Campus Kitchens don’t often experience trouble getting cooks in the kitchen. With a student volunteer force sourced from a generation of givers and new service learning curriculums, meal and delivery shifts are readily filled.

But beyond direct service, Campus Kitchen students work to develop their own non-profits, and often need the support of skilled professionals to help build long term Campus Kitchen sustainability.

Good news, says a study released by Deloitte May 3: corporations regard workplace volunteerism as a means to effect long-term social change, and increasingly, they’re offering up employees to participate in skilled volunteer opportunities.

The 2010 Deloitte Volunteer Impact Survey is a four-page study on how and why skilled volunteerism – service beyond basic labor – is progressing according to corporate managers. In that study, 84 percent of corporate managers said they believe volunteerism can help nonprofits achieve long-term goals and another 60 percent reported offering option for employee-selected projects.

That means a PR professional who also loves to cook might want to donate press release writing and news savvy services to his/her local Campus Kitchen.

Similarly, 64 percent of corporate managers report they offer options that fit with the company’s philanthropic focus. So, sooner than you may think, a skilled seed supplier or master gardener could end up plotting out the Campus Kitchen Spring garden.

In all, the report comes as good news for Campus Kitchens and other small non-profits with a strong volunteer force and a need to develop. Take a cue from Deloitte, reach out to local, skilled professionals that could offer sustainability to your Campus Kitchen, and see where you grow from there.

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