What was your experience working on a Taproot Foundation project?

I worked on a website redesign project for BPI, which writes public policy and helps negotiate on behalf of the underprivileged for things like affordable housing and improved public education. BPI is a great organization and really good at what they do. You could tell they are grateful to be able to benefit from the combined experiences and backgrounds that our Taproot volunteer team offered.

How have you grown from your pro bono experience?

Personally, this has opened my eyes to a whole new side of volunteer work – I’ve worked in soup kitchens, hospitals, and schools, but never really thought about how I could volunteer my business skills and knowledge. Taproot Foundation is also a great way to network – you get to know your project team, as well as the client stakeholders. Lastly, a Taproot project is a great way to develop under-utilized skills. For example, in my current job, I focus on a fairly narrow aspect of marketing. The BPI project has allowed me to brush up on some other marketing skills I’d learned in school, but don’t necessarily get to use every day, like conducting discovery interviews.

What were the biggest challenges in your project?

Time and coordination of the project team is probably the biggest challenge. My project manager described it as a relay race where one member is handing off to the next, and on down the line. This is a really accurate picture – a lot of my work was done toward the beginning of the project, and it felt a little overwhelming for about a week or two, but then the “baton” got passed to the next person and I was able to take a breath, and stay involved from the sidelines.

How do you think the business community and nonprofit sector can strengthen one another?

You often see very different personality types in the two sectors, so there will always be ways the two can complement and improve each other. The nonprofit sector serves as a great reminder that challenge, fulfillment and success are not always about the bottom line. The business community collectively has so much knowledge and expertise that it’s a shame not to share it with nonprofit organizations. The difficulty is facilitating the transfer of knowledge, which I believe Taproot Foundation does successfully.

What community issues are most important to you and what did you learn from the project?

It’s hard to pinpoint the most important issue because there are so many causes out there – animal rights, children’s rights, elder care, environmental protection, etc. I have often been involved in children’s issues and organizations like the Starlight Foundation and Junior Achievement. From this project, I learned that Chicago is really pioneering the public housing transformation landscape. I’ve witnessed some of the reformation of the public housing system here over the last 10 years or so, but did not realize what a groundbreaking national project it is, until I met and worked with BPI.

Other than volunteering with the Taproot Foundation, what do you like to do in your free time?

Kayaking, camping, hiking, skiing, and snowshoeing – really getting outdoors as much as possible. Going to outdoor concerts in the summer, especially seeing Dave Matthews Band. Winter in Chicago is usually a good time to catch up on reading!