In 2020, McKinsey launched a commitment to invest $200 million over ten years in pro bono work with nonprofits that advance economic empowerment in Black communities. These pro bono investments, known within McKinsey as Action 9, supported projects that have advanced education, economic inclusion, and health and well-being.
“We believe our firm can have real and sustained impact in the communities where we live and work by helping our partners solve some of their hardest problems. We’re privileged to be able to come alongside them, expand the art of the possible, and get involved on the ground floor to collectively build up the change we seek,” says Action 9 partner sponsor Darius Bates.
So, where is Action 9 at the five-year mark? And how have these pro bono efforts impacted McKinsey’s colleagues as well as the organizations and communities they serve?
Since 2020, we’ve worked with over 45 nonprofits that have helped their beneficiaries find jobs, improve health, advance education, and more. As of the end of 2024, McKinsey teams have completed Action 9 pro bono work valued at more than $86 million, benefiting communities across the globe. Over 500 McKinsey colleagues across 60 global offices have partnered with nonprofits to take concrete action to expand their reach and amplify their results.
“In the next five years, we envision impact that, as we like to say, can be seen from space. Meaning, Action 9’s work will enable our partners to transform lives and drive at-scale outcomes that outlast any individual project, and go on well beyond our support,” says Darius.
Here’s a look at the recent impact from several Action 9 partner organizations:
Conferência Juntos helps early-career professionals network, upskill
Since 2018, McKinsey has hosted the Conferência Juntos in partnership with companies across Brazil to inspire, develop, and connect Black talent. Senior partner Vijay Gosula helped create the conference from its inception and continues to help leaders create new offerings, like expanding to different cities and advancing a virtual option to broaden accessibility.
“We wanted to help young Black students advance from university to the workplace,” explains Vijay. “We created an annual conference called “Juntos,” which means ‘together’ in Portuguese.”
Over the past seven years, 20,000 people have been impacted by Conferência Juntos and more than 800 scholarships have been awarded. As part of the events, Juntos company partners who are committed to investing in Black talent have received more than 15,000 resumes from Juntos attendees, opening doors for talent and supporting partner companies with diverse, skilled candidates.
Today, the focus is on upskilling young professionals while they’re building a CV and going on their very first job interviews. “It’s one of the best things about being at the firm, to find practical ways to help young, talented people connect to the companies that need them,” says McKinsey Fellow Associate Caroline Lana.
Talented scholars gain networks and opportunities to excel
The Amos Bursary in the United Kingdom also partners with McKinsey through Action 9. Their goal is to promote excellence and positively shape the future of Britain’s talented young people of African and Caribbean heritage.
Colleen Amos OBE and her sister, Baroness Valerie Amos, founded the Bursary after the passing of their parents to continue their legacy of supporting bright young people in gaining access to more economic opportunity.
“McKinsey helped us create a multi-year strategic roadmap to use as a living document on a day-to-day basis and to help evaluate our impact. They’ve helped us transform the way we operate as an organization,” says Colleen.
McKinsey’s London office has worked with the organization since 2020 to upskill and reskill young people for enhanced social mobility while providing a talent pipeline for businesses. This includes creating an infrastructure, a set of operational processes, and a funding strategy to provide networking and mentoring opportunities at scale for these young scholars, and for The Amos Bursary’s scholars of the future.
“My time with the Bursary has been essential to my overall success,” says former scholar Leon Gidigbi. “I joined in Year 12, and they helped me with my admission to Oxford. Since then, the relationships I built sustain me to this day. Through networking and mentoring projects, through public speaking courses, through everything I’ve been through with the brotherhood of my cohort—I now have a community I can always come back to—always rely on.”
Full circle at Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta
The Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta (BGCMA) consists of 25 clubs across ten counties in Georgia, serving more than 7,000 youth in providing safe, inclusive, and engaging environments. Darius led a McKinsey pro bono team to help BGCMA explore new avenues to gain resources to better run the clubs, and expand programming to serve more kids. They knew they needed to sustain these actions far past the “spreadsheet stage.”
This research was presented to BGCMA leadership, who began to use these recommendations to immediately improve the scale of activities at the clubs as well as identify sources of funding to sustain the new initiatives’ momentum. As a result of this work, BGCMA also created a new, dynamic staffing model to ensure support for the club, strengthening their ability to enrich young people’s lives in the ten counties it serves.
“This partnership transformed our vision of what’s possible,” says former president and CEO of BGCMA, David Jernigan. “But it also helped us take immediate action toward improving. We now have ten different pathways toward generating new revenue for the organization and continue our mission to support youth in the Atlanta region.”
Find out more about Action 9 initiatives here.