Designer of the Year: Pro Bono
Two weeks ago the leadership team of Public Architecture won the prestigious Designer of the Year award from Contract Magazine, a publication in the commercial design field. This is the 30th year of the award whose recipients are the who's who of the design and architecture world. John Peterson and John Cary of Public Architecture were the first to be...
Read MoreService, service – everywhere
Last week, New York Governor Paterson promoted service to a cabinet level post following the lead of California. Other leading univerities are also creating very senior roles for civic engagement. The Univeristy of Chicago, for example, just hired the editor of the Tribune as their Vice President of Civic Engagement. Service is a hot topic With these new senior roles,...
Read MoreLehman’s legacy
Time, Inc. generously donates the Taproot Foundation office space that looks out on the Lehman Brothers HQ building in mid-town Manhattan. Last week, several members of our team displayed messages on our windows stating their support and sympathy for their colleagues at Lehman Brothers - 'Stay Strong.' Our desks directly face the windows where last week we could see our...
Read MoreArchitects & Pro Bono
This is the first in a series of posts under the banner of "Pro Bono Design." Future posts will range from specific pro bono design project profiles to developments in the growing pro bono design movement. Two brief disclosures are probably in order: first that I am the executive director of a nonprofit (Public Architecture ) on whose board Aaron...
Read MoreProfessionalizing Pro Bono Consulting
Like early corporate philanthropy, pro bono services offered by the leading consulting firms often appear to be more opportunistic than strategic. They are driven by requests and partner interests. As a result, it is hard to evaluate their collective impact or to tell a compelling story about the pro bono work being done across the country. In the last 10...
Read MoreCECP Expands Pro Bono Measurement
At the Pro Bono Summit last week, the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP) announced that it is investing in the measurement of pro bono work. CECP does one of the largest annual surveys of corporate philanthropy with the intent to benchmark success and identify trends in the field. Their 170 company members complete the survey each year. In the past,...
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