The NEED Podcast

Beyond The Dollar: The In-Kind Power Of Noncash Support

• Dr. Marcia Sturdivant • Episode 7

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 What Kinds Of In-kind Donations Are Most Helpful?

Real help isn’t always a check—it’s a laptop that works at 2 a.m., a mentor who answers the hard questions, or a company that shares its expertise when it matters most. We dig into the practical, high-impact ways noncash giving propels students into college and keeps them on track through graduation.

We share why diversifying support is essential for lean nonprofit teams and how pro bono services—from legal and accounting to event production—stretch limited budgets. You’ll hear how volunteers and mentors create momentum for students, including programs that engage fathers alongside their sons to strengthen the path to college completion. We get specific about tangible needs: dorm essentials that can cost thousands before day one, refurbished laptops that close the access gap, and subscriptions to study platforms that turn short trials into a full year of learning. These aren’t nice-to-haves; they’re the tools that keep students enrolled, confident, and ready for the next step.

We also unpack the “give or get” approach for individuals and businesses. If you can give, do. If you can’t, open doors to your employer, your network, or your customers. Companies can sponsor software seats, donate devices, offer staff time for mentoring, and amplify scholarship deadlines so more students apply. Safeguards like background checks and training keep mentoring safe and effective, while simple monthly check-ins catch problems early. The through line is clear: when people contribute skills, time, goods, and relationships, students get the support they need without straining nonprofit budgets.

Ready to help beyond the dollar? Subscribe for more stories, share this episode with a colleague, and tell us what skill, item, or connection you can offer today. Your time, your network, and that extra laptop can change a life—starting now.

To learn more about NEED visit:
https://www.NEEDLD.org
NEED
429 Fourth Avenue, 20th FL, Suite 2000
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
412-566-2760



SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to the Need Podcast, highlighting students, partners, and advocates. Presented by me and hosted by Dr. Marcia Sturtevent, President and CEO, this series highlights the impact of mentoring, philanthropy, and collaborative partnerships that empower students' triumphant entry into and progression through higher education. Whether you're applying for scholarships or supporting the mission, you'll find insights that inform, inspire, and empower.

SPEAKER_01:

From laptops to mentorship hours, learn which non-canish contributions make the biggest difference for students and programs. Welcome everyone. I'm Julie Schwenzer, co-host and producer in the studio with Dr. Marcia Sturdevant, president and CEO of Need. Thank you for being here again, Dr. Sturdevant.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, thank you for having me. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01:

It's such a pleasure to be with you. So let's talk about it. What kinds of in-kind donations are most helpful?

SPEAKER_02:

Okay. Well, we certainly like cash, but in-kind can substitute for many things. And nonprofits can only survive if they diversify their funding streams. So uh non-monetary or in-kind donations are really important. For instance, when there is a gap in, say in special expertise, pro bono work, people coming in with a particular skill set or experience, work experience can certainly add to our budget in a non in a very good way, but also in a non-monetary way. Say if you're an attorney, can you know provide legal help, accounting, teachers who have a particular subject area, secretarial services, all of that can help us continue our work and do what we need to do, but not at a call at a cost, at a financial cost. So that's very important. Volunteering is probably the biggest way that we supplement our budget, that we have uh volunteers from different sectors of the community. Many of them are former NEET students themselves who will come in and do uh volunteer work, say for our fundraising events, such as our scholarship dinners, or provide again some expertise and guidance and mentorship. Many of our mentors are volunteers who are working with our students to motivate them, to get them, you know, to go to college or go to the same college I went to and so on. Uh that's really important. But both of those fill those gaps in professional services, so to speak. Nonprofits always work under a very tight budget, you know, very categorical. And we have to be able to function or operate according to what our budget is. We don't have the luxury of just, you know, no hands-on deck. It's all hands-on deck, and whoever we can get. So we operate very uh strategically with small staff, but how can you support the staff in doing areas that maybe perhaps we don't have the expertise or the money to purchase, or that we simply don't know? Donor relationships are very important for us. So say that you can't necessarily donate financially. Okay, where do you work? You know, some corporations will donate, you know. So we ask if you can't give, then get. You know, go out and ask someone through your relationships, your community relationships, your work or professional relationships, to ask them, can they donate? And that fundraising ability is really more about how you expand your relationships across the board. We don't know everyone, but certainly some of our volunteers and our donors, how can they donate what they have, but also expand that through you know, building relationships? Hey, I know about this great program need. Can you help? Those are very important and critical ways where you can supplement budgetary uh needs through non-monetary ideas, and there's always those tangible no non-monetary uh things that uh we can use that we can help that they can help with, such as like laptops, you know, technology now is the thing, the way to go. Many of our students need tangible items, say when they enter college. And we do a big fundraiser for our kids who are entering college for their freshman year. Like, how do you pay, say,$1,500,$2,000 for stuff for your dorm, you know, for your dorm room? So many of our volunteers will give us tangible items that we then can give to students on their journey to college and that we don't necessarily have to take out of our budget.

