Nonprofit Communicators
April 11, 2007
April 11, 2007
By Kirsten Lambert
Many nonprofits start out as the tiniest seed of an idea. One person might want to find a cure for a disease, or gather resources for those in need, or meet other people with similar interests.
But sometimes a nonprofit just doesn’t have the infrastructure to grow properly. Maybe it needs some help with marketing or fund raising, for example.
That’s where the Taproot Foundation comes in. Taproot finds professionals to lend their expertise to nonprofits—at no charge.
How Taproot helps nonprofits flourish
According to the Taproot Foundation’s Web site, a taproot is the core root of a plant. The foundation sees itself as “a taproot for the nonprofit sector, drawing nutrients from the community and delivering them to nonprofits to enable them to thrive.”
Those nutrients come in the form of service grants. Unlike the cash grants many other foundations dole out, Taproot bestows grants of high-quality professional services. Taproot staffs each service grant with members of the business community who donate their time and expertise.
Those grants fall into three categories:
1. Human resources grants can help a nonprofit attract, develop, manage, organize, and retain staff and volunteers.
2. Information technology grants help nonprofits build stronger relationships with funders, donors, clients and the community, as well as increasing staff productivity.
3. The marketing and fund-raising practice represents the biggest branch of Taproot’s services. Nonprofits can receive service grants for the following:
Volunteers: the vessels
The delivery system for those nutrients? The volunteers.
Lisa Richter, principal of Richter Communications, is part of a volunteer team that is creating a brochure for a nonprofit. She serves as copywriter, working with a marketing director, designer, project manager and account director.
Richter says, “Unlike volunteering to serve on a committee for a nonprofit, where you are often working with laypeople or people inexperienced with the creative process, the beauty of the Taproot system is that you are paired with a team of other creative professionals. That means that the workload is divided amongst several qualified people who you can trust to meet their deadlines and produce a quality work product.”
Taproot makes sure its volunteers meet certain criteria. In addition, Taproot thoroughly vets each client before granting a request, which means the client goes through a briefing about the process and has realistic expectations.
Taproot idea is ‘genius’
Aaron Hurst, Taproot’s president and founder, says the foundation sprang from his desire to connect this country’s millions of business professionals with nonprofits who need their talent and experience. After working for several nonprofits in the Chicago area, he got frustrated by the lack of resources and support for critical business functions.
“Funding for systems and infrastructure development was—and still is—anemic,” he points out.
Hurst left the nonprofit sector to work for several IT startups, intending to better understand institutional development and bring new skills back to the nonprofit world. During that time, he discovered that skilled workers in the for-profit sector lacked outlets for volunteering.
“Thus, the idea was the result of recognizing that the serious demand for support in the nonprofit sector could be met by an enormous untapped supply of resources: the skills of the American work force,” Hurst recalls.
The foundation’s roots go back to 2001, when it opened its first office in San Francisco. It now has offices in Chicago, Boston, New York and Seattle, as well.
“The Taproot idea is genius,” Richter says. “Everyone knows that nonprofits are often strapped for financial resources and rely heavily on volunteer support. Through Taproot, they get high-quality professional products that typically would not be available to them.”
The Taproot concept is not new. Other organizations that use skilled volunteers to help nonprofits include Common Impact and the International Executive Service Corps. But Hurst says those groups have slightly different models and don’t operate on the same scale as Taproot, in terms of geographic reach, number of nonprofits served per year and types of services provided.
Service grants in demand
It’s no surprise that the foundation often finds itself with a demand for its services that outstrips the supply of volunteers. On average, it awards grants to one out of every three nonprofit applicants.
To make sure nonprofits are worthy to receive service grants, Taproot uses criteria such as the following:
Hurst says Taproot plans to be in 10 major cities by 2010. But the foundation can only expand its services if its volunteer ranks grow.
“Our ability to strengthen these nonprofits is contingent on finding more business professionals to volunteer their skills and time,” Hurst says.
To find out about volunteering, visit the Volunteer section of the Taproot Foundation’s Web site.
Many nonprofits start out as the tiniest seed of an idea. One person might want to find a cure for a disease, or gather resources for those in need, or meet other people with similar interests.
