People of Pro Bono: Queen Sheba Village

The work never stops for Queen Sheba D Cisse, the Founder and Creative Director of the nonprofit Queen Sheba Village. During her off hours, you can find Queen Sheba reading, writing, and researching social issues. After teaming up with Taproot skilled volunteers, Queen Sheba and her teammates have been able to expand their own humanitarian efforts even more.

Giving hope to women and families

Queen Sheba Village (QSV) is focused on the wellbeing of women and girls in rural Senegal, West Africa. We set up educational programs in health and business-building to help impoverished families become financially independent. After going through our programming, women can become prosperous business owners which creates a kind of domino effect. These women are then able to contribute to their communities to combat unemployment, poverty, hunger, and violence. Our latest focus is on fundraising to build an educational social center. We want to establish a motivational environment that will empower women and girls to achieve their dreams.

Working in this issue area can be difficult at times but you get to see the women, children, and families benefit from the services. At QSV, we can see the joy and hope in their smiles and eyes after they’ve worked with us. The women keep in touch to receive additional support from us and we get to see that progress go even further.

Learning something new through pro bono

Before I found Taproot Foundation, I didn’t know that pro bono like this existed. Our nonprofit is a small team, so it would be impossible to have all the skill sets required to run our organization. That’s where Taproot came in. We asked for support because we needed to manage certain projects correctly and responsibly to ensure our organization’s strength. We’ve worked with volunteers who’ve made presentations with us, fleshed out business development plans, and analyzed our budget plans since we first signed up for their programs in 2014. The breadth of knowledge we gained from Taproot’s skilled volunteers has been unmatched.

My advice to fellow nonprofit leaders is to be patient and learn from the business professionals that you’re working with. I consider myself a student in a “Nonprofit University,” learning along the way. In addition to all the great pro bono project outcomes, working with skilled volunteers has been beneficial to QSV’s entire team since we’re still largely a volunteer-run organization. We all have a passion for giving back, but pro bono is an opportunity to learn from experts to take that passion even further.

It takes a village

To all the wonderful volunteers that have teamed up with Queen Sheba Village: you are a part of our “it takes a Village, aiding humanity” family. We appreciate your skills and mentoring support as a group of volunteers ourselves.

“It is an inspiration to see the time you spend helping others, and that you have it in your hearts to give your talents to nonprofit organizations in need.”

Thank you, Taproot, for the remarkable opportunities you’ve given to us at Queen Sheba Village and to countless other nonprofits. Every volunteer we’ve worked with has been amazing. On top of that, you all are saving the lives of nonprofits, especially now when support and aid are difficult to come by.

Join QSV on Taproot Plus to create your own village of passionate volunteer supporters.