Guest Blog: 5 Creative Ways to Make Corporate Philanthropy Part Of Your Company’s Everyday Culture
The case for corporate philanthropy is clear. Studies show corporate philanthropy attracts and retains top talent, recruits and reinforces brand loyalists, and enhances a company’s reputation. The question is no longer: should a company engage in philanthropy, but how? There are many tried and true options—matching employees’ charitable donations, offering volunteer time off, providing dollars for doers. But with so...
Read MoreAdobe Brings Design Thinking to Nonprofits in Need
This month, Adobe's Design and Sustainability & Social Impact teams joined forces to host two design thinking events benefiting nonprofit partners. The goals of these events, called Pro Bono Design Challenge, were threefold: to quickly generate design solutions for nonprofit partners, to spread the core tenets of design thinking internally, and to integrate the aptitudes and perspective of a diverse group...
Read MoreAIG Hosts Speed Consulting in NYC – Marketing and Communications Talent Drives Social Impact
How can today’s nonprofits use social media to connect with the people they serve? How can they create brands that appeal to both homeless youth and millionaire donors? How can they reach the right audiences with the right messages at the right times? Those are marketing questions that keep many nonprofit leaders up at night. Exploring strategic marketing solutions Fortunately...
Read MoreGUEST BLOG: Developing Entrepreneurial Leaders Through Pro Bono Service
Pro bono as an opportunity to develop entrepreneurial leadership capabilities Pro bono service provides a unique, and often overlooked, opportunity to strengthen the entrepreneurial leadership capability of an organization’s emerging talent. It can readily complement traditional leadership development approaches, stimulate mindfulness, and promote authentic human understanding. In this blog, I identify three key entrepreneurial skillsets—empathy, innovation, and curiosity—and highlight how...
Read MorePeople of Pro Bono: Stephanie Willding, Chicago Family Health Center
Stephanie Willding, Chief Officer of Strategy, Planning & Development at Chicago Family Health Center, will know that her organization has ‘made it’ when health disparity is no longer an issue in the South Side of Chicago. Taproot pro bono support in human resources is helping them get there. Saying yes I want to be able to say yes, to every...
Read MoreGuest Blog: Tech Stands Up Mobilizes Its Community
In 1962, President John F. Kennedy called upon trained lawyers to leverage their skills and expertise to aid the fight for Civil Rights. As the struggle to ensure equal protection under the law reached a fevered pitch in the United States, large numbers of trained professionals committed their time to the cause, launching a massive pro bono movement that ultimately...
Read MoreWhy Taproot Celebrates This One Wedding Anniversary
I’ve never met a nonprofit professional who didn’t take up the mantel of this work because of a personal drive to make the world a little bit better. Me? I joined Taproot in 2009 because I was drawn to a vision that philanthropy could mean dollars and skills supporting the social sector. I’d spent my career—up to that point—working in...
Read MoreLean for the Social Sector: Applying Corporate Lean Management Expertise to Power Nonprofit Organizations
Achieving high standards with lean management High quality products and services, minimal cost, minimal waste. Every organization strives for this combination. For years, many companies have employed an effective discipline to help them achieve it: lean management. The lean approach helps companies use clear and objective data to identify where and how they can become more efficient without compromising their...
Read MoreNBCUniversal’s HR for GOOD Merges Pro Bono Work and Professional Development
Recruiting pro bono volunteers through word of mouth "Work and live to serve others, to leave the world a little better than you found it and garner for yourself as much peace of mind as you can. This is happiness." The quote by NBC’s founder David Sarnoff is featured in a book of inspirational phrases that NBCUniversal gives to each participant in its HR for...
Read MoreMaking the Match, Part 1: Differentiating Technical and Strategic Support
This post is Part 1 of our 3-part series “Making the Match,” which breaks down how to increase the impact of your pro bono program by creating strong matches between your talent and your nonprofit partners. At Taproot, we see two distinct kinds of pro bono support: technical and strategic. Understanding which type nonprofits need is essential, both to ensure...
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