The Commit Partnership is proud to be an open and inclusive workplace, led by a diverse team of employees with widely varying skill sets. Nearly half of our employees have served as educators, with the remaining portion coming from backgrounds that range from computer science to community organizing.
But as a mid-size nonprofit, there are still gaps in the services we can provide and the skills we collectively possess. And as good stewards of the financial support we receive, it’s our responsibility to seek out the most efficient ways to fill those gaps.
Specifically, our organization was in need of a new Knowledge Management System, a digital platform for storing and retrieving knowledge to improve understanding, collaboration, and process alignment. We believe that community progress results from shared understanding of previous work and strategic decisions that build on the knowledge accumulated from collective experience. But organizing that previous work and prior knowledge into a coherent and easy-to-use system was beyond our scope.
This is exactly the kind of problem Fidelity Investments has sought to address with their annual Impact Week. “The purpose of Impact Week is to bring together Fidelity Investments employee volunteers and organizations doing great work in our community to generate business and technology solutions with long-term impact in just five hours,” says Jennifer Gray, Senior Manager of Community Relations at Fidelity Investments. “And we knew Commit would be the perfect candidate for this year’s event because of our shared commitment to education.”
Fidelity Investments has produced Impact Week in North Texas for the past three years. In 2019, more than 80 Fidelity Investments Texas employees provided $71,000 of pro-bono support to 9 nonprofits. This consulting event was part of the company’s Impact Week happening globally with more than 90 nonprofits around the world and with service valued at nearly $600,000.
Participating nonprofit organizations partner with technologists, business analysts, project managers, marketers and human resource professionals who provide invaluable expertise in the areas where help is most needed. For Commit, that meant technologists who could help navigate the world of knowledge management software.
“I would have never known the depth of options we had to choose from, or how to go about determining the best software,” said Commit Philanthropy Director Abby Mayer. “By working with professionals from Fidelity Investments, we know the product we’ve chosen is going to best suit our organization’s needs.”
Our Impact Week volunteers not only helped us select the best software, but also gave valuable insight into best practices for implementation. “I didn’t think I could be this excited about a knowledge management system,” said Commit Communications Associate Brittany Meyer, “but I am genuinely thrilled for the chance to train staff on this new platform.”
Between the knowledge gained, solutions created, and professional relationships built, it’s impossible to wholly quantify the value of Fidelity's contribution to Commit's mission of advance educational equity.
“This year’s Impact Week was truly special, thanks to the incredible engagement with our nonprofit partners like Commit and our employee volunteers,” concluded Gray. “We’re honored to know that, by increasing Commit’s capacity, we’re helping to ensure that many more resources go directly to the students who need them the most.”
