价值5000万美元的员工服务，帮助非营利性组织更有效地进行工作。