What Your Organization Can Learn from the Success of Special Olympics

“Yes, we transform the lives of people with intellectual disabilities,” says COO Matt Aaron. “But our impact is so much bigger than that.”

In his long career with Special Olympics, Matt Aaron has always taken time to thank the volunteers who make the organization so successful. But time and again, he gets the same response.

“Over and over again, as I've thanked people, they've stopped me and said, 'No, no, no, no, don't thank me. I get more out of this than I put into it.' And I think that is part of the power of Special Olympics. Yes, we transform the lives of people with intellectual disabilities. But our impact is so much bigger than that.”

What Aaron has to say also applies to Corporate Social Responsibility: Yes, when for-profit companies help nonprofits, those nonprofits benefit. But often the companies benefit even more — and so do communities.

In the latest episode of SI’s Executive Session podcast, Aaron — a longtime SI member who’s currently chief operating officer of Special Olympics International — talks about the growth and impact of Special Olympics. Founded nearly 60 years ago by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, today it serves more than 5 million athletes in 200 countries around the world.

Aaron also talks about the impact of the Satell Institute. “A good partnership has to be, by definition, two-way," he says. “It can't be a corporation just helping the nonprofit. There's got to be something in it that goes both ways for it to be a good relationship. And so I've looked at the Satell Institute as an asset that I could bring to my partners. Hey, there's this great network of like-minded people — other CEOs that you can interact with, trying to address some of these same challenges.”

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