Member spotlight: Paul Donnell
When I first moved to Chicago after college in the summer of 2001 I initially thought this would be a two-to-three year stop, and I would be on my way to bigger and better things (as if things got bigger and better than Chicago?!). After a couple of years, I realized Chicago was becoming a more permanent home. As such, I wanted to give back to the city that I was “taking” away from on a daily basis. Thankfully for me, PricewaterhouseCoopers gave me lots of different opportunities to get involved so I could begin to give back to my community. I started off small; initially getting involved by contributing towards the annual United Way campaign. I then got involved through various one-day United Way events sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers .
My current involvement with United Way started after I completed Project Blueprint which is the nonprofit board training program offered through United Way. Through this training I was invited to be a part of the Venture Investment Fund Panel which evaluated “start-up” programs at already established United Way agencies. My involvement with the panel gave me the opportunity to see the inner-workings of United Way and how much they rely on talented volunteers to conduct what I call the “due diligence” over all of the agencies United Way funds. As a former auditor, seeing the extensive review and analysis of each agency was very reassuring to me and prompted me to make larger contributions to my firms annual United Way campaign. I had seen firsthand through the grant review process and on-site review visits that the dollars I contribute toward the campaign are spent in a very prudent and intelligent fashion. As a result of my involvement with Venture I was invited to be one of the founding members of YLS back in August of 2006.
As you can see, my volunteer activity was a gradual process. Along each step of the way, I learned more about the different opportunities available to me and what I enjoyed and where I thought I fit in the best. Today I continue to LIVE UNITED as a member of the PricewaterhouseCoopers United Way Steering Committee for our annual United Way campaign as well as the Volunteer Chair for the YLS Volunteer Committee.
I encourage each of you to learn for yourself what United Way has to offer you and hopefully you will start this process by attending our next volunteer opportunity on May 30! If you ever have any questions about how you can get more involved with the Volunteer Committee, or YLS in general, do not hesitate to contact me.
I’m interested in Project Blueprint. Can someone please contact me about the program?