Pro Bono Week 2018: Leaders for the Future

By Lindsay Firestone Gruber, Taproots President & CEO

When Taproot was founded in 2001, we knew our mission to drive social change through pro bono service didn’t have to start from scratch. The legal profession in particular served as an example of the potential that can be realized when you engrain an ethic of service into an industry and build programs and resources so nonprofits can leverage it. But outside of the legal profession, that type of access to pro bono services for the nonprofit sector was still rare.

Taproot believed then, as we do now, that we must commit to building and leading the pro bono movement in order to achieve our mission. Ten years ago we took that commitment all the way to the White House. Six years ago we expanded the adoption of the American Bar Association’s national Pro Bono Week across industries, and soon after across the globe, through the Global Pro Bono Network. This year, organizations on four continents will be putting a spotlight on this empowering movement.

Pro Bono Week is an incredible opportunity to see the ever-growing pro bono movement in action and to celebrate the advancement of the movement at large. This year, Taproot is building the field through a focus on pro bono as a resource for developing the nonprofit and corporate leaders we need for the future.

JOIN IN THE MOVEMENT

• Volunteer Webinar (Tuesday, October 23): Drive social change with what you do best. Explore how volunteers can donate their time and expertise to nonprofits through Taproot+, our on-demand matchmaking platform.
  Register here
   
• Nonprofit Webinar (Thursday, October 25): How to design a great pro bono project. This webinar will give nonprofits all the tools you need to get started on Taproot+, our on-demand platform that connects nonprofits with skilled volunteers.
  Register here

BUILD THE MOVEMENT AT YOUR COMPANY

• Pro Bono can help companies meet key HR objectives. Pro Bono as a People Strategy, Taproot’s new resource, will uncover how practitioners can align their pro bono efforts with their company’s HR strategy to create shared value across the company.
  Stay tuned – releasing tomorrow!

BUILD THE MOVEMENT AT YOUR NONPROFIT

• Nonprofits often view pro bono as a way to build organizational capacity, but it can do so much more. In this article, written in collaboration with Team4Tech, we encourage nonprofits to see the leadership development opportunities inherent within pro bono support.
  Find the article on Conference Board.

BE INSPIRED

• Get inspired by our People of Pro Bono Series highlighting the nonprofits and volunteers that make up the pro bono movement. New stories released all week long.
  Find the stories here.
   
• Follow along on social media using the hashtag #PBW18!

If you’re not already part of the pro bono movement, there’s no better time to join than today. How will you get involved?

About Pro Bono Week
Pro Bono Week (#PBW18) is a global campaign that celebrates and activates pro bono service across all professions that use their talents to make a difference. Inspired by the American Bar Association’s National Celebration of Pro Bono, Taproot works with partners around the globe to focus attention on the pro bono movement each year in October.

About Pro Bono Service
Pro bono–short for pro bono publico, “for the public good”—refers to professional services delivered without expectation of a fee to organizations serving the social good. It is both a form of support for community organizations as well as an increasingly core part of the ethic of business professionals from design to HR and technology, who believe that high-quality professional services are too important to only be available to those who can afford them.

About Taproot Foundation
Taproot Foundation, a U.S. based nonprofit, connects nonprofits and social change organizations with passionate, skilled volunteers who share their expertise pro bono. Taproot is creating a world where organizations dedicated to social change have full access—through pro bono service—to the marketing, strategy, HR, and IT resources they need to be most effective. Since 2001, Taproot’s skilled volunteers have served 6,450 social change organizations providing 1.6 million hours of work worth over $180 million in value. Taproot, a national organization, has offices in New York City, San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Chicago and is leading a network of global pro bono providers in over 30 countries around the world. www.taprootfoundation.org @taprootfound