Hurst on HuffPo: Can the Haves Understand the Have-Nots?
Taproot's founder Aaron Hurst conducted an interview on Huffington Post with Kerry Sullivan, President of the Bank of America Charitable Foundation. For the beginning of the interview click here - it continues below: Aaron Hurst: You have about 300,000 employees at Bank of America. How can you be strategic in adding real value and impact to the community with that...
Read MoreService Grant Spotlight: Unusual Suspects Theatre Company
A look at how Unusual Suspects Theatre Company leveraged pro bono support Born out of the ashes of the Los Angeles riots of 1992, the Unusual Suspects Theatre Company is a model mentoring program using theater arts to reach youth in underserved and at-risk environments, including kids in foster care, violence-plagued neighborhoods, gangs and juvenile corrections facilities. Between 2005 and...
Read MoreHurst on SSIR: Surdna CEO on Philanthropic Isolation
I recently interviewed my colleague Phillip Henderson for the Stanford Social Innovation Review about the challenges he faces as the president of the Surdna Foundation, a $755 million charitable family foundation known for its innovative work. Prior to his appointment at Surdna, Henderson was vice president at the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF), a trans-Atlantic public policy...
Read MoreService Grant Spotlight: Westside Family Health Center
Since 1974, Westside Family Health Center (WFHC) has grown from a grassroots women's clinic to a Federally Qualified Health Center that annually cares for nearly 9,000 under-served patients of all ages and genders in the in the Santa Monica area. Yet while their clinic grew in size and scope of service, it often lagged behind in terms of technology. But...
Read MoreHurst on HuffPo: What I’ve learned from pro bono service
The power of pro bono service Earlier this year at Taproot Foundation, we delivered our one millionth hour of pro bono service to the communities we serve. That's a lot of valuable time and expertise from business professionals that has been leveraged to help strengthen the nonprofit sector and make the work we do more sustainable. To celebrate this milestone,...
Read MoreLights, Camera, LA! : Highlighting Taproot’s Newest Office
Being the newest of the five cities to establish itself within Taproot's national framework, Taproot Los Angeles continues to expand and evolve as we gain traction in the community. Now in our third year, there is more of a pressing need to establish our city's presence than ever before. With our Program team overseeing higher numbers of Service Grant projects...
Read MoreKnow a star for our board?
Building a movement For the past 10 years, Taproot has developed the pro bono ethic into a powerful movement by strategically connecting business talent with nonprofit organizations and providing key resources to advance social impact. To date, we've delivered nearly $86 million in pro bono professional services to more than 1,300 nonprofits, moving the needle on some of today's most...
Read MoreDrinking Our Own Kool-Aid
Cutting through the jargon Enter any Taproot office, and within five minutes, besides being surprised by our yellow walls and striped socks, you'll also be surprised at how many times you hear the phrase "Service Enterprise." It's not uncommon for Taproot staff to be using words that no one else understands--we certainly have a particular lingo of our own consisting...
Read MoreHurst on HuffPo: Gap Foundation President’s Thoughts on Passion, Gen X and Service
We conducted an interview on Huffington Post with Bobbi Silten, President of Gap Foundation and Senior Vice President, Global Responsibility for Gap Inc. For the beginning of the interview click here - it continues below: What does it take to get CEOs to see the business value of philanthropy? Part of it is showing them the multiple levels of value...
Read MoreDesign Observer: Structured for Creativity
Structured for creativity At Taproot, our passion is strategically building capacity for nonprofits using quality pro bono resources. But to provide the best services, we need to know what organizational models are best suited for promoting both efficiency and creativity to bring about social change. At Taproot, no one knows this better than Laura Weiss, our vice president of Service...
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