June 2025 | 1653 words | 6-minute read
A Professional Exchange
ProEngage, initiated by the Tata Sustainability Group, is a skills-based volunteering programme that bridges the gap between the corporate world and non-profit organisations. Launched in 2014, it allows Tata employees, their families, and retirees to leverage their professional skills to assist NGOs, fostering personal and professional growth. Over ten years, the programme has grown significantly, offering 4,392 unique opportunities in FY24, with 60% being online. Volunteers have contributed nearly 500,000 hours, aiding 1,222 NGOs. The programme supports diverse social issues through skill-based tasks like coaching, IT development, and management strategies. ProEngage not only aids NGOs but also enriches volunteers' lives, enhancing their leadership and project management skills through practical application in real-world social contexts. The programme's success is evident in its expansion and the profound impact on both communities and volunteers, aiming for an even larger footprint by 2030.
A Professional Exchange
ProEngage, a skills-as-a-service volunteering initiative by the Tata Sustainability Group, bridges the gap between the corporate talent pool and the non-profit sector's need for expertise. Launched in 2014 under Tata Engage, the programme enables Tata group employees, their families, and retirees to apply their professional skills to assist NGOs in achieving impactful results. Over the past decade, ProEngage has grown significantly, offering 4,392 unique opportunities in FY24, with 60% being online projects. Throughout this period, 9,500+ volunteers from over 60 companies have dedicated around 499,000 hours to help 1,222 NGOs.
The volunteering efforts span various domains such as coaching, content writing, marketing, management, IT, and fundraising, tailored to the diverse needs of NGOs. These projects not only support community development but also provide personal and professional growth opportunities for volunteers.
The programme is meticulously managed by the TSG team, ensuring the credibility of NGOs and the alignment of projects with volunteers' skills. ProEngage also adapted to digital means during the pandemic, reflecting a flexible and resilient approach to volunteering.
Looking forward, ProEngage aims to expand its reach and impact by integrating more digital tools and extending its geographical scope to include the US, Africa, and the UAE. The initiative is poised to play a crucial role in Tata's broader environmental sustainability goals and continues to seek ways to enhance volunteer engagement and project effectiveness. As ProEngage moves towards its Vision 2030, it remains focused on tapping into the full potential of corporate volunteering to foster community development and create meaningful change.
A Professional Exchange
ProEngage, a skills-as-a-service volunteering initiative run by the Tata Sustainability Group (TSG), bridges the gap between the corporate world and non-profit organisations. Launched in 2014 as part of Tata Engage, ProEngage enables Tata group employees, their families, and retirees to leverage their professional skills to assist credible NGOs in achieving impactful social change. This unique programme not only aids NGOs but also fosters personal and professional growth among volunteers.
Over the past decade, ProEngage has seen significant growth. Initially offering a few hundred projects, it expanded to 4,392 unique opportunities in FY24, with 60% being online projects. Throughout these years, over 9,500 volunteers from more than 60 companies have dedicated approximately 4.99 lakh hours to help 1,222 NGOs. This effort aligns with the Tata Sustainability Group's goal of achieving four per capita volunteering hours annually, a target reached a year ahead of the 2025 deadline.
The volunteering opportunities are diverse, covering various domains such as IT, management, marketing, finance, and creative fields like content writing and graphic design. These projects are conducted twice a year, in June and December, and can last from one to six months. Volunteers contribute during weekends, holidays, or after office hours, making it a flexible commitment.
ProEngage not only supports NGOs in need of specialised skills and resources but also promotes the Tata value of community service. Volunteers, like Swaty John from the Indian Hotels Company Ltd and Bhanu Chander from TajSATS, Chennai, have repeatedly participated in the program, finding personal satisfaction and learning through their contributions to diverse projects. These range from creating audio books for the visually impaired to teaching English and job interview preparation.
The TSG team plays a crucial role in the success of ProEngage by carefully selecting NGOs, curating projects, and providing ongoing support and feedback mechanisms. This ensures that the programme remains effective and beneficial for all parties involved. Recognition of volunteers' efforts is also a key component, with certificates and awards presented at the annual Tata Volcon.
Looking forward, ProEngage aims to expand its impact by aligning with Project Aalingana, Tata's initiative focusing on environmental sustainability. This will involve creating synergies between volunteering efforts and sustainability goals like water conservation, biodiversity preservation, and recycling. The vision for 2030 includes increasing the variety of projects offered, enhancing volunteer engagement through hybrid models, and utilising technology for better project matching.
