While the vast majority of nonprofit organizations are in constant need of more resources, most fail to capitalize on a hidden resource already within their reach: the valuable professional skills of their volunteers.

That’s the key finding of the 2006 Deloitte/Points of Light Volunteer IMPACT Study, and a growing number of companies and nonprofit groups are looking to do something about it. Leaders in both sectors agree that volunteers’ workplace skills are valuable to nonprofits, but only 12% of nonprofits typically align tasks with those specific skills.

While the advantages to nonprofits of skills-based volunteering are obvious, companies joining the trend also benefit, according to VolunteerMatch.org, an online matchmaking service for nonprofit organizations and the private sector. Companies promoting skills-based volunteering see it as a good recruiting and retention tool and a way to groom company leaders.