The Donating Brains project is making it easier for non-profit organisations to find skilled volunteers.

Donating Brains is a legacy project from the latest graduates of the Future Auckland Leader's programme (FAL).

The FAL programme, run every two years by Committee for Auckland, focuses on ideas to make the city a more liveable place.

SUPPLIED The Donating Brains project team. From left: Mark Tod, Ilana James, David King and Enrico Tronchin.

The Donating Brains team is made up of David King (KPMG), Ilana James (Auckland City Mission), Mark Tod (Chorus) and Enrico Tronchin (AUT).

They saw an opportunity to make skilled volunteer placements more efficient by providing non-profits with a "skills partner" who works out what skills are needed and oversees the volunteers.

"It's getting harder and harder for them [to find skilled people] each year," King says.

Donating Brains is designed to complement existing unskilled volunteer opportunities such as collecting donations, which are still needed and appreciated.

It was piloted with the Auckland City Mission and the Springboard Trust.

Auckland City Mission chief executive Dame Diane Robertson is supportive of the idea.

"Many corporates and businesses want to help. Figuring out the best ways to facilitate that can be hard for non-profits," she says.

Mission staff have spent time with Donating Brains participants who taught them how to use Microsoft Excel, using the Mission's own data.

Robertson says that sending someone out to receive this training would be expensive and time-consuming, so having someone volunteer to teach these skills was worth its weight in gold.

The Mission has plans to work on more projects with Donating Brains in 2016.

King says charities have a lot of expenses, and they don't have the time or resources to spend on necessary services such as consulting or marketing.

"Volunteering shouldn't be an extra burden on [the nonprofits]," Tod says.

The project is also rewarding for the volunteers themselves, allowing them the opportunity to provide their unique skill-set to people who would otherwise have to pay for it, Tod says.

The team has documented the project's development and implementation and is aiming for it to continue to be used by businesses and non-profits.

Visit committeeforauckland.co.nz/donatingbrains for more information.