FAQs
Which of the following images are related to skill sharing?
Ans: 3,4,6,7 and 8 :)
Professionals | Companies | Non-profits
1. 1. What is "skill sharing"?
2. 2. Why on earth do non-profits need my skills? They could just hire consultants…
3. 3. It may be useful for non-profits, but what is in it for me?
4. 4. I wish I could, but I don’t have the time…
6. 6. What types of projects does Drishtant offer?
7. 7. What skills could I offer to non-profits?
8. 8. What is the average time commitment required for this?
9. 9. How do I start skill-sharing?
1. 1. What is "skill sharing"?
Skill sharing is when you help out a non-profit organization using your professional expertise (websites, strategy, design, animation…) or by doing something you are really good at (composing music, doodling…).
This is very different from the more common general volunteering where people distribute food / clothing / books, plant trees, clean the neighbourhood, etc. These activities are important, but do not necessarily capitalize on what you LOVE doing and are BEST at.
2.
2. Why on earth do non-profits need my skills? They could just hire consultants…
Non-profit organizations often cannot access corporate quality skills due to constraints of scale, budget and information. They can work more efficiently and innovatively when you step in with your big warm heart and a functional head! J
By the way, we all know that the money value of a specialized service is way higher than non-specialist work. In other words, you could give your favourite cause / organization service worth say INR 50,000 in a single weekend.
Imagine the impact you can create without really stepping out of your comfort zone!
3.
It 3. It may be useful for non-profits, but what is in it for me?
Hmm… Skill sharing at Drishtant will not fetch you an additional income. However, we do not believe in asking you to ‘sacrifice for the greater good’.
Some returns on the time you invest here that may appeal to you:
- Applying your skills in new settings makes you a bigger expert than you are today. Grow in value and confidence.
- To get a more leadership-based role, you need a diverse work experience.
- You could be recognized by your CEO/senior management for contributing to your company’s CSR activities.
- Freshers: Get the edge that top recruiters look for: a diverse work profile.
- Aspiring MBAs: Who wouldn’t love to show some hands-on experience of their preferred MBA specialization on their application?!
- Experiment with new ideas in real life. Improvise. Innovate. Patent.
- Take a break from a predictable, routine life. Feel needed. Feel free.
- Here’s a chance to measure your aptitude for entrepreneurship. Work with social enterprises to understand if you can do it alone.
- Get certificates, recommendation letters, T shirts, mugs, freebies, and much more…
Remember those college fests where you worked tirelessly to set up the games kiosk, or to get sponsors to pay up in time, or to design a website with the right ‘feel’? You did it because you loved being part of something huge and creative and fun and all yours. Of course there was the work-ex certificate, the thrill of getting a wow from your buddies, or maybe a girl’s phone number… No one paid you to work. Maybe some lucky ones got their “business phone calls” reimbursed. None of this was sacrifice - it simply worked for you.
This is a space to do your own thing, in your own time, for the cause you feel most about – without leaving your comfort zone.
4. I wish I could, but I don’t have the time…
People tell us they want to make a difference and support causes, but usually don’t have time. Let’s face it – not many would want to make time for anything that adds to work or travel, takes away a full holiday and is difficult to relate with.
Welcome to Drishtant Skill Share 2.0.
- You can choose to work on projects / causes that mean the most to you.
- You will probably not need to travel in most cases.
- The project schedule is flexible according to your time availability as long as milestones are respected.
- Drishtant has a due diligence process to minimize risk of getting involved with undeserving organizations.
Make this a space where you can have fun doing what you love and are best at. Without necessarily travelling or giving up family time. Or missing out the Sunday movie marathon.
- Registered non-profits post specific, time bound requirements with estimated impact value as per the open market.
- You browse the currently open projects by skill / cause and choose a project that interests you.
- You apply to the non-profit that has posted the project.
- The non-profit directly recruits the best fit candidate for its project – just like real world consultancy. Let us say this is you.
- You commence work formally.
- Drishtant calls in two week’s time to confirm that the non-profit and you are both comfortable working with each other. In case of a mis-match, the project is opened again for re-application.
- At the end of the project, your contribution and the impact value of your service are consolidated by Drishtant for certificates (upon request), and social impact data for your company.
6. 6. What types of projects does Drishtant offer?
Projects posted by non-profits on Drishtant must fulfill the following requirements:
- Short term, requiring approximately 1-3 hour per week for a maximum of 3 months time
- Must define tangible deliverables clearly eg. Strategy paper, merchandise design, website, machine design, report, survey questionnaire, etc.
- Must be suited to being completed by an individual within the time frame.
