Our Communities

We support our staff’s volunteering efforts through dedicated floating holidays and paid leave hours—guaranteed through company policy and encouraged by leadership across our teams.

Through our Employee Volunteer Policy, employees from Abt Australia and Britain are offered two days of paid leave to engage in volunteer activities. And Abt U.S. staff are encouraged to take advantage of a newly introduced Social Impact Floating Holiday, which employees may use anytime during the fiscal year to support a cause or contribute to their community in a way that is meaningful to them. Activities have ranged from cleaning up a park on Earth Day and working phones to fight voter suppression, to connecting neighbors to resources after a natural disaster, serving meals at a homeless shelter, and reading to school children. Through these activities, our staff live Abt’s mission far beyond the walls of our offices.

One inspiring example of how staff have used their time is through the Volunteer Taskforce in our Brisbane, Australia Head Office. In November, the taskforce provided services at the 25th annual Homeless Connect event, which offers vulnerable members of the Brisbane community vital services and supplies such as haircuts, immunizations, clothing, non-perishable food, and personal care items. The event drew over 660 guests and 300 volunteers.

Our Emerging Impact pro bono program gives staff the opportunity to serve a mission-aligned non-profit while gaining professional development skills. In the program’s third year, Abt staff partnered with Our House, an organization that provides programs to enrich the lives of children and families experiencing homelessness and resources needed to end the cycle of homelessness and poverty. Throughout the year, Abt staff worked to evaluate existing projects and services, co-creating recommendations for improved service delivery. One such recommendation will streamline the sheltering process and reduce barriers to shelter entry by conducting entry screenings in-house rather than with a third party, cutting the wait times for families. Another recommendation will incorporate evidence-based practices—such as motivational interviewing for case management staff—to support clients to remain motivated and focused on achieving their goals while in shelter. The aim of this work was to build and strengthen the organizational capacity of Our House to provide better-quality services and create a sustainable alumni program that helps clients stay in permanent housing.

As conflict and natural disasters ravage our communities around the world, Abt staff continue to meet these urgent needs and answer calls for assistance. To amplify our staff’s donations, Abt makes an initial contribution of seed funds, then matches employee donations to an organization responding to crises on the ground.

Through our employees’ response to the fires in Colorado and the destructive floods in Timor-Leste—where our staff live and work—we contributed over $23,000 in relief efforts. In support of the humanitarian crises in Afghanistan and Haiti, where Abt has a long history of implementing health and governance programs, we contributed over $10,000 in aid. And as war engulfed Ukraine and displaced millions of people, the Abt community raised more than $47,000 for organizations assisting with relief efforts on the ground. Our collective response reflects why so many of us come to Abt: to act on the pressing need to improve the quality of people’s lives.