1. July 1, 2015
I am pleased to provide this reference for Sarah Hayes with whom I have worked for almost 15 years in a
variety of roles.
I first met Sarah when she was responsible for developing and managing the employee volunteer effort
at KPMG and I was Senior Vice President for Programs at the Points of Light Foundation. She had single
handedly developed an internationally-recognized and award-winning program in what was then one of
the most difficult environments for such activities, a professional services firm. This took a deep
commitment on her part, careful strategic and tactical planning, development of strong internal
relationships and the ability to both develop and sell the program not only to management but to
employees.
Sarah’s commitment to the global volunteer community was demonstrated when she became the first
corporate representative on the international board of directors of IAVE – The International Association
for Volunteer Effort. As the former volunteer World President of IAVE and in my then role as Assistant
Treasurer, I was in a position to observe her work as a volunteer on a board. She was an influential
member and a consistent participant in the work of the board.
It was as a board member that she led the creation of IAVE’s Global Corporate Volunteer Council
(GCVC), developing the concept, building support of the board and recruiting six “founding member”
global companies from North America, Asia and Latin America. GCVC was launched in 2006 at IAVE’s
World Volunteer Conference in New Delhi. In this work, Sarah again demonstrated her ability to
develop a new idea, shepherd it through approval and manage its successful launch.
When Sarah became a freelance consultant in 2006, I welcomed the opportunity to collaborate with her.
It was through her leadership and her strong professional relationships that we had the opportunity to
work together on Ready When the Time Comes, a groundbreaking disaster preparedness program
developed by the Grainger company and implemented by the American Red Cross. At Sarah’s initiation,
CSCG became the home base for the project. She provided leadership in developing and presenting to
the Red Cross the role we would play and in managing our relationship with them over some 18 months.
Because of her work, we were able to help spread the program to Red Cross chapters throughout the
country, significantly expanding the role of business-based volunteers in domestic disaster response and
recovery.
Sarah and I continued to work together informally on projects for IAVE as we both served it as
independent contractors. In 2010-2011, she joined the team I was leading to conduct IAVE’s Global

2. Corporate Volunteering Research Project, the first global research of its kind. Sarah played key roles in
recruiting participating companies, conducting interviews and assisting in analysis of the data and in
development of the final conclusions and recommendations.
In 2012, when CSCG was contracted by IAVE to provide its global Secretariat, I retained Sarah in her role
as consulting director for the Global Corporate Volunteer Council. From 2006 through her departure
from IAVE in 2015, both when contracted by IAVE directly and for the last 3+ years by CSCG, Sarah has
had full responsibility for membership development and member services for GCVC. In that time, GCVC
has expanded from the original six founding companies to today’s 50 members from Europe, Asia, Latin
America and North America. Through her efforts, they have become sponsors of the corporate
volunteering research project and IAVE’s world and regional conferences. She also developed and
managed the Global Corporate Volunteering Awards program.
Throughout the years I have worked with Sarah, I have seen her fully commit to both employers and
clients, giving them the best she has to offer, often under difficult circumstances. I have watched her
take small ideas and build them into new programs with national and global reach, in both the private
and the voluntary sectors. I have observed her ability to develop and sustain strong personal
relationships that convert to clients, members and contributors for those for whom she is working.
I have no doubt she will bring these qualities and much more to those companies and organizations with
which she works in the future.
Please feel free to contact me if you have specific questions or wish more information about the work
Sarah has done.
Kenn Allen, Ed.D
President
Civil Society Consulting Group
805 15th Street NW, Suite 100
Washington DC 20005
Tel: +1 -202-628-4360
Email: kenn@civilsocietyconsulting.com