7. 7. What skills could I offer to non-profits?
Frankly, anything that can be delivered without actual physical presence and ends in a tangible product – strategy papers, data, designs, advice, review comments…
If you have a professional skill that you wish to add to the list given above, please write to us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
8. 8. What is the average time commitment required for this?
We encourage projects requiring 1-3 hours a week for a maximum of 3 months to complete the project.
9. 9. How do I start skill-sharing?
Contact us to register and browse posted projects.
Professionals | Companies | Non-profits
2. Why on earth do non-profits need my employees’ skills? They could just hire consultants…
3. It may be useful for non-profits, but what is in it for my company?
4. What will my employees gain from this experience?
5. I wish I could promote this in my company, but my employees do not have the time to share skills…
7. What types of projects does Drishtant offer?
8. What skills can my employees offer to non-profits?
9. What is the average time commitment required for this?
10. How can my employees start skill-sharing?
Skill sharing is when your employees help out a non-profit organization (NPO) using their professional expertise or by doing something they are really good at like writing or composing music. It holds potential for high CSR impact value, especially when it is aligned with your company’s core competency.
It is different from traditional employee volunteering which involves activities like distribution of food / clothing / books, planting trees or cleaning drives. While these activities are important, they do not make use of your employees’ core strengths nor do they align with their individual passions.
2. Why on earth do non-profits need my employees’ skills? They could just hire consultants…
Non-profit organizations often cannot access corporate quality skills due to constraints of scale, budget and information. They can work more efficiently and innovatively when your employees step in with their big warm hearts and professional skills!
We know that the money value of a specialized service is way higher than non-specialist work. In other words, your employees could give their favourite cause / organization service worth say INR 50,000 in a single weekend.
Imagine the impact your company as a whole can create without additional cost and at the convenience of your employees!
3. It may be useful for non-profits, but what is in it for my company?
- Multiplied CSR impact value: Since your employees use their specialized skills to deliver services to NPOs, the impact value of this CSR activity is several times more than that of non-specialist volunteering activities.
- Cost effective CSR programme: Your biggest assets – your employees – can use their convenient time/bench period/weekends to support causes directly through Drishtant. You need not hire additional staff to initiate skill sharing in your company.
- Greater CSR reach: Your employees can work with NPOs across India working on diverse issues. This means you reach more and more beneficiary groups across locations and multiply the reach of your CSR activities.
- Success stories that can be showcased: Your company can proudly showcase success stories with supporting data and photographs once your employees deliver the services they commit to.
- Socially responsible branding: Your company can earn and strengthen stakeholder confidence by providing solutions to actual community issues first-hand. Your employees become proud brand ambassadors when they feel their skills are valued and are making a real difference.
- Increased investor confidence: Investors appreciate your commitment to social change when you leverage your core competencies to provide cost-effective solutions to your skakeholders.
- Improved reputation as employer: When you give employees the freedom to choose their cause and use their skills to make a unique contribution, you build your reputation as a supportive employer.
4. What will my employees gain from this experience?
Skill sharing at Drishtant will not fetch your employees an additional income. However, we do not believe in asking anyone to ‘sacrifice for the greater good’.
Some of the ways in which your employees shall benefit from sharing their skills through Drishtant:
- Mastery from application of skills in new settings: see them grow in value and self-confidence
- Diverse work experience to groom them for leadership-based roles/change in role
- A sense of purpose and job satisfaction: especially if recognized by the senior management for contributing to your company’s CSR activities.
- The delight of creating something unique as they experiment with new ideas in real life.
5. I wish I could promote this in my company, but my employees do not have the time to share skills…
- Underutilized work hours: Not all employees are busy at the same time with deliverables of equal criticality. There are buffer periods, bench time, projects that do not come through and other tough realities in the way of managing manpower effectively. Optimize this time in the interest of your company.
- Set limits: Take a policy decision on the amount of time you would want employees to commit per year, and let them decide when they would like to take up skill sharing projects.
- Complement scheduled training hours: The time invested in skill sharing results in improved domain knowledge, communication, teamwork, and leadership in your employees.
- Registered NPOs post specific, time bound requirements with estimated impact value as per the open skill market.
- Your employees browse the currently open projects by skill / cause and choose a project that interests them.
- They apply to the NPO that has posted the project.
- The NPO directly recruits the best fit candidate for its project – just like in real world consultancy.
- If recruited, your employee can commence work formally.
- Drishtant calls in two week’s time to confirm that the professional and the NPO are comfortable working with each other. In case of a mis-match, the project is opened again for re-application.
- At the end of the project, the NPO rates the quality of the services delivered by your employees.
