How Virtual Skills-Based Volunteering Is Powering Global Social Innovation

Virtual skills-based volunteering (SBV) – where professionals contribute their expertise to mission-driven organizations – is transforming how support is delivered to social innovators worldwide.

Since the pandemic, virtual SBV has surged, unlocking new possibilities for social enterprises to tap into global talent regardless of geography. At MovingWorlds, we’ve facilitated over 2,500 skills-based projects across 122 countries, delivering more than $51 million in pro bono support to social enterprises. We’ve seen firsthand that virtual volunteering isn’t just a temporary substitute for in-person service — it's an inclusive and powerful model to create meaningful impact at scale.

In our experience, we see that virtual skills-based volunteers engage in 5 primary functions:

1. Mentoring

2. Coaching

3. Training

4. Consulting

5. Quick advice calls

Here’s how virtual SBV is delivering real impact across five powerful roles:

1. Mentors: Sharing Industry Expertise & Insight

Mentors act as trusted guides, sharing years of professional and industry-specific experience with social entrepreneurs. These relationships often take the form of regular check-ins or strategic sounding boards. While the insights are invaluable, it’s the human connection that often leaves the deepest mark.

For example, in SAP’s Acceleration Collective program, employees mentor early-stage social entrepreneurs around the globe, helping them refine their business models, avoid common pitfalls, and connect to markets.

(check out our SAP Skills-Based Volunteering Case Study here.)

These mentorships don’t just improve the business — they support the person behind the mission, often helping founders gain confidence to push through moments of doubt or challenge.

2. Coaches: Strengthening Leadership & Teams

Leadership can be isolating, especially in resource-constrained, impact-driven environments. Virtual coaches support social enterprise leaders by helping them reflect, strategize, and grow their leadership capabilities.

Coaches often help changemakers:

• Clarify priorities and show-up as more effective leaders

• Strengthen team dynamics and create more collaborate and high-performing environments

• Improve communication and management styles that improve organization efficiency

• Work through mental health and isolation challenges

The coaching relationship proved so impactful that the entrepreneur credited it with "giving me the clarity and resolve to pursue a bigger opportunity."

3. Trainers: Building Skills & Capacity

Capacity-building is at the heart of sustainable development. Virtual volunteers who serve as trainers offer hands-on education to individuals and/or teams in areas like finance, accounting, HR, operations, sales, strategy, as well as with tools like CRMs, AI, Websites, and more.

A recent report from Common Impact shows that skills-based projects improve nonprofit effectiveness by up to 28%. (check out our list of platforms that help manage virtual volunteering at scale).

These engagements aren’t just tactical — they create a multiplier effect. When staff gain new skills, they bring that knowledge back into the organization, train others, and build stronger systems that lower costs and help them scale.

4. Pro Bono Consultants: Driving Strategy & Execution

SBV professionals often act as pro bono consultants, stepping in to solve complex strategic or operational challenges. They may:

• Support in the development of strategic and operation plans

• Lend execution support to help deliver programs

• Help guide the selection and implementation of new tech tools

• Provide a capacity building boost to teams working to deliver a project on-time

• Conduct in-depth analysis on current or future challenges and opportunities

In addition to what we see in our own research, other organizations like Taproot Foundation and Common Impact have demonstrated that high-quality consulting can be delivered virtually — with fewer costs and greater reach. In fact, Common Impact found that virtual engagements allow for increased scalability, higher ROI, and reduced logistical barriers.

One example: A volunteer marketing strategist helped 100cameras refine its outreach strategy — which ultimately led to national media coverage on NBC’s Rockefeller Center Tree Lighting Special.

5. Advisors: Providing Quick, Targeted Support

Sometimes, the most valuable contribution is a quick call or email — a “flash consulting” session or a warm introduction. Virtual platforms make these easy to coordinate.

Whether it’s a 30-minute call to review a pitch deck, or a recommendation for an industry insider, these quick connects often punch far above their weight. In fact, some social entrepreneurs credit one conversation with unlocking a major growth opportunity.

Through initiatives like SAP’s social procurement program, corporations are also acting as advisors by opening up new markets and supply chain access to social enterprises.

The Real Impact: Why It Works

When professionals volunteer their skills virtually, social innovators benefit in multiple ways:

✅ Projects get completed and scaled: Whether it’s launching a website or building a financial model, virtual SBV brings the right expertise at the right time.

✅ Teams are upskilled and more confident: Volunteers pass on knowledge that strengthens internal capacity and builds long-term resilience.

✅ Operations improve for the long term: Strategic support helps organizations implement better systems, enabling growth and efficiency.

✅ Founders feel supported and energized: The human connection of mentorship, coaching, and collaboration helps sustain the passion needed to keep going.

✅ New markets and opportunities become accessible: Volunteers often open doors that lead to partnerships, funding, and new customers.

A Win-Win for CSR Programs

It’s not only the social enterprises that benefit — companies see tangible gains, too.

For CSR and HR leaders, virtual SBV is a proven way to:

• Increase employee engagement and performance

• Grow cross-cultural collaboration and leadership skills of employees

• Retain purpose-driven employees

• Identify innovation and new market opportunities

• Build brand value by communicating social impact that is aligned with corporate strategy

According to Deloitte, 92% of business leaders agree that volunteering improves employees’ leadership and broader professional skills. MovingWorlds’ partners have echoed this, noting increased employee satisfaction and retention.

(see this ROI calculation proving the awesome return on investment that skills-based volunteering programs provide.)

Virtual programs also expand access to a more diverse group of employees — not just those who can travel. Everyone, from a junior analyst to a seasoned executive, can contribute their skills on their schedule, from anywhere.

The Future Is Hybrid — But Virtual Is Here to Stay

At MovingWorlds, we believe that the future of volunteering is hybrid — blending the immersive value of in-person service with the reach and efficiency of virtual collaboration.

But make no mistake: virtual skills-based volunteering is already changing the world.

If you’re a CSR leader, social innovator, or purpose-driven professional: Virtual SBV isn’t just possible — it’s powerful. And if you need a partner in scaling a global skills-based volunteering program, we'd love to talk to you.

Let’s keep building bridges — across industries, continents, and missions — to create a more equitable and sustainable world.

AI disclaimer: Following our AI Ethics policy, we disclose when we use AI. This post was written with the help of an AI chatbot that we trained with our research, brand voice, and other rules. The content strategy was first written by MovingWorlds, as was an initial list of data. We then used AI to final supplemental research, which we fact checked. We then finished writing the post.