Laying a Design Thinking Foundation
In September 2025, Team4Tech facilitated a one-day skills-based volunteering opportunity to generate tech solutions for our Guatemala-based NGO partner, MAIA. In this half-day skills-based volunteering event, conducted in both English and Spanish, employee volunteers representing eight different companies collaborated virtually to ideate and prototype solutions to a pressing challenge the MAIA team was facing.
MAIA operates Central America’s only secondary school of its scale designed for Indigenous young women from rural communities. MAIA’s post-secondary success program provides program alumni with workplace skills training, vocational orientation, university access coaching, and internships to successfully transition to and succeed in university or the formal workplace. MAIA identified the following design challenge question for Innovate for Impact Volunteers: “How might we leverage technology to keep MAIA alumni engaged?”
Over three hours of fast-paced ideating and rapid prototyping, volunteers generated solutions for MAIA, including ideas such as:
- A private Facebook group with a scheduled content and outreach strategy
- A virtual pledge commitment program with MAIA’s business community, focusing on workforce development and mentoring
- An online learning platform with a digital learning repository including videos in Mayan and Spanish, focusing on skills and practical applications
Operationalizing Through Small-Scale Volunteering
Building on the momentum of the virtual skills-based volunteering event, Team4Tech connected MAIA staff with volunteer support through our online platform. We engaged two volunteers from Cadence Design Systems to design a Google site providing professional networking, coaching, and peer-led learning to MAIA Impact School alumni.
Team4Tech matched MAIA staff with Sriram Kalluri, a Product Marketing Manager, and Ning Zhao, a Principal Product Engineer. While Ning previously participated in a Team4Tech strategic pro bono project, this engagement was Sriram’s first time volunteering with Team4Tech. Over the 8-week project, Ning and Sriram collaborated with MAIA in the design and creation of a user-friendly, easily managed Google site that will serve as the central hub for its new Alumni Network. They prioritized a solution that is cost-free, easy for the small MAIA team to manage, and seamlessly integrates with MAIA’s existing Google Workspace tools.
Deliverables included:
- Google site design and structure
- Content design and integration support
- Site management training for MAIA staff
Meaningful Impact for MAIA
MAIA currently has 207 program graduates, and this number grows by approximately 40 every year. A robust and easy-to-navigate Alumni Network site will support MAIA in ensuring Indigenous young women continue to have access to resources and support to not only enter higher education and the formal workplace, but also continue to succeed.
The best part about working with Team4Tech is being able to learn from the volunteers’ experience and share our work and our vision with them […] We are extremely thankful for all the support we received from Sriram and Ning in putting this site together.”
– MAIA Staff
Small-scale volunteering engagements like this one are just one of Team4Tech’s customized skills-based volunteering programs that meet corporate goals, build employee skills, and contribute to positive social impact. Explore our continuum of offerings engaging employees and making a difference for NGOs around the world.