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Making a difference for Special Olympics Illinois

3 minute read | May 2022
Special Olympics Illinois - Medal Cermony
Photo Credit: Special Olympics Illinois

Seeking to understand the needs of your audience? Want to know how to better engage them? As part of Nielsen’s Data for Good program, a team of Nielsen employees volunteered their talents and expertise to help Special Olympics Illinois (SOILL) answer those specific questions, focused on improving the organization’s volunteer engagement. 

Working closely with SOILL, our Nielsen team reviewed an existing survey, conducted external research and developed a new survey. SOILL is planning to implement the survey this year as part of its ongoing efforts to build connections with volunteers. This project was led by volunteers from ADEPT (Abled and Disabled Employees Partnering Together), one of Nielsen’s 14 Business Resource Groups.

“At Nielsen, we recognize the power and potential of volunteering to make sure everyone’s voices are heard and included, so this collaboration was an exciting opportunity to lend our skills to help SOILL make a bigger impact and increase support for people with intellectual disabilities,” said Shannon Coyne Rosado, Manager of Corporate Citizenship and one of the project volunteers. 

“Our volunteers are at the core of what we do at Special Olympics. We’re so thankful for our Nielsen volunteers and the Data for Good program. Their work will help us to better understand and engage all our volunteers to better support individuals with intellectual disabilities through sports competition, health education, and leadership development,” said Dave Breen, CEO & President, SOILL.

All Nielsen employees have 24 hours of dedicated volunteer time annually. Through time, talent and Nielsen data and solutions, we support our communities and drive positive change. Nielsen volunteers first supported SOILL in 2019 with survey design and data analysis for major sporting events. Building on this effort, volunteers leveraged existing survey questions and prior volunteer recommendations to develop the new engagement survey. Through ADEPT, Nielsen has supported Special Olympics at a local, national and global level over the years to assist the organization’s efforts to understand the impact of its programs and influence of people with intellectual disabilities, as well as the attitudes of the general population using our data, measurement and analytic capabilities.

About Nielsen’s commitment to disability inclusion

In 2021, Nielsen made a commitment to bring awareness to disability inclusion, as part of the Valuable 500—500 global companies focused on putting disability inclusion on the business agenda. For more information on Nielsen’s volunteering programs, progress on our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) commitments, and other ways that Nielsen gives back, visit Nielsen’s 2021 Interim Responsibility Update.