People of Pro Bono: Dr. Ronald McIntire, Coins for Change

Coins for Change envisions a world in which every Maasai child has the freedom to create a better future for themselves. As the Chairperson of the Board, Dr. Ronald McIntire never fails to find inspiration in the life-changing work his organization is doing, but knows that the road to changing the world can be a long one. Marketing support through Taproot is bringing them a few steps closer.

Breaking the cycle

Coins for Change‘s mission is to save lives, one Maasai girl at a time, from child marriage and female genital mutilation by providing the children with sponsored education, safe places in their community, and the opportunity to succeed regardless of their gender. We work directly with the sole female Maasai chief in Kenya and a network of local volunteers to carry out immediate and sustainable solutions, as well as to address underlying causes of this issue and what we do together to break the vicious cycle of gender violence. The photos, letters, and school report cards showing off the girls’ latest successes let us know the huge impact our organization is making.

Finding the right fit

Our experience with pro bono support through Taproot Plus was excellent. We are a small foundation and completely consist of volunteer staff. Most of us were born in the days before Google and so we required major assistance in updating our website and updating our social media presence. Initially, it was challenging to find the right candidate out of the pool of volunteer applicants. Nonprofits, you may have several people who want to donate their time and talents for your organization pro bono, but it is so important to be careful to properly screen volunteers to find the right fit for achieving your goals.

By being selective, Coins for Change ended up with a talented volunteer who gave our project her all. Not only was she able to develop a professional website for us, but she provided valuable ideas for our organization moving forward. I’d encourage others using skilled volunteers to keep in touch with your volunteer even after the project wraps. Our volunteer became such an important part of our organization during her time with us: she is now sponsoring one of our girls in Kenya!

Growing in unexpected ways

We’re grateful that we were able to connect to the professional resources we needed in order to redo our website and implement a social media strategy to increase our reach and drive awareness of our efforts. Through pro bono, we not only accomplished our goal of developing our online presence, but we also ended up finding a person who is now a valued member of our organization. Coins for Change is made up purely of volunteers passionate about helping Maasai women, so we’re thankful to Taproot for helping us expand our community.

Ready to begin your own pro bono story? Chapter one starts by clicking here.