Meet the Team: Maura Koehler-Hanlon, Director of Client Services

They have facilitated millions of employee volunteer hours. All they have to do is pick up the phone, and corporate executives invest in volunteering. Some claim that they came up with the term “CSR.” They are: The Most Interesting Client Relations Managers in the World.

1. Give us your elevator speech — what do you do at VolunteerMatch?

I have such a fun job! As the Director of Client Services, I work to manage and support our Client Relations and Customer Services teams. These teams manage the relationships with our corporate partners, nonprofit users and volunteers. We pride ourselves on providing the best support in the industry. It’s a passionate and hardworking team, which is what makes it such a joy to come to work every day.

2. What brought you to VolunteerMatch? How long have you been here?

It seems like it’s only been a couple years, but I’ve been here for five years now. I’ve always wanted to work at the intersection of corporate and nonprofit – I believe strongly that many of our communities’ larger issues can only be solved through partnerships between the private and nonprofit sector.

In college I interned with a company who used VolunteerMatch to manage their employee volunteer program. So when I moved to San Francisco, I looked up VolunteerMatch and ended up taking a job in Business Development. A year later I moved over to the Client Relations Team to help maintain our relationships with our corporate clients, and last year developed and launched our Consulting program. In February I stepped into the Director role.

3. What is the most inspiring part of your job? What’s your favorite part?

So many inspiring elements to choose from! To name two:

My coworkers inspire me. It’s an amazingly talented and driven group of people all working towards a vision of technology changing the volunteering landscape.

Our corporate clients always inspire me. Especially the partnerships and ideas that push the borders of what’s been done before, to try and tackle the difficult issues. For instance, our “Fighting Hunger Together” initiative with the Walmart Foundation takes a new approach to supporting a cause.

4. If you were to start a foundation or a nonprofit, what would its mission be?

In my free time I’m an avid quilter and photographer, and I’m a firm believer in the role that arts play in our lives. So if I were to start a nonprofit, it would probably be using arts and crafts as a therapeutic or expressive tool.

5. Where will the CSR industry be in 5 years?

I think it will all be about collaboration. There are so many possibilities in working together. Nonprofits, corporations, government agencies – we all have something we can bring to the table. As governments decrease their budget for social services and innovation, it will be corporations’ responsibility to step up, problem solve with nonprofits and fund the initiatives that will push us forward as a society.

6. Tell us a story (or two) about something that happened in your work that you consider to be a success, something that you’re proud of, and explain why.

One of my favorite projects has been working with the California Libraries. They have an amazing team leading their “Get Involved: Powered by Your Library” campaign and together we’ve increased volunteer engagement across the state for California’s 1,000+ library branches. We started working together in 2009, and since then we have helped more than 17,000 volunteers get involved in California Library projects. It’s been amazing to see the growth and impact that we’ve created together. Plus, librarians are a blast to work with!

Launching the consulting program has also been a highlight in working at VolunteerMatch. We work with 150+ companies providing technology to help them manage their employee volunteer programs. From that we’ve learned so much about what it takes to run a successful program. It’s been an amazing experience to apply that knowledge to a program through which we can help our clients strengthen their programs.

Want to learn more about how Maura and VolunteerMatch help companies engage employees in volunteering? Get in touch!