professionals4free Web site launches
Howard Lake | 19 May 2003 | News
A new Web resource will help voluntary and community organisations find out how to obtain free professional support.
Professionals4free contains information and advice to make it easier for voluntary and community organisations (VCOs) to assess whether they need professional help and if so, identify what type, such as legal advice or management consultancy.
The site features a database providing details of brokers that VCOs can contact to help them make contact with professional firms interested in offering free support. It links into the National Council of Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) helpdesk which is available to answer questions that users may have.
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The site also offers ./guidance to professional individuals and firms interested in offering their services for free to the community.
The launch of the Web site follows an extensive study and consultation process conducted in 2001 by Business in the Community and funded by the Home Office, which resulted in the ‘Free for All’ report. This found that relatively few VCOs who could benefit from free professional support seemed to know what services were available or where to find them. It also showed that access to free professional support seemed to depend on location, luck and personal contacts.
A separate survey in 2002 asked 102 VCOs if they would find useful a dedicated Web site that listed pro bono services and how to obtain them. Ninety nine per cent said they would.
Lord Filkin, Home Office Minister for Race Equality, Voluntary and Community Policy said: “The Professionals4free website and helpline will provide an easy and effective way for people to get the help they need, while providing a route for professionals to get active in their community.”
The site is also designed to help professional firms who do not know how and where to announce the professional skills they have to offer. Chris White, UK Director of Communications at the leading Business and Financial advisor firm Grant Thornton, comments: “The professionals4free Web site is a really valuable resource for professionals wanting to offer their skills and expertise since it signposts them to brokers. We deliver our pro bono support through ProHelp and find that using a broker is key to ensuring our services go to where they are needed most.”
The professionals4free site has been developed by Business in the Community’s ProHelp programme, TimeBank, NCVO and Business Community Connections, with funding support from the Home Office Active Community Unit.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.