NYC Service Event, 9/22/11

“I Make it Matter By…”

Taproot’s New York office is still basking in the glow of a very successful event last Thursday evening. Nonprofit staff members and pro bono consultants who served on 54 service grants sponsored under the NYC Service Initiative (funded by The Mayor’s Office, New York Community Trust and a handful of other foundations) were invited to the office for an evening in celebration of service.

With 80-90 guests in attendance, the full range of participants in the service grant process were represented; including nonprofit team members, PBCs, funders and board members, and with a robust presence from Account Directors and other more senior PBCs. All clearly enjoyed the opportunity to network with one another.
With pro bono food and drink in hand, guests were invited to stop by one of three “activity rooms”:

• The “I Make it Matter By…” Room invited guests to complete the statement by jotting their answer on a post-it and placing it on the conference window wall.
• The “Taproot Title” Room asked guests to give themselves a creative title describing their participation with Taproot & then have their picture taken posing with a white board celebrating their moniker.
• The “Taproot Museum” was decorated with books, streaming videos, information, legos, Mr. Potato Head and many more bits of information capturing our work.

A twenty minute program took place midway through the evening with four core components:

• Taproot’s vision and work were introduced, with a thank-you to nonprofits & PBCs and a description of the NYC Service Initiative and its impact on New York city ($2.7 million dollars in consulting value!).
• One SG project was featured with the Executive Director and Account Director sharing their experience, culminating in the “big reveal” of their final brochure.
• Everyone enjoyed a keynote address from Diahann Billings-Burford, Chief Service Officer of the City of New York, who celebrated the outcomes of the Initiative & thanked those New Yorkers who made the success possible.
• Pat Swann, Senior Program Officer of the New York Community Trust, placed her imprimatur on the Initiative & offered a toast.

An NYC service community

Thereafter, the reception continued with the last guest leaving 4 hours after the evening started – by then even the housekeeper was dancing to Alicia Keys’ “Empire State of Mind.” Overall, the success and impact of the evening was apparent as it allowed staff, nonprofits, PBCs, clients and more a chance to connect, share their stories and tighten relationships. The New York office showed that they “get the city of New York” and a sense of a Taproot community was felt by all. We thank all who attended and made this event possible, and look forward to many more in the future! Find pictures of the event on our Facebook page.

Join the New York pro bono community by checking out upcoming Taproot events in the area.