By Cat Ward, Taproot CEO
Every nonprofit should be able to count on pro bono service when they need it. A brand strategist. An HR advisor. Someone to rebuild the budget model that lives in one spreadsheet, in one person’s head. Someone to help them use AI to do the work differently, not just faster.
But too many can’t count on any of it. The expertise is out there, and so is the appetite to help. It just isn’t reaching them at anything close to the scale they need. That gap is why IGNITE exists. This November in New York, we’re bringing leaders from business, philanthropy, government and the nonprofit sector into one room to build a Blueprint for what pro bono service becomes next. Nonprofits are up against more demand, less certain funding and a technology shift moving faster than any of us. The Blueprint is our answer to that.
Ahead of the summit I asked four of the people helping shape IGNITE the same two questions: where is pro bono headed, and what will it take to get it there? Here’s what they told me.
Q: Nonprofits are confronting rising demand, shifting funding, and rapid technological change, all at the same time. What do leaders outside of the sector need to understand about what nonprofits are facing?
The times we are experiencing have challenged the nonprofit sector as never before. We are being squeezed at the very moment demand for our work is soaring. Nonprofit workers are fundamental to the American economy and our society, but more than one in five live paycheck to paycheck. This has to change if we are to work toward the reality we all want to build. A strong, unified charitable sector can and should drive solutions to strengthen our organizations and increase our impact to help all people thrive, even in this challenging time.
Q: Independent Sector hears from nonprofits across nearly every cause area. Where does pro bono service make the greatest difference for nonprofits right now, and what distinguishes support that genuinely builds capacity and advances a nonprofit’s mission?
With many nonprofits struggling to balance budget and mission due to increasing costs, disruptions to government funding, and cuts to federal safety net programs, access to pro bono services is critically important. When a nonprofit leader knows they can depend on a pro bono service to meet an urgent need, it frees up resources and capacity so nonprofits can do what they do best: serve their community.
Q: You’ve experienced firsthand how catalytic pro bono service can be. How did that experience shape your understanding of what the right expertise can make possible for a nonprofit?
I’ve worked with nonprofits for a long time, and a lack of commitment is never the problem. Nonprofits are full of smart, dedicated people who know and care about their communities. What’s often missing is time, capacity, or access to someone who’s seen a particular challenge before.
That’s how Taproot made a difference to us. We were trying to answer the question: how do we know how to prioritize all the potential projects we could work on? The team worked with us on a multi-criteria weighted decision model that included community impact. We described that model in a grant — to show that brought serious methodology to our choices — and it helped us win it. This was the best kind of engagement: it combined outside experience with our own expertise about our mission, community, and work.
Q: As AI changes what pro bono service can accomplish, and how quickly it can be delivered, which distinctly human skills do you believe are becoming even more valuable?
AI is an extraordinary tool for thinking alone. It helps people explore ideas, generate options, and move faster. But nonprofits don’t succeed because one person had a good idea. They succeed because groups of people build trust, make decisions, and move in the same direction.
That’s where human skills are becoming more valuable. Listening, facilitation, judgment, and helping people work through disagreement to reach a shared understanding. The hard part isn’t generating more ideas. It’s deciding which ideas deserve trust and support, and which ideas ultimately move forward.
Q: From your work helping nonprofits navigate AI, what are you seeing that gives you optimism? And are there any roadblocks that continue to stand in the way of progress?
What gives me optimism is that nonprofits are starting to have real choices. More organizations are asking not whether they should use AI, but which tools fit their needs, values, and ways of working. When organizations have choices, they have agency. They can make technology decisions that support their mission rather than simply accepting whatever is put in front of them.
The biggest roadblock is still money. Organizations with the fewest resources often have the least ability to evaluate options, experiment, and train staff. They have less ability to choose. If we want AI to strengthen civil society, we need to make meaningful choices available to all nonprofits, not just those with the largest budgets.
Q: As AI reshapes the workplace, what capabilities will become most valuable for early-career professionals?
The capabilities that will matter most are agility, resilience, and curiosity. AI is accelerating the pace of change, but technology does not replace the need for people who can adapt, think critically, and navigate uncertainty.