SPEAKER_01:

And you mentioned laptops and things like that, in addition to those technology devices, is there anything that's in high demand for your students?

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, most colleges now. I don't know how students can survive without technology. And while they all have computer rooms, there's nothing like having a laptop at two o'clock in the morning in your dorm. But there are also other technology items. Kids have to have programs that can help them, you know, to like say they're tutoring programs online, and many of them, you know, they'll give you a seven-day trial, whatever. Yeah, but if they have that permanently, and there's a cost to that. So helping students navigate through those kinds of tangible items that are needed, if you can donate a service to a child through through a st to a student, I keep I call them children, of course, to a student who may need a say a subscription to a particular site where they can you know help them with their with their um learning and so on. In fact, we just had a couple several students who were struggling with some nursing items and nursing curricular, and we purchased sites for them to be able to go to to help them with this science and so on. There are so many other ways. Sometimes a talk with a student is also a very good non-monetary way of supplementing our budgets. Once we send them off to college, who supports them while they're there? And we can't do it alone because we have thousands of kids, you know, that are on the rolls here at need that are in college, but we like to hear from them and we like to be able to support them. So we have volunteers that will call or excuse me, or email them, you know, how's it going? What's you know, is there something we can help? Those are all ways that supplement our budget in very tangible areas and very tangible ways that we highly appreciate and encourage.

SPEAKER_01:

And you mentioned earlier too about the the humans, you know, the human volunteer aspect where you come in and offer your own services. What about mentor volunteers? How do they get involved and then how do they um you know work with the students? Is it like a more direct relationship where they can work with individuals or groups?

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, we uh both actually. We have a mentoring group. Uh, one of our most popular programs is a male mentoring, we call it Baba Scholars, and it's helping male children who are going on to college navigate through all the challenges that minoritized males uh experience along with their fathers. That's what Baba means father. So many parents haven't achieved their dream, educational dreams. So we mentor those men who may need help in entering colleges themselves or finishing college, and because we know that parents who finish college, their children are more likely to go to college and finish through. And that is something that many of our volunteers will join in with us, and they have these meetings and mentor both the parent as well as the child. And it can be as a group, but sometimes there are special expertise or experiences that mentors need in order to reach a particular student or you know, or say a parent, and you can do that individually. All of our mentor, all of our volunteers rather, are have to go through a pretty stringent um requirement of you know making sure they have clearances, particularly if they're involved with our children, the clearances and their expertise, and that they're you know, upstanding folks. We don't want to present any problems to our children. But we're always looking for volunteers to help us with, you know, certainly the hands-on academic work or the social problems that our experience, so psychosocial problems that can help. And it does you don't have to be a degree person, but someone who has some background compassion for the challenges that many of these kids have, and just go in and help these students and their families, you know, get through the whole process.

SPEAKER_01:

And a last question for you. You you mentioned if individuals may not be able to help, they can ask you know, their employers or the or the businesses they're associated with. What if businesses want to directly support need? How can they go about that?

SPEAKER_02:

They can write checks.

SPEAKER_01:

That's number one, right? Because that helps everything. I mean, it really does.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, it's it's you know, you have to give. And giving to an organization that's been around for a while that has served tens of thousands of students. I can't think of a better organization. Of course, I'm biased. But businesses also don't necessarily, you know, they have budgets as well. If they can't give financially, they can lend their expertise, they can lend their product, they can advertise for us, you know, and you know, we call it the a give or get or give and get. If you can give, don't just stop there. How can you use your employees to come and help us? How can you hate say like a business? How can you help an accounting major? You know, perhaps you can send in, you know, one of your employees to help, you know, mentor and guide students towards you know achieving a successful outcome as you, you know, as you navigate it through it as an accounting major. There are a number of ways to do it. Human labor is certainly very important to us, and it doesn't cost anything but your time and energy and your commitment, and we welcome those types of in-kind services as well.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, Dr. Surtevant, thank you again for high you you definitely highlighted the power of giving beyond the dollar, and we appreciate that.

SPEAKER_02:

Thank you so much for having us and for letting us just let the world know we're still here and we need your help.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, absolutely. Well, we'll see you next time on the Need Podcast.

SPEAKER_02:

All right.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02:

Bye-bye.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you for listening to the Need Podcast. To apply for scholarships, access support, or learn how you or your organization can get involved, visit www.needld.org. Email needph at gmail.com or call 412 566 2760. Need unlocking the power of education for students, families, and the future of our region.