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RW Institute

The RW Institute brings together various entities representing all sectors, to work towards the removal of barriers to corporate volunteering such as; a) limited resources, b) issues of scale, c) inconsistent global policy and legislative frameworks, and d) limited data to gain buy in and commitments from senior and mid-level managers. These Stakeholder Tables typically represent multiple social sectors and form around the themes of practice, projects and research, allowing for collaboration towards shared goals that promote the practice and theory of corporate volunteering on a global scale.

RWI is the brainchild of Chris Jarvis and Angela Parker. Together, they represent more than four decades combined experience in the social space, and the firm is known as a thought leader in employee volunteering, workplace giving and corporate social responsibility. Their company, Realized Worth, is a consultancy that works with companies to motivate employees to participate in volunteering and giving programs.

While the consultancy model has allowed for tremendous impact within the context of individual partnerships, it is insufficient for the firm’s highest aspiration: to create a powerful movement of volunteers working in communities across the world to address our most intractable problems. The consultancy model binds us to projects that are fully developed, rather than letting us set the agenda and solve eco-systemic problems, and it leaves little in the way of time or resources for “blue sky” thinking about the field’s needs five, ten, or twenty years down the line.

For goals that big, Realized Worth needed RWI, a non-profit wing that can ask and answer questions bigger than any one company, organization, or issue. In its early operations, RWI is using two core strategies: 1) organizing stakeholder tables of leading thinkers and doers who can solve tangible barriers to corporate volunteerism like the factors listed above; and 2) training and leadership development to support existing CSR evangelists across industry and company. In the long-term, RWI will couple these efforts with promotion of policy change to support current corporate citizenship practices and remove barriers that exist in various legislative frameworks.