PRO BONO ADVENTURES OF ARMIN: WEEK 11

This week was a lot fun just working at Taproot. One of Taproot’s core values is playful professionalism. Even while focusing on the mission to lead, mobilize and engage professionals in pro bono service that drives social change – you can also have a lot fun. This week’s highlight was the Night of Networking and Nonprofits hosted at Taproot’s NYC office. The event was set up to gather pro bono consultants that have completed or are on pro bono projects from around NYC, and recognize their donation of time and talent. Some I talked would point out that, for them, doing pro bono is about making a change. Another would tell me that she just wanted to escape her daily work routine. I was most astonished to hear that veteran pro bono consultant Mareen, a Marketing and Strategy professional, has already provided more than 1100 hours of service to nonprofit organizations through Taproot’s Service Grant Program.

Back at work the next day, I came across a figure from the Giving in Numbers 2011 Report that I found striking. Professional service firms provide 17% of their non-cash giving is pro bono service, whereas for manufacturing companies, only 2% represents pro bono. This validates the assumption that pro bono is far more likely to gain traction in countries that have a well-developed service economy.

Learn more about what Taproot stands for and their playful professionalism value.

Armin Pialek is the first Fellow in a pilot joint venture between Taproot and the BMW Foundation. He is working to first bring pro bono to Germany, and then to replicate the model to engage Fellows to develop pro bono with Taproot and the BMW Foundation around the globe.