In summary, ProEngage exemplifies a successful model of corporate social responsibility, effectively utilising the professional skills of Tata employees to foster significant social change while enriching their own lives. As the programme looks to the future, it seeks to broaden its scope and deepen its impact, continuing to serve as a bridge between the corporate and non-profit sectors.
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The social sector is filled with non-profit organisations fuelled by a worthy purpose but lacking the expertise required for growth. The corporate world is home to talented individuals with a wealth of marketable skills. Ordinarily, these two worlds rarely meet. But then there is nothing ordinary about ProEngage, the skills-as-a-service volunteering initiative run by the Tata Sustainability Group (TSG).
For over ten years now, this unique programme has been inviting employees to step out of their comfort zones and use their professional skills in a manner that transcends balance sheets and bottom lines to transform lives.
“There is nothing more powerful than the ability to make a difference to underserved communities, while experiencing personal and professional growth along the way,” says Chacko Thomas, Group Chief Sustainability Officer, Tata Sons. “ProEngage is a unique opportunity for Tata group colleagues, their families and retirees to use their core domain skills to help credible NGOs accelerate impact.”
Making a difference
- Maximum ProEngagers from: Tata Elxsi, TCS, TajSATS, Tata Steel and Tata Power in FY24
- Participants: Employees (87%); Family members (13%); Young professionals (55%); Senior leaders, including C-suite (7%); Women (36%); Repeat volunteers across 5 editions (19%);
- ~60% reside in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, Delhi and Jamshedpur
Imbibing Tataness
Launched in 2014, under the aegis of Tata Engage, ProEngage is a part-time, skill-based volunteering format that engages employees, their family members and retirees across domains, functions and industries to support the goals of credible NGOs working on diverse social issues. The programme has two sprints a year, starting in June and December, and volunteers can apply for a variety of projects. Project durations range from one to six months, with volunteers working on their own time, on weekends, holidays and after-office hours.
In the last 10 years, ProEngage has scaled up from a few hundred projects in the first edition to 4,392 unique opportunities in FY24, 60% of which were online, with 100+ non-profit partners. Employee contribution has also increased with 1,935 volunteers contributing 65,218 hours in FY24, bringing the 10-year total to 4.99 lakh hours. So far, 8,735+ Tata employees, their family members and retirees have used their domain expertise to help 1,222 NGOs achieve their goals.
The numbers speak to the impact of the group’s structured global corporate volunteering programme, which has consistently amplified its efforts, setting milestones along the way. In FY24, volunteers from 54 companies collectively contributed 80.2 lakh hours across a variety of volunteering formats and platforms. In doing this, they helped the group achieve the Tata Group Sustainability Council’s aspiration of 4 per capita volunteering hours (PCVH) a year ahead of its 2025 target.
New-age currency
Skills, the currency of the modern workplace, can disrupt technologies, enable career pivots and propel the knowledge economy. With ProEngage, volunteers can find projects that tap into their expertise, skills and interests for the most impact. “NGOs have limited resources, which are directed towards the community,” says Shrirang Dhavale, Cluster Head - Social Services Cluster, TSG. “ProEngage allows them to access specialised knowledge and skills beyond their reach. In turn, volunteers get an opportunity to internalise the Tata value of giving back to the community and enrich their lives.”
Besides enabling teamwork, collaboration and networking, ProEngage also helps volunteers hone their leadership and project management capabilities. For many, using their professional skills to make a difference in real-world social contexts paves the way for personal fulfilment and professional development. Take serial ProEngager Swaty John, Associate Vice President - Learning and Development, Indian Hotels Company Ltd, for instance. With six projects under her belt — including recording audio books for the visually challenged, teaching spoken English and interview preparedness to young girls, a storytelling project on real-life role models and writing a book on 50 persons with disabilities — she is all set to begin her seventh project. “These projects have offered me profound lessons in resilience,” she says.
Bhanu Chander, Chef De Partie from TajSATS, Chennai, who has volunteered four consecutive times, adds, “ProEngage has provided me with the opportunity to reach out to people from diverse cultures and positively impact their lives, which brings me immense pleasure. This connection with the community is incredibly rewarding, especially when they share feedback about how helpful this experience has been for their future.”
