April 21-27 is National Volunteer Week, an opportunity to celebrate and champion volunteering in all its forms. Taproot’s work is possible because of the thousands of skilled volunteers who give their time and expertise to help organizations tackling urgent social challenges around the world. Each week, on average, Taproot volunteers give 600 hours of their time to create more than $117,000 in value. That’s a lot of impact, and we couldn’t be more grateful!
In honor of National Volunteer Week, we’ve collected reflections from some of our skilled volunteers as well as the nonprofit partners they’ve collaborated with. Their testimonials illustrate not only how volunteers have been able to learn and grow through their service, but more importantly, how that work has created impact for social good organizations, allowing them to more efficiently deliver services and achieve their missions.
Transferable Skills
Aaron Wolpoff, founder and CEO of Double Zebra, spends his days advising large and mid-size corporations. As a Taproot volunteer, he discovered that the same expertise he uses to serve clients can also benefit nonprofit organizations, especially those early in their development. Watch his testimonial to learn more about Aaron’s volunteer experience.
Short Time, Big Impact
Pride and Less Prejudice Foundation, an organization providing LGBTQ+-inclusive books to primary grade classrooms, recently enlisted volunteer Jamie Farnsworth to help optimize their Salesforce database. Just a few days into this multi-week project, staff were already singing the praises of Jamie’s assistance. Thanks to his CRM skills, Pride Not Prejudice is now able to pull data more efficiently to create more compelling grant applications.
Passion + Skills = Impact
Liwen Xu, a marketing pro at Survey Monkey, was able to utilize her marketing and copywriting background to serve a cause she’s passionate about—diversity, equity, and inclusion. Volunteering with the award-winning podcast Everyday Conversations Race for Everyday People, Liwen helped the organization refine their messaging, allowing them to reach new audiences and access funding to grow their impact.
A Win-Win
At its heart, skills-based volunteering is a partnership. Nonprofits leverage the expertise of skilled volunteers to help achieve their mission, and volunteers make an impact on a cause they care about.
Recently, volunteer Vanishaa Doshi, a PR professional, worked with LA Tech4Good, an organization that teaches equitable and ethical data practices to drive social good. Vanishaa leveraged her communications skills to help LA Tech4Good create their first-ever press release, allowing the organization to raise their profile in the community and reach new audiences.