- The contribution of your employee, its impact value and quality of service delivery are consolidated by Drishtant for certificates (if requested), and social impact data for your company.
7. What types of projects does Drishtant offer?
Projects posted by NPOs on Drishtant must fulfill the following requirements:
- Short term, requiring approximately 1-3 hour per week for a maximum of 3 months time
- Must define tangible deliverables clearly eg. Strategy paper, merchandise design, website, machine design, report, survey questionnaire, etc.
- Must be suited to being completed by an individual professional by herself / himself.
8. What skills can my employees offer to non-profits?
Frankly, anything that can be delivered without actual physical presence and ends in a tangible product. Your employees may create a trendy line of kurtis for a women’s group to tailor this season, an optimized ecommerce website for a cottage industry, a growth strategy for an NPO wondering how to scale to the next state, a logo for a start-up social enterprise, a survey tool for a baseline exercise, a jingle for a promotional campaign…
If you wish to add a professional skill to the list given above, please write to us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
9. What is the average time commitment required for this?
We encourage projects requiring 1-3 hours a week for a maximum of 3 months to complete the project.
10. How can my employees start skill-sharing?
Contact us to set up a pilot skill-sharing programme for your employees.
Professionals | Companies | Non-profits
2. What does my NPO stand to gain from a skill sharing platform?
4. What types of projects does Drishtant support?
5. What skills can I access from professionals in the corporate world?
6. What is the average time commitment I can expect from professionals?
7. How can my NPO start accessing professional skills via Drishtant?
Skill sharing is when people help out a non-profit organization (NPO) using their professional expertise or by doing something they are really good at like writing or composing music. It holds potential for very high impact value, since your NPO gets specialized services that are quite highly priced in the free market.
It is different from traditional employee volunteering which involves activities like distribution of food / clothing / books, planting trees or cleaning drives. While these activities are important, they may neither make use of the core strengths of professionals, nor align with their individual passions.
2. What does my NPO stand to gain from a skill sharing platform?
Non-profit organizations often cannot access corporate quality skills due to constraints of scale, budget and information. They can work more efficiently and innovatively when highly skilled professionals step in with their big warm heart and functional heads!
You need to be clever about posting your requirements in small, deliverable pieces, and monitoring the progress of each as it gets done at no cost by professionals willing to support your cause with their talents and skills.
We know that the money value of a specialized service is way higher than non-specialist work. In other words, your NPO could get service worth say INR 50,000 in a single weekend. Imagine how powerful a cost-saver this platform can be if used wisely and consistently.
Your NPO also gains visibility and credibility when it becomes associated with respected names from the corporate world.
- Registered NPOs post specific, time bound requirements with estimated impact value as per the open skill market.
- Professionals browse the currently open projects by skill / cause and choose a project that interests them.
- They apply to the NPO that has posted the project.
- The NPO directly recruits the best fit candidate for its project – just like in real world consultancy.
- Once recruited, the professional can commence work formally.
- Drishtant calls in two week’s time to confirm that the professional and the NPO are comfortable working with each other. In case of a mis-match, the project is opened again for re-application.
- At the end of the project, the NPO rates the quality of the services delivered by the professional.
- The contribution of the professional, its impact value and quality of service delivery are consolidated by Drishtant for certificates (if requested), and social impact data.
4. What types of projects does Drishtant support?
Projects posted by NPOs on Drishtant must fulfill the following requirements:
- Short term, requiring approximately 1-3 hour per week for a maximum of 3 months time
- Must define tangible deliverables clearly eg. Strategy paper, merchandise design, website, machine design, report, survey questionnaire, etc.
- Must be suited to being completed by an individual professional by herself / himself.
5. What skills can I access from professionals in the corporate world?
Frankly, anything that can be delivered without actual physical presence and ends in a tangible product. You may request designs for a trendy line of kurtis for a women’s group to tailor this season, an optimized ecommerce website for a cottage industry, a growth strategy for if you are planning to scale to the next state, a logo for a start-up social enterprise, a survey tool for a baseline exercise, a jingle for a promotional campaign…
If you require skills other than the ones mentioned above, please write to us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
6. What is the average time commitment I can expect from professionals?
We encourage projects requiring 1-3 hours a week for a maximum of 3 months to complete the project.
7. How can my NPO start accessing professional skills via Drishtant?
Contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to initiate our due diligence and registration process. Once registered, you will be able to post your requirements on our website. Application and completion of projects depends upon member professionals, and Drishtant cannot guarantee that each of your requests will be responded to by them. It is therefore advisable to post projects that are not urgent.