Ensuring Nonprofits Get the Help They Need

Dear friends,

The world is changing around us by the minute. While this crisis is posing tremendous challenges, it’s also bringing us together as a community in so many ways despite requiring us to remain apart.

Now is the time for us to support each other. And yet it’s also a time when those who tend to support us the most—the nonprofits and other social good organizations in our communities—are being heavily hit. Here at Taproot we are uniquely positioned, together with you, to help do something about it.

To our nonprofit colleagues – We see you. We’re here for you. And we’re focused on making sure you get the support you need during these challenging times.

• Need to talk through a crisis communication strategy with a marketing expert?
  Navigating uncharted territory supporting personnel and could use HR guidance?
  Go online to schedule a virtual consultation session on Taproot Plus and connect with a subject matter expert for an hour of brainstorming and problem-solving in your area of need.
• Do you have a more substantial need like building out a new financial forecast reflecting the changes you’re experiencing or developing an updated communications strategy for adjusted programming? Post a pro bono project on Taproot Plus to team up with a skilled volunteer.
• We are also converting our upcoming in-person pro bono events to virtual activities so that we can ensure organizations are still getting the support they so critically need. Keep an eye out for those upcoming invitations.

To our skilled volunteers and corporate partners – In this unprecedented time, you and your employees can make a tremendous difference.

The vital services nonprofit organizations provide are in jeopardy. And with the cancellations of their in-person events and programs, nonprofits stand to lose major portions of the funding that enables them to serve our communities. Providing pro bono support in areas like marketing, HR, strategy, IT, and finance will be an essential part of ensuring that the organizations we rely on can continue their work.

• Log into Taproot Plus to connect with organizations who need your expertise. From the ease and safety of your home during this important time of distancing, you can make a critical contribution to important social causes by doing a one-hour virtual consultation session with a nonprofit leader. Or you can take it one step further by volunteering for a virtual pro bono project to help a nonprofit tackle a specific project in your area of expertise. As always, using Taproot Plus is completely free for both nonprofits and volunteers.
• We’re already collaborating with many of our corporate partners to deliver virtual pro bono support to organizations in need. Whether it is converting in-person pro bono programs to a virtual format or helping to rapidly implement new remote programs, it’s crucial that companies’ support of their community partners can continue as uninterrupted as possible during this challenging time, and that new resources can be added. This week we will be rolling out an invitation to an upcoming webinar dedicated to sharing best practices in designing and implementing high-impact virtual pro bono programming, featuring several companies whose programs can be useful examples.

Later today we will be sharing our compiled list of some of the top needs nonprofits are facing right now and how pro bono can help. We hope you can use and share these resources to help organizations in need.

To our community as a whole, we will continue working alongside each and every one of you to lift up your corner of the world—and therefore lift up society—in these difficult times.

Be well,

Lindsay Firestone Gruber
President & CEO
Taproot Foundation