But sometimes a nonprofit just doesn’t have the infrastructure to grow properly. Maybe it needs some help with marketing or fund raising, for example.
That’s where the Taproot Foundation comes in. Taproot finds professionals to lend their expertise to nonprofits—at no charge.
How Taproot helps nonprofits flourish
According to the Taproot Foundation’s Web site, a taproot is the core root of a plant. The foundation sees itself as “a taproot for the nonprofit sector, drawing nutrients from the community and delivering them to nonprofits to enable them to thrive.”
Those nutrients come in the form of service grants. Unlike the cash grants many other foundations dole out, Taproot bestows grants of high-quality professional services. Taproot staffs each service grant with members of the business community who donate their time and expertise.
Those grants fall into three categories:
1. Human resources grants can help a nonprofit attract, develop, manage, organize, and retain staff and volunteers.
2. Information technology grants help nonprofits build stronger relationships with funders, donors, clients and the community, as well as increasing staff productivity.
3. The marketing and fund-raising practice represents the biggest branch of Taproot’s services. Nonprofits can receive service grants for the following:
- Key messages and brand strategy
- Naming and visual identity
- Visual identity and brand strategy
- Brochure
- Annual report
- Web site, basic
- Web site, advanced
- Donor database
Volunteers: the vessels
The delivery system for those nutrients? The volunteers.
Lisa Richter, principal of Richter Communications, is part of a volunteer team that is creating a brochure for a nonprofit. She serves as copywriter, working with a marketing director, designer, project manager and account director.
Richter says, “Unlike volunteering to serve on a committee for a nonprofit, where you are often working with laypeople or people inexperienced with the creative process, the beauty of the Taproot system is that you are paired with a team of other creative professionals. That means that the workload is divided amongst several qualified people who you can trust to meet their deadlines and produce a quality work product.”
Taproot makes sure its volunteers meet certain criteria. In addition, Taproot thoroughly vets each client before granting a request, which means the client goes through a briefing about the process and has realistic expectations.
Taproot idea is ‘genius’
Aaron Hurst, Taproot’s president and founder, says the foundation sprang from his desire to connect this country’s millions of business professionals with nonprofits who need their talent and experience. After working for several nonprofits in the Chicago area, he got frustrated by the lack of resources and support for critical business functions.
“Funding for systems and infrastructure development was—and still is—anemic,” he points out.
Hurst left the nonprofit sector to work for several IT startups, intending to better understand institutional development and bring new skills back to the nonprofit world. During that time, he discovered that skilled workers in the for-profit sector lacked outlets for volunteering.
“Thus, the idea was the result of recognizing that the serious demand for support in the nonprofit sector could be met by an enormous untapped supply of resources: the skills of the American work force,” Hurst recalls.
The foundation’s roots go back to 2001, when it opened its first office in San Francisco. It now has offices in Chicago, Boston, New York and Seattle, as well.
“The Taproot idea is genius,” Richter says. “Everyone knows that nonprofits are often strapped for financial resources and rely heavily on volunteer support. Through Taproot, they get high-quality professional products that typically would not be available to them.”
The Taproot concept is not new. Other organizations that use skilled volunteers to help nonprofits include Common Impact and the International Executive Service Corps. But Hurst says those groups have slightly different models and don’t operate on the same scale as Taproot, in terms of geographic reach, number of nonprofits served per year and types of services provided.
Service grants in demand
It’s no surprise that the foundation often finds itself with a demand for its services that outstrips the supply of volunteers. On average, it awards grants to one out of every three nonprofit applicants.
To make sure nonprofits are worthy to receive service grants, Taproot uses criteria such as the following:
- Classification as a 501(c)(3)
- Track record of nondiscrimination
- Mission within one of four categories: 1) education, 2) environment, 3) health, 4) social services
- Strong board and management
- Financial stability
Hurst says Taproot plans to be in 10 major cities by 2010. But the foundation can only expand its services if its volunteer ranks grow.
“Our ability to strengthen these nonprofits is contingent on finding more business professionals to volunteer their skills and time,” Hurst says.
To find out about volunteering, visit the Volunteer section of the Taproot Foundation’s Web site.
