Taproot Foundation launches revamped pro bono platform

• Date: 01 October 2019
• Published date: 01 October 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nba.30662

OCTOBER 2019 NONPROFIT BUSINESS ADVISOR

5

© 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company • All rights reserved

DOI: 10.1002/nba

Pro Bono

Taproot Foundation launches revamped

pro bono platform

Companies looking for an easy and effective way

to identify and coordinate pro bono service opportu-

nities for their skilled employees have a new and im-

proved option, courtesy of the Taproot Foundation.

Dubbed Taproot Plus, the new platform—which helps

connect nonprots with pro bono volunteers—comes

with a series of enhancements that make it easier than

ever for charities and corporations to receive and give

pro bono support.

According to Kristin Teti, Taproot’s vice president

of program operations, the basics of the Taproot

platform work like this:

• A company signs up for the corporate mem-

bership model, which includes a co-branded portal

that allows the company’s workers to identify pro

bono service opportunities as well as advertise the

skills and services they can offer charities using the

platform.

• Nonprots submit their own proposed projects

in need of pro bono consulting services, which are

vetted by Taproot and then posted to the site. This

can be one of two types of proposals: a short-term

engagement, or Virtual Ofce Session, where a vol-

unteer will spend an hour or so on the phone consult-

ing with the nonprot and providing skilled insight

into some specic question or challenge the charity

is facing; or a long-term project that requires more

extensive involvement—usually a total of about 30

hours of volunteer work over the course of a couple

of months.

• The platform aids in connecting the two sides,

making introductions and helping the charity explain

its needs and expectations for the project, while also

helping the pro bono volunteers lay out what they

can bring to the table and assess if it’s a good t all

around.

With Taproot Plus, there have been several im-

provements made, many of which were developed

since the platform’s launch in 2014 as Taproot rou-

tinely sought input and feedback from users. Some

of that feedback led to changes along the way, Teti

said, but with the revamp, all of the lessons learned

and improvements made are front and center, and

packaged in a more user-friendly, effective manner.

“We’ve really tried to incorporate what we’ve

learned from users of the site over the last couple

years,” she said. “The redesign really presents a more

complete picture of the platform, what it does and

what’s offered.”

According to Teti, the main improvements to the

platform are as follows:

• A fresh, more user-friendly interface that makes

it easier for nonprots and pro bono volunteers to

connect. A variety of big and small changes to the

website were incorporated to make it more intuitive

and easier to access and navigate. This includes things

like rearranging the buttons and menus, and chang-

ing where certain critical information is placed on

the site, Teti said.

For example, even though Virtual Ofce Sessions

were part of the service offering for a while, many

people couldn’t nd it on the site and didn’t know it

was an option, she said.

• New project management functions, including

ways to track applications to projects and streamline

communications. This includes resources such as tem-

plates that outline the scope of work on the project,

timelines and a critical pathways analysis all meant

to make it easier to implement a project and ensure

that the goals of the project are met.

• A new enhanced dashboard for companies

that enables better measurement of engagement

and impact. According to Teti, Taproot Plus now

allows companies to track just about every metric

(See PRO BONO on page 8)

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