Taproot Foundation

Mission Statement: “The Taproot Foundation strengthens nonprofits by engaging business professionals in service.”

Website: http://www.taprootfoundation.org/

My donation: Free! REJECTED

Taproot runs a limited number of pro-bono projects at a time for selected non-profit organizations in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and a handful of other cities. A Taproot staff member acts as a project manager for each team. Volunteers work in teams of 3 - 6 and primarily complete their service online. Teams hold weekly 30-minute conference calls and meet in person with the client about once per month. Taproot’s projects generally last 6 months and require a time commitment of about 100 hours over that period.

The initial questionnaire took about 10 – 15 minutes to complete online. A wide variety of business skill sets lend themselves well to the types of volunteer positions that Taproot uses on each of their pro-bono projects. Unfortunately, my skill set was not in demand for any of the current projects that are running in the Los Angeles area.

I received a (very polite) email from the Foundation informing me that they, “…could not find a matching pro bono consulting project for [my] experience at this time.”

While I was initially crushed from the harsh rejection (kidding, kidding) I have to admit, I’m breathing a sigh of relief on this one. A 100-hour, 6-month team project sounded frighteningly reminiscent of my MBA GAP project, which we painfully rehashed in a dinner conversation last week. Talk about dodging a bullet!

I guess they can’t all be charities I’m totally excited about, right?