Celebrating Pro Bono Week, and Looking Toward the Future of BwB

Happy Pro Bono Week! A heartiest thanks to the Bankers without Borders community for your continued support and dedication to volunteer with us.Sabrina Quaraishi

For those of you who haven’t met me, I just wanted to reach out and introduce myself as BwB’s new Director, and share a little about me and our vision going forward.

You may have seen our recent announcement that our Founder, Shannon Maynard, who built the Bankers without Borders program from just a concept idea 7 years ago, has accepted a new position as the Executive Director of the Congressional Hunger Center.

I had the opportunity to work closely with Shannon over the past 7 years, and now I’m humbled and honored to carry forward what she started. This is an exciting and important time for our work. Bankers without Borders sits at the intersection of several key forces that are emerging to shape the world’s future.

Recently, the United Nations introduced the Sustainable Development Goals. These are measurable, comprehensive, and people-driven goals; and they provide an important framework by which we can orient our work and align impactful partnerships across sectors. To achieve them, we believe that governments and NGOs will need stronger engagement with the private sector than ever before.

At the same time, we are seeing that people are increasingly searching for meaning in their careers. Not only do they want to know that their companies are good corporate citizens, but also that they personally will have an opportunity to pitch in and play a meaningful role in making the world better. Employers will be increasingly challenged by these rising expectations of employee engagement and corporate responsibility. This trend is a major opportunity for good that is practically begging to be unleashed through smart partnerships and bold leadership.

I'm originally from Bangladesh and like many of you, I was drawn by the work and vision of Prof. Muhammad Yunus. He taught me that people are motivated by more than just money and benefit packages. The brightest minds are stimulated most when they’re working on the world’s toughest challenges, and are most satisfied when they’re helping others.

This was the foundational idea behind Bankers without Borders; and it remains our unique value proposition in the world today. We are working with the world’s most successful companies to engage their most talented employees as consultants to the most promising nonprofits and social enterprises, at a rate they can afford. Together, we’ve built the world’s largest volunteer corps of ‘Bankers to the Poor’, and we hope you’ll continue to support us. Together, we can continue to eradicate world poverty and through volunteer efforts, tackle the Sustainable Development Goals.

I hope you will join our movement:

In Service,

Sabrina Quaraishi

Director, Bankers without Borders