THE CHALLENGE
How might we develop a new or improved volunteer engagement strategy to reach 40,000 students and generate a collective $10B+ uplift in lifetime earnings as a result?
This case study is a part of a broader partnership with Salesforce, where Salesforce employees volunteer their time and skills to improve the operations and capacity of nonprofit organizations.
One such nonprofit is Braven, an organization in the San Francisco Bay Area that works to empower young people from underrepresented communities, and first-generation college students.
PARTNER CONTEXT
The mission of Braven is to empower promising, underrepresented young people — first-generation college students, students from low-income backgrounds, and students of color—with the skills, confidence, experiences and networks necessary to transition from college to strong first jobs, which lead to meaningful careers and lives of impact. Braven reaches and engages roughly 1,500 youth and volunteers, nationally, every year.
By partnering with large public universities who are working to innovate, Braven:
- Builds cutting-edge career education into the undergraduate experience for low-income and first-generation college students
- Provides students, who often feel disconnected from campus, with a network of supporters and sense of belonging
- Becomes a systemic solution within and across universities to fuel a generation of leaders as diverse as our future demands
You can learn more at https://bebraven.org/
THE INNOVATION
Salesforce employees got involved with this project as skilled volunteers, contributing a variety of mission critical skills including: project management, marketing, design and technical expertise. The collaboration with Braven was facilitated virtually as the employees who volunteered spanned multiple regions across the country, including: New York, Florida, Atlanta, San Francisco, and Seattle.
Throughout the engagement, volunteers:
- Conducted discovery sessions with Braven to understand the current state of the volunteer journey
- Developed a gap analysis study to understand what key levers need to change to help Braven attract and retain students to programming
- Offered a set of recommendations to support the Braven team in improving their volunteer engagement journeys, thus serving more students in their programming
Volunteer Recommendations & Prototypes
ANTICIPATED IMPACT
- Decrease in Braven staff hours required to onboard and manage volunteers. This will allow the Braven team to dedicate this freed-up capacity towards more mission-driven work.
- Increased positive feedback from participants about their experience with Braven programming
- Increased long-term networking relationships between participants and volunteer mentors
From our Partner
“Braven has incredibly high ambitions, as you all know, for the impact we'll generate in the coming years – 40,000 students served and a collective $10B+ uplift in lifetime earnings as a result – and this project had a bullseye right at the center of pieces it'll take to unlock sustained growth.”
Daniel Alter & Lauren TassoneNational Director of Employer Partnerships & Solutions Engineer at Braven 
Braven indicated that it feels empowered by the tools and technology needed to make the recommendations provided as part of this engagement.
SALESFORCE EMPLOYEE FEEDBACK
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BY THE NUMBERS…
- $14,000 in savings Braven estimates by receiving this work as part of a skills-based volunteer effort from Salesforce employees.
- 100% of employees indicated that they were either satisfied or extremely satisfied with how the project used their skills.
- 60% of respondents indicated that they are extremely likely to participate in another company sponsored skills-based volunteer program.
- 80% of respondents reported that the project positively impacted their view of Salesforce as an employer and improved their day-to-day job satisfaction at the company. 80% of respondents who participated in this project indicated that they are extremely likely to recommend Salesforce as an employer to one of their peers.