Nonprofit Client Spotlight|
John Pfeiffer
Executive Director, Inspiration Corporation
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What was your experience working on a Taproot Foundation project?
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My overall impressions are that Taproot Foundation provides very thorough “blueprints” for each of its service grants, recruits talented and committed volunteers, and delivers high quality results to its grantees. Our Brand Strategy and Key Messages grant has given a great boost to our marketing efforts, providing a solid foundation for growth. Our staff really enjoyed working with the volunteer consultants, and I’m certain their interaction was beneficial from a professional development perspective. Our Taproot volunteers have been smart, thoughtful, productive and fun-loving. They’ve been very supportive of our work and great partners. Happily, a number of them agreed to volunteer on our Marketing Committee after the project ended. In short, I’m thrilled that Taproot Foundation opened a Chicago office! |
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How have you grown personally and as an organization from your pro bono project?
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It’s instructive to step back and allow others to help you see your organization more clearly. Our Taproot consultants have done that, and helped us to more effectively communicate our organization’s work, culture and uniqueness. Ultimately, we hope this will lead to deeper engagement and support from our donors and volunteers.
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How do you think the business community and nonprofit sectors can strengthen one another?
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With its great resources, the business community can innovate and invest in infrastructure more richly and nimbly than the nonprofit sector. I think businesses can transfer a great deal of their intellectual capital to nonprofits through volunteerism, and when this happens they have a greater impact on the health of communities than through charitable investment alone. For businesses, the volunteer experience can be very rewarding and energizing for employees, infusing an element of passion for a greater mission.
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How did you become a nonprofit leader?
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I got involved in addressing hunger and homelessness right after college and just kept on going for 20 years, moving among the nonprofit, government and private sectors, but returning to the nonprofit sector six years ago. Pretty naturally, as my experience grew and opportunities arose, I took on more responsibility, sought out interesting projects, and volunteered with organizations that were involved in leading-edge thinking. |
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What community issues are most important to you and what did you learn from the project?
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I’m deeply committed to creating opportunity for people who’ve been poorly served by our public systems. Basic human needs are my professional area of focus, chiefly because they are so fundamental to well-being, and because hunger, homelessness and lack of access to healthcare are so deeply unjust in a wealthy nation like ours.
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