Voices for Nonprofits

By AIT News Desk On May 28, 2021

Leading voice-over provider Voices introduces success stories from the nonprofit sector in the emerging digital audio revolution.

The nonprofit sector was hit hard by the pandemic with the subsequent cancellation of fundraising events. For reasons of health and safety, in-person volunteer assignments were often temporarily discontinued.

Nonprofits have been able, in part, to transition to the digital world with tools like online crowdfunding, online fundraising, virtual volunteering, or virtual mentoring programs. The progression to digital and no-touch solutions is driving the voice-first world that is here to stay.

David Ciccarelli, founder and Chief Executive Officer at Voices, says, “Nonprofits who focus now on opportunities to get involved in popular voice-first channels, such as eLearning and podcasts, have the opportunity to be heard.”

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Success Story: The Imagine Neighborhood Podcast

Committee for Children, a Seattle-based nonprofit that has spent the past 40 years spearheading initiatives to support and educate children, developed an entire curriculum built upon their belief in the importance of social-emotional learning (SEL). In 2020, they developed a podcast titled “The Imagine Neighborhood.” The show would use the engaging power of audio storytelling to encourage children and parents to openly discuss their feelings and grow into healthier, kinder communicators.

Scotty Iseri, Senior Product Manager at Committee for Children and initiator of the podcast, told Voices “We’ve heard from quite a few parents, caregivers, and teachers who have said that the show is really helping them ‘during these uncertain times.’ They’re using the catchphrases from the show to remind their kids, and themselves, about taking someone else’s perspective, or healthy ways to express emotions.”

Success Story: A Virtual Volunteer Base

Big Brothers Big Sisters of America is a non-profit organization whose mission is to “create and support one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth.” Adult volunteers are matched with children from age five to young adulthood.

“When COVID-19 hit and eliminated the possibility of face-to-face interactions, our agencies needed an immediate alternative for scaling their volunteer trainings,” says J. Christie Wilson, Director of Training at BBBS. “For many, pre-match volunteer training—one of the most important steps matching a mentor with a mentee—had taken place almost entirely in person. While virtual instructor-led learning provided an option, it could not adequately meet the span of our volunteer base.”

BBBS began developing bite-sized video learning and quickly recognized a need for a variety of voices to narrate these learning opportunities, Wilson reports. “Voices has been a pivotal partner in this shift and has helped us scale our learning to meet an ever-increasing virtual volunteer base.”