Steady anchor
The TSG team anchors the ProEngage programme, onboarding non-profits after due diligence, curating suitable projects, organising webinars for volunteers and providing overall support for the programme. “We also select NGOs that are CSR partners of Tata companies,” says Gauri Rajadhyaksha, Deputy General Manager, TSG. “This helps us ensure the organisation’s credibility and its commitment to its mission, and helps build synergies in our work with communities.” Volunteers whose applications are approved can work singly or with group colleagues and even family members. Mr Dhavale and Ms Rajadhyaksha have both completed ProEngage projects with their spouses.
Continuous support and monitoring keeps everyone accountable, while feedback collated from volunteers and NGOs and documentation of best practices enable process improvement. The last piece of the programme involves the recognition of all volunteers’ efforts through a certificate and token, and felicitation of top contributing companies at the annual Tata Volcon.
Star volunteer
Dineshkumar Singh, Group Leader - Food Initiative, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), was able to complete his education, thanks to an act of kindness. Eager to pay it forward, in 2019, he signed up to mentor the middle managers of VIDYA, an NGO that provides education and opportunities to underserved communities, through digital empowerment. Mr Singh teamed up with Kishor Chaturani, Chief Architect IDNA, TCS, for this project. Delighted with their inputs, VIDYA invited the duo in 2021 to develop a digital transformation roadmap. The following year, the men organised a techfest, using the Super 50 concept, to support promising students in remote areas. For their efforts, Mr Singh and Mr Chaturani were recognised as Star Volunteers in VIDYA’s 2021 annual report.
During the pandemic, fearing that the children’s education would suffer, Mr Singh endeavoured to increase the NGO’s digital outreach, stressing on VIDYA’s sustainability targets. He has now been invited to join VIDYA’s advisory board. “ProEngage is an opportunity and platform to live your life differently ‘a day every weekend’,” says Mr Singh. “Two hours a week have created such a change.”
Leaping ahead
During the pandemic, there was no let-up in volunteering efforts and the TSG team had to reimagine projects using digital mediums. Post-pandemic, the programme pivoted to a phygital model with 70% of projects continuing online. The pool of volunteers is also bigger now, with more awareness and the inclusion of family members of employees and retirees. TSG recently included a few opportunities (2.5% of the total) to serve communities in the US, Africa and the UAE, where the Tata group also has a strong footprint.
Over the years, the nature of projects has altered too. While skills like accounting, legal, IT, finance, communication and documentation are still sought, creative projects like producing comic books, writing coffee table books and recording audio textbooks for the visually impaired are increasing.
Vision 2030
Looking ahead, Mr Thomas sees ProEngage taking on a larger role in the ecosystem. “As the group approaches its environmental sustainability goals under Project Aalingana, there’s immense scope to build synergies between volunteering efforts groupwide on issues like water and biodiversity preservation, building green cover, plastic and e-waste recycling and awareness and behavioural change of communities on sustainability issues,” he says. “Leveraging ProEngage will help us support NGOs that are passionately championing these causes.”
While ProEngage has created tremendous value for NGOs and communities, Ms Rajadhyaksha believes its full potential is yet to be tapped. “We need to create more awareness and cascade programme offerings widely to encourage participation,” she says. “We also need to better understand people’s aspirations so that we can match them with the right projects.”
Bankable skill sets
The programme supports NGOs working on a diverse range of social issues, leveraging skill sets that are useful across industries, which include:
- Coaching and training: Mentorship, spoken English, digital literacy and mock interviews
- Content writing and documentation: Proposal writing, creating case studies and annual reports, developing social media content and updating websites
- Marketing and communications: Graphic designing, advertising, market research and public relations
- Management and strategy: Organisation strategy and impact assessment
- IT: UX/UI designer, management information system, app and website development
- Fundraising: Developing fundraising plans
- Accounting and finance
Mr Dhavale also admits that there is a long way to go. “Our goal is to have a significantly larger ProEngage footprint by 2030,” he says. “To achieve this, we will need a greater variety of projects with a better match with skills. We need to explore ways to keep volunteers committed on a sustained basis. Hybrid volunteering models, combining digital and physical engagement, and the use of technology, for instance, a chatbot or AI-enhanced communication to ensure a better project match, are being worked out.”
The art of giving
“You give but little when you give of your possessions,” wrote Kahlil Gibran in The Prophet. “It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.” Through ProEngage, the 10 lakh+ employees of the group have been given a one-of-a-kind opportunity to impact the world by giving of themselves.
—Cynthia Rodrigues
