Words from Founder & President
One of the great things about starting your own organization is that you get to build the culture based on your values and build a team of stars—who we call Roots—that are all dedicated to achieving a shared goal.
Someone once described us as “Off Broadway,” and I think that works. We’re a serious production, but we don’t take ourselves too seriously.
Our Roots are pushed to realize their individual potential. Taproot is a quickly growing organization and we need Roots that can grow with us. We set stretch goals. We help everyone on our team identify and maximize their strengths. All Roots receive 360 degree reviews each year to help them develop and learn. High performance is contagious.
That is probably what I enjoy most about working at Taproot. We all push ourselves and set the bar high. It brings out the best in everyone and enables us to maximize our impact in the community.
Someone once shared with me, “If you work FOR the weekend, your s*%t is broke.” I agree. If you bring your values and personality to the office, work with great people and are doing work that matters, your life and your career are not things to balance but are rather deeply interconnected.
There are certain core values that I have made a point of formally celebrating at Taproot. We close the office on Election Day to stress the importance of civic engagement and democracy. We honor civil rights, and in addition to MLK Jr. Day we close the office for Matt O’Grady Day, commemorating the marriage of long-term Root Matt O’Grady to his partner in 2008. The anniversary of every Root is also marked by giving them the day off showing our appreciation for their involvement in our shared success.
We also value the diversity of backgrounds and interests of our Roots and give the team three days a year to create their own holidays. For some people, they use these days for traditional holidays like President’s Day and others use them for their birthday or culturally meaningful days like Chinese New Year, Rosh Hashanah or Cinco de Mayo.
Nonprofits and the communities they serve are our clients. We work to serve them, and our success is gauged by their success. We intentionally build our entire team—from Board members to Roots experiencing their first job out of college—to keep the nonprofits' needs front and center.
Aaron Hurst
Founder & President
