Benefits of Diverse Experience in Nonprofit Leadership
What does it take to be an effective nonprofit leader? Our board member, Toni La Belle, included Taproot in her survey to identify what skills and backgrounds yield the best nonprofit leadership as part of her dissertation. As it turns out, it's not what sector you come from that matters; it's the diversity of experiences that help develop great leaders....
Read MoreTen Resolutions for Nonprofit Executive Directors in 2011
Nonprofit executive directors are their own toughest critics. They see the need in the community and the potential for the organization to meet that need. They assess their performance based on the delta between the two--which is almost always as wide as the Grand Canyon. And, they can never do a good enough job. In that spirit, here are some...
Read MoreFinding the Best Talent
One of my early mentors advised me to try to always hire people who are passionate about their craft--whether it be human resources, strategy or design. She shared that in her experience, people who love their profession not only do better work, but are also more productive, and they bring out the best in everyone around them. A resume that...
Read MoreIn Treatment
I am totally addicted to HBO's "In Treatment". I must have watched 20 episodes in 7 days the other week. Like "The Office", the show is an import remake for American audiences. This one comes to us from Israel, which is not surprising since it is about therapy, the Jewish pastime. It is a drama but riffs off of a...
Read MoreBloomberg Hits a Home Run
It was a great honor yesterday for the Taproot Foundation and some of our pro bono consultants to be guests at the Mayor's event to unveil NYC Service - the first city in the nation to really embrace the President's call to service. At the event yesterday the Mayor outlined a plan that goes beyond just addressing the simple wins...
Read MoreHistoric Pro Bono Retreat
This week we hosted the second Pro Bono Roundtable - a two day retreat for leaders in the pro bono field. Meeting on the 19th floor of the John Hancock building in Boston, we reflected on the state of the field and began shaping the roadmap for advancing the field over the next 24 months. Enhancing the field of pro...
Read MoreState of Nonprofit Environmental Leadership
We recently added a question to our online Service Grant application asking nonprofits to report if they have an environmental policy and, if so, to share it with us. We made this change for two reasons. Firstly, we want to encourage nonprofits to adopt policies. Secondly, collecting this data enables the Taproot Foundation to better understand the state of environmental...
Read MoreGoalkeeper Theory and Recessions
This past Sunday marked one of my favorite days of the year--the day the New York Times Magazine publishes the "Ideas of the Year" issue. Many ideas are amusing and at least one of them stands out in particular (so far--the list is alphabetical and I am only through reading up to "G" as of writing this post) because it...
Read MoreBringing Back DC
I just completed a two-month tour of MBA programs across the country. The speaking engagements were sponsored by Deloitte and covered many of the top programs from HBS to Kellogg to Haas. It was an honor to meet so many impressive students and to learn from their points of view. What stands out to me as I return from the...
Read MoreAfter the honeymoon
As part of the Pro Bono Action Tank's campaign to support and grow pro bono service at professional services firms, we conduct regular conference calls with leading firms. The calls include some of the largest advertising, consulting, accounting, IT, legal and architecture firms in the world. The most recent call was on program evaluation. An architecture firm, Perkins and Will,...
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