Lessons in the Power of Data for Good and Pro Bono

Andrea Bertels of Nielsen discusses why increasing charitable giving may not be the long-term answer to resolving complex social challenges. Instead, growth in skills-based volunteering and pro bono projects could be key to unlocking new solutions.

Cisco Employees Donate Their Skills and Their Time

Pro Bono is a fancy term for donating your unique skill set — as an engineer, program manager, salesperson, and more — to partner with nonprofit organizations and help take their impact to the next level. It’s an opportunity to sharpen leadership skills while also making a meaningful impact in your community or around the world. Over the past year, employees from Cisco Global Virtual Sales and Customer Success answered the call to “donate your skills, not just your time.”

The Knitting Factor: Tying It All Together in Celebration of Pro Bono Week

Last year we debuted a concept called The Knitting Factor, which helps explain how skills-based volunteering knits together the expertise from the corporate and nonprofit sectors to create sustainable solutions that don’t come undone when partners part ways. We also introduced three key ingredients to the success of The Knitting Factor: Panoramic Perspectives, Skill Sharing and Sticky Relationships. In celebration of Pro Bono Week, we wanted to share a quick review of how the Knitting Factor has worked in practice over the past year.

Learning From Real-life Examples: Collaborating to Design a Boys & Girls Club Playbook

Last week, we partnered with Stanford Social Innovation Review, Charles Schwab and Boys & Girls Club of America to host a webinar around creating long-term sustainable partnerships, or what we refer to as sticky relationships. As a follow up to our webinar, our Senior Consultant, Season Eckardt sat down to reflect on the role she played to deepen the impact of this partnership and help Boys & Girls Club chapters across the US operationalize a common strategic vision.

The Multiplier Effect

The term “capacity-building” tends to be thrown around quite a bit in the nonprofit sector. And as jargon, it has the unfortunate fate of being pretty obscure outside of our sector—not to mention losing its meaning when overused within the field. But at the heart of it, nonprofit capacity-building is one of the most exciting and inspirational ways to support an issue. Quite simply, it’s about achieving a multiplier effect—creating more change in the world by helping to strengthen the organizations that are tackling society’s greatest challenges. At Taproot, we are driven by a strong belief in the exponential impact that can come from supporting nonprofits in this way.

Pro Bono Perspectives Podcast: Episode 6 - Rachel Hutchisson, Blackbaud

We are thrilled to welcome Rachel Hutchisson, Vice President of Corporate Citizenship and Philanthropy at Blackbaud to Pro Bono Perspectives. In her day to day role, Rachel is responsible for global corporate social responsibility, leading the company’s 3,300 associates in efforts to serve and give professionally and personally. She is committed to the core philosophy that “good is for everyone,” championing positive change and inspiring individuals to integrate service into their development.

The Nonprofit Opportunity

What motivates nonprofits and volunteers to engage in skills-based volunteering? Nonprofits use skills-based volunteering to strengthen their infrastructure in ways that better equip them to solve our communities’ challenges. Many volunteers give their skills to help solve a challenge for an organization addressing an issue they care about or to feel connected to the community. In this SNCR 2020 article, Taproot Foundation and Team4Tech partnered to further the social sector’s understanding of the leadership development benefits of skills-based volunteering—focusing exclusively on the nonprofit’s outcomes of such initiatives.

The Global Engagement Forum: Live Convenes Leaders for Cross-Sector Collaboration

Last week, the 2018 Global Engagement Forum: Live convened leaders and experts from business, government, and nonprofit organizations to collaborate around solving specific problems within the context of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Hosted by PYXERA Global, the Forum convened over 300 leaders, experts, and stakeholders in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.

3 Trends Shaping Today's Top CSR Programs

eBook: The top three CSR trends that are changing the way companies engage their people in purpose-driven workplace cultures. Actionable tips you can use to engage more people and create bigger impact along with examples from companies such as Levi’s, Prudential, QVC, TripAdvisor and more who are leading the way.


VIDEO | Barclays Citizenship Awards: Sabrina Boanu-Williams Works with the Thameside Prison Initiative

Through her work with the Thameside Prison Initiative, Sabrina is successfully helping prisoners gain the skills they need to find meaningful employment after release.

Latest Campaigns

  1. Antea Group Brand
    Antea Group Brand Content
  2. Planet: Packaging and Products with a Purpose
    Beyond HARMAN’s organizational carbon footprint, we understand that product design and development choices also have environmental impacts. We are...
  3. Innovation & Sustainable Solutions
    Chemours chemistry is essential to our daily lives, global commerce, and the future. Our commitment to product sustainability drives us to innovate...
  4. GoDaddy | Customers
    GoDaddy is the world’s largest services platform for entrepreneurs around the globe. We’re on a mission to empower our worldwide community of 20+...
  5. Sustainability
    Leading the logistics sector towards a more sustainable future by investing in innovative green technologies, enhancing operational efficiency, and...
  6. AEG Celebrates Diversity and Inclusion
    AEG embraces the diversity of the communities where we do business and appreciates our differences in ethnicity, gender, gender identity, age...
  7. Business Strategy and Operations
    Keysight’s strategy is to accelerate innovation to connect and secure the world, supported by our Keysight Leadership Model (KLM) and corporate value...
  8. Leading ESG & Sustainability Stewardship
    The new CNH continues on its longstanding path of excellence in sustainability, which is recognized by the foremost authorities.
  9. Antea Group Brand
    Antea Group Brand Content
  10. KeyBank's Commitment to Diversity
    Promoting inclusive environments by employing systemic changes to improve the access of individuals of diverse backgrounds. Learn more about our...