A Shared Vision for Equitable Healthcare

For over six years, Catchafire has partnered with the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation to sponsor nonprofit access to the platform and offer virtual, skills-based volunteering opportunities to their workforce. Through this partnership, Catchafire connects nonprofits with skilled volunteers while providing Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) employees with opportunities to lend their expertise to the causes they care about.

On April 28th, Catchafire and Bristol Myers Squibb hosted a team-building event focused on supporting health equity, in which 66 BMS employees rallied together to brainstorm actionable solutions to challenges faced by nonprofits working on the frontlines of health. Volunteers worked in teams of eight to solve organizational hurdles for eight nonprofit organizations, enabling them to more effectively advance their missions and move the needle on health equity. Together, the volunteers saved these nonprofits a collective $87,516 and 198 hours of staff time!

"Our partnership with Catchafire has allowed BMS employees to actively volunteer their skills to support health equity nonprofit organizations and make meaningful contributions to worthy organizations."

Candice Lenkowsky
Chief Learning Officer, Bristol Myers Squibb

One of the participating nonprofits, Tigerlily Foundation, recently launched their #InclusionPledge campaign in 2019, which calls on industry partners to take specific actions to end systemic disparities in breast cancer for Black women. Tigerlily was looking for strategic advice on how to track the impact of the campaign. At the event, BMS volunteers helped Tigerlily create a plan for implementing a new impact metrics system, ultimately allowing them to track the impact their partner organizations are having through their commitments and further innovate their data collection process.

“This rich brainstorming session brought forth powerful change to our #InclusionPledge…The changes we have made will have a snowball effect of positive results.”

Dr. Persis Fay
Tigerlily Foundation

Each of the eight participating organizations have one thing in common: a vision for more equitable health outcomes. Bristol Myers Squibb shares that vision and is committed to addressing health disparities, increasing clinical trial diversity, expanding supplier diversity, increasing workforce representation and enhancing employee giving in support of social justice organizations. Since 2018, Catchafire has seen a 238% growth in the number of matched health-related nonprofits. Partners like Bristol Myers Squibb have played a crucial role in meeting the growing demand for ongoing capacity support in the health sector.

On a day-to-day basis, the work of these nonprofits looks quite different from BMS’, and yet their vision is shared. Catchafire’s role is to serve as the bridge through which their work converges to achieve a common mission. It is through these partnerships that Catchafire is mobilizing the resources of the private sector in support of social causes, connecting individuals with opportunities to do meaningful work, and providing nonprofits with access to the talent and expertise they need to better carry out their missions.

"Our partnership with Catchafire is an incredible opportunity to break down the silos that exist between the private and nonprofit sector. In particular, during brainstorming events, both nonprofit leaders and BMS employees gain further knowledge and insight into how each of us is advancing health equity in our daily work. We are stronger together."

Erin Jensen
Director, Corporate Giving, Bristol Myers Squibb

Interested in partnering with Catchafire? Get in touch with us!