The Early-careers program learning journeys at Wells Fargo are designed to build adaptability and confidence, helping participants navigate change, ask stronger questions and identify opportunities others may overlook.
The future will belong to people who are comfortable with change, willing to ask better questions, and capable of envisioning what work, business, and communities may need three to five years from now. Developing those capabilities early is one of the most important investments organizations can make.
Q: What does supporting nonprofits develop in employees that is difficult to replicate in a conventional training or talent development program?
Working alongside nonprofit organizations develops empathy, problem-solving, adaptability, and influence in ways that are difficult to replicate in a classroom or simulated environment. It connects skill development to purpose.
This generation values passion, purpose and social needs, particularly emerging talent. They are at their best when they understand how their work contributes to something larger than themselves. Service experiences meet that need while also accelerating growth. Employees are often at their best when they are solving meaningful problems that have a direct impact on individuals and communities.
Q: What would need to change for more companies to treat pro bono service as a core talent development strategy rather than a volunteer initiative?
Organizations need to broaden their view of where meaningful development occurs. Some of the most valuable leadership and professional capabilities are built outside of traditional training environments.
Nonprofits face complex challenges that require innovation, collaboration, strategic thinking, and execution. These are the same capabilities organizations need in their future leaders. When employees apply their expertise in service of a community need, they gain experiences that are highly transferable back into the workplace.
The shift begins when companies recognize that service is not separate from talent development. It is talent development. Organizations that embrace this mindset can strengthen their workforce while creating measurable value for the communities they serve.
Q: What role do you see philanthropy playing in helping nonprofits access the expertise and infrastructure they need to thrive?
At Walmart, we think about philanthropy alongside the expertise, capabilities and reach of the business, and how those assets can work together to help address complex challenges at a systems level. That experience has reinforced for me how powerful it can be to bring smart people with different perspectives and cross-sector experience together around a problem.
Skills-based volunteerism can be a great expression of that. It creates opportunities for people to contribute what they know—not just their time—and for nonprofits to access additional expertise and capabilities that can help them advance their mission.
Q: You’ve helped shape the IGNITE agenda through the Advisory Council. Which conversation or challenge feels especially important for the field to take on right now?
I’m particularly interested in how nonprofits can use AI and emerging technology, not simply to become more efficient, but to solve problems differently and drive greater impact.
There is enormous potential here, from using data to better understand needs and outcomes, to redesigning services or reaching people in new ways. But access to the technology alone isn’t enough. Organizations also need the expertise and capacity to understand where it can genuinely add value and how to use it responsibly. At IGNITE, I hope we wrestle with how philanthropy, nonprofits and the private sector can work together to make those capabilities accessible across the sector, not just to organizations that already have the resources to invest in them.
Q: What would it look like for more funders to treat pro bono service as an essential part of strengthening the nonprofit sector?
Nonprofits are already led by incredibly capable people with deep expertise in their missions and communities. Pro bono service is most valuable when it complements that expertise—bringing additional capabilities or perspectives that help organizations tackle a priority they have identified.
And I think funders should increasingly think about cash and expertise together. A nonprofit may benefit from outside expertise to develop a new technology or data strategy, for example, but it may also need funding to implement it. When we think more holistically about capital, capabilities and relationships – and start with what the organization actually needs – pro bono service can become a much more meaningful tool for strengthening organizations and increasing impact.
What’s Ours to Build
Four seats, one picture. Nonprofits are run by capable people who are short on time, capacity and access to someone who’s seen the problem before. AI is raising the value of the human skills a good pro bono consultant brings, and the organizations with the least money have the least access to them. And the sectors already agree more than they think: service is talent development, the grant should come with the expertise, and this is a moment for recommitment, not retreat.
Put those ideas in one room and you have the start of a plan. That room is IGNITE, this November in New York, where these four and about 150 others will turn agreement into a Blueprint we can all build from. Every nonprofit should be able to count on pro bono service when they need it. The people who can make that true are showing up. Are you in?
Follow along at ignite.taprootfoundation.org.
