IBM Volunteer Stories

Indonesia is susceptible to natural disasters in the so-called ring of fire. IBM volunteer Izzat Farahidy brought together experts to assess how technology can mitigate the impact of disasters there; he received an IBM Volunteer Excellence Award.

The path for women to tech careers is not as direct as it could be. A team of IBM volunteers in Brazil created and led a multi-month mentoring program to help other women on the journey. The team received a 2018 IBM Volunteer Excellence Award.

IBM volunteers provide career guidance to university-aged youth volunteers bringing about education reform in rural Taiwan, while also giving them the methods to recruit their proteges. The IBM team received the Volunteer Excellence Award.

The Pathfinder Mentoring program has been an IBM volunteer-led initiative at North Carolina State University for 15 years—helping students with career guidance. The IBM volunteer team received a 2018 IBM Volunteer Excellence Award.

Thousands of people in Japan have heard the collected stories of cancer patients with help from IBM volunteers and a local NGO—providing strength in the shared experience. The IBM team received a 2018 IBM Volunteer Excellence Award.

IBM volunteers lead "Watson goes to class" to introduce AI to students in schools in Madrid—making the topic part of educational requirements in Spain for the first time. The IBM volunteer team received a 2018 IBM Volunteer Excellence Award.

“It's unfair we have a system that structurally puts children from minority backgrounds in a position to lose,” says Rihab Hajjaji, founder of PEP!

The IBM Innovation Bootcamp in Cebu is helping students such as Bracel Paderes use technology to create new solutions—her team’s app won an award.

As an active volunteer in Bangalore, India, Prabodh Gupta has participated in a day of compassion for nine years in a row. He shares his story about some of this year’s activities and thoughts on being a volunteer.

IBM volunteers and stakeholders co-created IBM.org and its volunteer portal. Read some of the input that shaped the digital transformation of IBM’s corporate social responsibility online presence and the social impact journey available for IBMers.

It’s possible to engage in impactful volunteering from your home. We summarize a few volunteer opportunities, projects and tools to support your interest in helping others when leaving the home is discouraged.

Since 2018, Jeanette Crawford, an IBM infrastructure project manager in the UK, has been the lead volunteer coordinator for Time to Talk events across IBM UK, which promote conversations about mental health and bring people together.

In Rochester, Minnesota, the scary and threatening arrival of an eviction notice is now being eased by IBM volunteers working with local legal aid organizations to help people stay in housing and avoid homelessness.

Patrice Scully, an IBM practice manager in the United States and a long-time volunteer, shares her perspective on mentoring and using IBM initiatives to help veterans, students and her community.

Building on a few other volunteer projects, John Arnold brought together a team of volunteers, educators and administrators to build a robotics program scheduled to launch in mid-January 2020 at a school in Detroit.

For the second year in a row, IBM early professional hires and others joined together in Make a Difference Day—a coordinated and sustained 24-hour period of volunteer service across global time zones to make a difference in their communities.

For over ten years, IBM volunteers have been on a mission with American Corporate Partners to help veterans and their spouses transition from military to civilian careers. Three IBM volunteers share their experiences working with veteran proteges.

Hammering a nail with a banana is one example of how girls at the IBM GIGAWOT camp in Texas are introduced to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The camp has been a fixture for girls and IBM volunteers in the Dallas area for 17 years.

Volunteers on IBM’s communications sector services team partnered with their business clients in eight cities to deliver service projects during their Week of Impact initiative in mid-September.

Working both behind the scenes and in the field, over 50 volunteers from the IBM Marketing Services Center in Bangalore, India, are helping a local NGO provide care for disadvantaged children.