When it comes to participating in the green movement, some people help by donating money to an environmental organization. Others donate their time, lending “elbow grease,” for example, to a local project such as a park cleanup.

Many business people and professionals have something at least as valuable to offer the environmental movement, says Patricia Koval, a lawyer and partner with Toronto-basedTorys LLP and chairwoman of World Wildlife Fund Canada: they can donate their business skills.

Koval, who has been interested in conservation and maintaining biodiversity for as long as she can remember, jumped at the opportunity to combine her business skills with her passion for the environment as soon as she entered the legal profession. As a business lawyer who specializes in corporate finance, she recognizes that she has skills from which non-profit organizations could benefit.

“When I was starting my career,” Koval says, “I wanted an opportunity to use my business and legal skills for a cause in which I could feel like I was giving something back to the community.”

Koval has been involved with the WWF for more than 15 years. Over that time frame, she has been able to offer the WWF her general legal skills as well as her knowledge of finance and governance. Still another asset that Koval brings to the table is an array of key contacts in business and government, which has proved valuable for the WWF.

“As a business lawyer, I can open doors through my firm’s network of contacts,” Koval says. “If the WWF needs an introduction to a government decision-maker or someone who is key to a project from a fundraising perspective, we are able to bring that about.”

Similarly, Richard Yank, a former senior executive with Montreal-based Alcan Inc., has been offering his skills to Ottawa-based Nature Canada since the mid-1980s. During his time at Alcan, Yank was able to align his business and management expertise with the goals of Nature Canada, an organization about which he feels strongly.

“I think a lot of the skills you learn in business — particularly, when you get into management roles — are necessary for non-profit organizations,” Yank says. “Whether it be finance, governance, principals or planning, they are all skills that board members can provide to an organization.”

Yank, who held a number of positions throughout his 36-year career with Alcan, says the skills he honed during his time in human resources management, such as reviewing strategic plans as well as his strong social skills, have proved valuable in his volunteer work.

“Oftentimes, non-profits don’t have a lot of management support within the organization,” Yank says. “They are very focused on conservation and education” but need assistance in administrative areas.

When Yank retired from Alcan in 2008, he was able to increase the amount of time he devotes to green initiatives. That year, he was named chairman of the board of Nature Canada and joined the Ontario board of the Nature Conservancy of Canada.

For Koval’s part, her professional and volunteering activities require time management. Her role as WWF chairwoman takes up eight to 10 hours a week; she is also on the task force of Greening Greater Toronto, a project of the Toronto City Summit Alliance.

“If you find something that you are passionate about and you are really interested in the organization that you are working with,” she says, “then it becomes that much easier to find the time.”

Even if business people can’t dedicate a given amount of time each week, many organizations appreciate the help of individuals who can provide in-kind work, such as hosting a book launch, providing a fundraising venue or providing pro bono legal work — as Koval’s firm has done for years for both the WWF and the GGT.

One of Koval’s most memorable contributions to the WWF involved the recent hiring of Gerald Butts as the organization’s president and CEO. Koval worked with headhunters in designing the job description, planning the hiring process and putting together a CEO search committee.

“It was a time-consuming, six-month process,” Koval says, “but it was incredibly rewarding. We emerged with someone we think is going to lead the organization in this new century. This was one of those areas in which you are using all of your business skills to do something that is going to be really meaningful to the organization in the end.” IE