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October 12, 2010 Portlandbiz

Nonprofit ramps up professional service program

Portland nonprofit Work it UP -- founded 18 months ago to pair unemployed professionals with companies in need of services -- is launching what it calls a $3 million economic stimulus program to boost its reach in southern and central Maine.

Work it UP has 60 professionals, both employed and jobless, who offer their services to businesses that need additional expertise. Businesses that choose to hire Work it UP professionals pay a per-month administrative fee that's capped at $2,500, and some of the organization's offerings are free. Through the so-called stimulus program, Work it UP plans to provide services to 30 clients, with the value of the work for each company averaging $100,000. Bill Taylor, president of the nonprofit's board of directors, says the group used a formula to wind up at the $3 million mark. Sixty professionals providing services that average about $50 an hour if they were being paid, working 20 hours a week for 50 weeks out of the year, equals an equivalent of $3 million.

The point of the initiative, which Work it UP is just starting to advertise, is to raise awareness in the business community that the organization exists and has help to offer. "It's an opportunity to make the business community aware of what's here for them," Taylor says.

A group of laid-off professionals launched the organization last year, and it in its first year it completed 15 projects, mainly in the southern Maine region. Work it UP shares space at the Maine Center for Enterprise Development as professionals-in-residence for the business incubator's 12 or so clients. Besides the monthly fees it charges clients, the organization's only other source of funding was a $10,000 grant it received last year from the Project Management Institute, a Pennsylvania-based nonprofit for project managers, to create a curriculum to train its professionals.

Work it UP seeks to help unemployed professionals gain knowledge and experience to add to their resumes, and give clients -- many of which are small businesses, startups or nonprofits -- services they might not be able to afford otherwise. Since the organization formed last year, many of the professionals have found themselves paying gigs, but still volunteer their time with Work it UP, believing in the organization's mission and "love the possibility of becoming a social entrepreneur by lending their skills to companies that wouldn't otherwise be able to afford them," Taylor says.

As part of the economic stimulus initiative, Work it UP is also planning to begin hosting monthly "reverse job fairs" throughout central and southern Maine, where businesses can come and meet with consultants and professionals to find out how they could benefit from using Work it UP's services. Called the Work it UP economic stimulus package road show, the first fair will likely be held in the next 30 days, but a date and location haven't been finalized.

If a business is interested in learning more, a group of Work it UP professionals meet with its leaders to find out what the business needs and performs a half-day assessment free of charge. Then, the Work it UP group develops a plan for improving the business wherever it's struggling and offers solutions, which sometimes include telling businesses ways they can revamp on their own or training the company's staff on, say, a new payroll system.

While the nonprofit has also struggled during the tough economic times, it's remained committed to its mission of helping both Maine workers and Maine businesses. "Sometimes the best way to get ahead is to give back," Taylor says.

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