AS 2026 goes into high gear, I remember with deep gratitude the thousands of volunteers we worked with last year. Professionals took time off from their busy schedules to rebuild and refurbish classrooms, teachers stayed on late to mentor one another, and engineers and electricians assessed damaged structures after disasters struck. These aren’t just acts of service — they are high-value contributions to the work of building better communities and improving lives.
From the learning gaps that widen each year to the institutional pressures straining our public and corporate governance systems, the challenges we face as a nation demand more than good intentions. They call for deeper responses, and this includes purposeful volunteerism that is skilled and sustained. They call for us to show up not just with our time, but with the very best of what we know and can do.
When skills meet service
Ayala Foundation’s volunteerism program in 2025 demonstrated the transformative power of what happens when generous individuals share not just their willingness, but their abilities to help others. Across the Ayala Group and among our volunteerism program partners, individuals stepped forward with both heart and capability. Our volunteerism program has expanded from the typical packing of relief goods and tree-planting activities to include deploying specialized skills toward solving some of the increasingly complex challenges that Filipino communities face. When engineers assess structural safety after disasters, teachers mentor fellow educators, health care professionals support families which have no access to primary care, mental health experts prepare front-liners to respond to vulnerable groups in crisis, and finance experts strengthen the internal controls of community enterprises, service transcends short-term relief and contributes to lasting transformation. The numbers tell part of this emerging story: In 2025, Ayala Group employees and professionals from partner organizations volunteered over 180,000 hours. Within the Ayala Group alone, 16 percent of these hours were skills-based. Behind these figures are real people making real impact — a glimpse of what becomes possible when expertise meets need.
A historic moment to reimagine service
This year offers us something rare: a convergence of history and possibility. The United Nations has designated 2026 as the International Year of Volunteers for Sustainable Development, a global recognition of volunteers as agents of change. For the Ayala Foundation, 2026 also marks our 65th founding anniversary, six-and-a-half decades of working alongside Filipino communities and believing in the Filipino’s capacity to build a better future.
This convergence isn’t just symbolic. It’s a call to action and an invitation to move beyond one-off efforts toward a new brand of volunteerism that is intentional, inclusive and aligned with genuine community needs. It challenges all of us — institutions and individuals alike — to ask not only whether we can volunteer to do any task that needs doing with whatever extra time we can spare, but how our skills, experience and influence can create the greatest possible impact.
In this spirit, Ayala Foundation is working closely with the Philippine National Volunteer Service Coordinating Agency throughout the year as part of the National Volunteerism Resource Pool. Through this partnership, we commit to contributing our experience and capabilities, upholding the spirit of bayanihan and joining hands with fellow partners to advance volunteerism as a meaningful strategy for inclusive development and nation-building.
The Year of the Volunteer calls us to be more deliberate about how we show up. It asks us to match skills with needs, build partnerships that endure and treat volunteerism as a vital pathway for social progress. It invites us to imagine communities where every person’s contribution is maximized — no matter how specialized or simple — and helps weave the fabric of a stronger nation.
Your skills, your impact
Looking ahead, we invite you to sign up through the Ayala Foundation volunteer portal (https://volunteer.ayalafoundation.org/). Whether you’re volunteering for the first time or building on years of service, we will help you make the most of your unique skills and experience. There’s a place for everyone in this movement — and communities all over the Philippines need what you have to offer.
Volunteerism has always been about showing up for others. The opportunity before us now is to show up with clarity, capability and a commitment to lasting change.
Together, let’s make 2026 a year that transforms how we serve — and in doing so, transform the communities we call home.
Antonio “Tony” G. Lambino II is president and trustee of Ayala Foundation. As the socioeconomic development arm of the Ayala Group of Companies, the foundation is committed to building thriving communities toward shared prosperity in the Philippines. Tony is also a board member of the Harvard Kennedy School Alumni Association of the Philippines and graduated from the Harvard Kennedy School’s Master in Public Policy Program in 2004 and Executive Course in Comparative Tax Policy and Administration in 2019.