2015 was another year of exciting growth for MovingWorlds – quadrupling our numbers from last year, and increasing our lifetime impact to over $4.9 Million worth of professional services Experteered across 41 countries in just three years – more exciting statistics in the 2015 annual impact infographic below!

Beyond making a catalytic impact in the field, Experteering continues to provide life-enriching experiences for our Experteers, helping them get ahead in life and in career. Once again proving age-old wisdom that you get the best out of life when you give the best of yourself.

In 2015, news outlets began to cover the “Experteering Movement” that we’re spearheading, featuring us in Forbes (twice), Huffington Post (again and again and again), Harvard Business Review, Stanford Social innovation Review, The Seattle Times and many, many more.

As we look ahead to 2016, our goal will be the same: Fuel the Experteering movement to help social impact organizations accelerate their impact and create jobs by addressing their greatest challenges and transferring skills to local leaders. The United Nation’s calls this “capacity building”, which is now a critical component of the new Sustainable Development Goals. To help bridge the talent gap we’ll continue to improve our matching site and publish more resources and content to help Experteers and host organizations get the most out of every match. In addition, we’re also partnering with more corporations and universities who use our platform, training, and process to connect their employees and/or students to opportunities abroad, enabling people to grow as leaders while helping build a better world.

Here are a few of our favorite numbers from 2015…

• 172: Matches made between Experteers and Organizations
• 3,500: Days donated by Experteers
• 3,360,000 USD: Value of professional services delivered
• 21: Nationalities represented by Experteers matched with Opportunities
• 33: Number of countries Experteers were placed, across 5 continents
• 229: Opportunities posted to the MovingWorlds platform
• 32: Mentions in news and press articles

Moving beyond the numbers In 2015..

… We Forged New Partnerships with Global Development Organizations in the Field

MovingWorlds spent a significant part of 2015 scoping, nurturing, and delivering on partnerships with a wide range of Global Development organizations. From startup incubators like Village Capital to private sector Foundations such as Siemens Stiftung, many partners looked to leverage our matchmaking process to find talented Experteers for their community of startups and social enterprises. In all, 26 Global Partners joined MovingWorlds in 2015, either by connecting their employees or by strengthening their Organizations in the field.

… We Were Engaged by Fortune 100 Companies to Launch and Scale International Corporate Volunteering Programs

In 2015 MovingWorlds delivered on a milestone partnership with Microsoft and the MySkills4Afrika program to support 133 highly-skilled employees go Experteering in-person with startups, SMEs, schools, universities, and individuals across Africa:

“This experience was immensely rewarding – an opportunity for me to extend my skills, but of even greater significance – an opportunity to gain insight into the types of projects people are involved in and to understand more about the specific challenges unique to emerging markets.” – MySkills4Afrika participant

Companies are increasingly investing in International Corporate Volunteering programs for their teams, acknowledging the return on investment they bring in the form or more engaged, more satisfied, and higher-performing employees – while making the world better.

In fact, a new United Nations endorsed initiative, Impact2030, is fueling more and more corporate interest in Experteering programs. It convenes leaders from corporations, the United Nations, governments, and more to create tools to engage employees in volunteer work, measure impact of volunteer efforts, and promote the power of employee volunteers to change the world.

“Volunteerism is a source of community strength, resilience, solidarity and social cohesion. It brings positive social change by fostering respect for diversity, equality and the participation of all. It is among society’s most vital assets.”
– Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary General, United Nations

… We Continued to Develop Thought Leadership on Experteering and Sustainable Global Development

In addition to publishing relevant resources and trainings, we consistently engage in public debate and research on this topic. In 2015 our team members attended many conferences both in and outside the US and we published articles online in NextBillion, Huffington Post, Why Dev, Triple Pundit, and the Stanford Social Innovation Review, among others.

“ …our world has never needed programs like [MySkills4Afrika] more. The United Nations, in Sustainable Goal #17, has called on cross-sector partnerships to help build capacity; volunteer programs are a critical part of its development agenda. What’s more, there are real positive returns for the business when they give employees ‘stretch experiences.'” – SSIR, Optimising International Volunteer Experiences

We also published new research showing that volunteering your skills can help you in your career, too. Beyond the obvious benefits, we’ve also recognized that Experteering is a powerful tool to help build softer skills like empathy. Here’s a talk co-founder Mark Horoszowski gave on that topic at SOCAP 2015, Will you reach your full potential?.

Summarizing Our 2015 Report, and Thinking Ahead to 2016

One of our Experteers said it best… “You don’t need money to create impact; what you do need is the will, and the time.” – Rustom, Experteering in Honduras, December 2015.

Experteering is truly a gift to the world: It accelerates sustainable global development by solving one of the most pressing challenges of our time, doing so while connecting people to life-enriching experiences that help them get ahead in their career. The hardest part about Experteering is that it takes time… a lot of it. But if you’re able to afford the time investment, your skills have never been more needed, and you can start making a difference on trips as short as one week. Should you decide to go Experteering, we’d be honored to help you find an opportunity that will make you, and the world, better.

P.S. If you need a little extra push to go in 2016, here are a couple free guides to help you ask your boss for the time and budget to go Experteering. And if you want your company or university to sponsor you, read how to convince your company to pilot a program.