How McKinsey volunteers are making a difference in their communities

Social Impact Our People

December 9, 2021As part of our firmwide commitment to giving back, our annual Day of Service brings together colleagues in all our offices around the world to serve local communities. The day culminates our year-round McKinsey Serves program, which enables all colleagues to serve their communities through volunteerism.

The theme for this year’s Day of Service was “Building sustainable and inclusive economies.” It took place on December 3 in most McKinsey locations, ahead of the UN’s International Volunteer Day on Sunday, December 5. Throughout the day, colleagues participated in volunteer activities of their choice, like helping job-seekers with resumes and interview preparation, cleaning up parks and beaches, and preparing meals for emergency food programs.

McKinsey colleagues volunteering on Day of Service at Project Renewal, a New York City nonprofit that helps combat homelessness.

“Our purpose as a firm is to help create positive, enduring change in the world,” says Anu Gupta, leader of global social responsibility at McKinsey. “We enable every colleague to give time and financial support to the causes that they care about.” Colleagues can do that through programs that provide paid-time off to volunteer, match colleague donations to charities of their choosing, and give colleagues a say in McKinsey’s local charitable giving.

On Day of Service, we also celebrate colleagues who exemplify the spirit of advancing inclusion and service across the globe with the announcement of our INservice Awards. Meet three of this year’s winners below.

Palona Singh, junior business presentation specialist, India

Building an inclusive economy and society on our ‘Day of Service’

Throughout COVID-19, Palona volunteered for a charity in Bengaluru, coordinating food drives to provide meals to over 100,000 people. As the main point of contact between food distributors and recipients, she handled all of India’s operations and distributed oxygen cylinders and basic medicines to local government hospitals.

Expanding beyond the charity’s existing services, Palona helped organize mental health seminars with leading psychologists and therapists. The topic holds particular significance to her, having struggled with mental health issues herself. “It’s a topic too often stigmatized, which inspired me to help educate and inform people about it,” she says. Palona did this by managing the charity’s social media accounts and engaging with psychologists and therapists about how this issue can be tackled. Nearly 500 people joined the seminars, shared their own personal experiences, and talked about how relieved they felt to have this forum.

Laura Correa, senior knowledge analyst, Mexico

Over a year and a half ago, Laura helped found the social impact team for McKinsey’s Mexico City office. As part of the leadership team of three colleagues, she’s spearheaded the office’s volunteering efforts with educational and social entrepreneurship nonprofits by creating and assigning teams to each pro bono effort. Laura has worked on the five-year strategy for these organizations, helping to streamline their objectives around poverty, environmental conservation, and health and to identify what key performance indicators they could benefit from measuring.

“I’ve always been passionate about volunteering and feel it offers me different perspectives to live a more conscious and sustainable life,” she says. “Being able to tap into the knowledge and skills of McKinsey has enabled me to continue these efforts and even start new ones.” Some other initiatives Laura leads include helping create greater awareness among colleagues in the Mexico City office on the importance of sustainability and responsible consumption. She leads our Fuel Ignition Club that helps startups focused on sustainability and inclusion connect with investors and corporate innovators. Last year, the club helped a Mexican financial inclusion platform that delivers credit solutions to low-income populations.

Azat Myrzagaliyev, associate, Kazakhstan

A crowdsourcing post on Instagram for an organization that provides prostheses for children with disabilities caught Azat’s attention over a year ago. What first began as financing support quickly evolved into a desire to help the organization grow and improve processes throughout Kazakhstan. After a few months, Azat got McKinsey involved through activities, such as helping secure a bionic arm prosthesis for a teenager in need and engaging McKinsey partner colleagues in launching pro bono projects to support the organization. “I believe in thinking globally, and acting locally,” says Azat. “If each person focuses on one particular area of giving back, the potential to create change is limitless.”