In my second post, I'll suggest some ways to engage in hybrid law and business pro bono consulting that can be more effective than either on on its own.
The main deliverable of my Entrepreneurial Law Clinic at the University of Washington in Seattle is a "legal and business audit." This mimics the kind of "due diligence" investigation and analysis that a prospective investor, lender, or acquirer would undertake before deciding whether to invest in, lend to, or acquire the company. But in ELC's case, it is done for the entrepreneur's eyes only.
The value is that we work across the entrepreneur's total business vision and value proposition. With the experience of our pro bono supervising attorneys and business consultants, we can help the entrepreneur think about issues that may not have occurred to them yet. We can also help vet the value proposition--or even spur the entrepreneur on to unearth the value proposition that may currently be hidden in their business vision and marketing. All of this is equally applicable to the nonprofits we serve. In fact, sometimes nonprofit founders don't think about themselves as being "in business" or needing a "value proposition." But because funds and goods or services are in play, they really are running a kind of business.
But to think comprehensively about a profit/nonprofit enterprise, one has to be able to see how legal and business decisions affect each other. Neither should be done in isolation from the other. In the ELC we encourage students to "cross train" even while primarily developing one skill set. JD/MBA students are in the best position to do this. But all students can do it to different degrees. At the very least, persons specializing in one piece of the law-business consulting space should have a working understanding of the other pieces. All professionals should strive to meet their counterparts "halfway" by minimizing their own jargon and attempting to understand that of the others.
A coupe of examples to get you started:
Choice of entity decisions. Corporations, limited liability company, partnership, or nonprofit organization? Today's Gen X and Gen Y entrepreneurs are thinking about ways to do good and do well. Basically, whatever will solve a pressing problem they are focused on. They are not wed to preconceived notions of what is "charitable" and what is "for profit." So, professionals helping them can best do so by: 1) being open minded; 2) taking the time to truly understand both the problem the entrepreneur is trying to solve and the solution she is proposing; and 3) understand how the legal structure and law behind each entity type will make it better or worse suited to advancing the entrepreneur's solution; and 4) work with the entrepreneur to understand their compensation needs and expectations.
Building and
protecting the brand. The enterprise's brand is bigger than just its name
and logos. It's a whole story about the venture that positions it in the market
and communicates its vision, values, and mission. Nonprofits need a brand and
story just as much as do for-profit ventures. At the same time, protecting the
brand can be tricky. Trademark law generally only covers the name, logos, and
other specific symbols used as trademarks by a firm. Copyright can cover longer
written materials. Design patents could be used for purely ornamental features
of manufactured products (if any). But legal protection for the "look and feel"
of a website, or other intangible aspects of the brand, is less certain.
Therefore, it is paramount for lawyers to understand the breadth and value of
the full brand (and brand story) and for marketing and branding consultants to
understand how and where the brand can be legally protected. Working together,
they can build the strongest possible brand that is also well protected, so
that all the hard work will not simply be taken by someone else.
That's it for now. As always, comments are welcome.
Sean M. O'Connor is a Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Entrepreneurial Law Clinic at the University of Washington. As the creator of the Entrepreneurial Law Clinic, he is a leader in university pro bono service.
On Monday, June 28th Catchafire, a new nonprofit, is launching in New York City. Catchafire is looking to kick off $300k in marketing projects for 50 nonprofits.
We are excited to welcome Catchafire to New York City and to the field of pro bono service. There is so much need in New York City, and across the country, for pro bono marketing services.
At Taproot, we are overwhelmed by requests for marketing services in New York City, and it will be great to know that there is another resources for these great organizations.
Catchafire is hosting a launch party on June 28th. If you are in town, please join them, and help celebrate this win for the New York City community.
Catchafire Launch Party
When: Monday, June 28th, 7:30pm-10pm
Where: The Puck Building, 295 Lafayette St, 2nd Floor
If you were to see a John Hancock look-alike, a headband-sporting marathon runner, and a hard hat- rocking contractor at a cocktail reception for business professionals in New York City, you might think that some audacious party-crashers had somehow breached security. If you guessed that this eclectic mix of people were actually at Taproot's "Celebrating Pro Bono: An Evening of Revelry" reception, you'd win a prize.
Atop the Hudson Hotel overlooking the Manhattan skyline, over
sixty corporate leaders and corporate social responsibility
professionals gathered on June 1st to celebrate corporate pro bono
engagement and the social impact it's had on the nation's communities.
These corporate leaders represented a broad array of industries - from
professional services firms to consumer products - and the cross-sector
conversations that marked the evening represented a significant
milestone for the pro bono movement. The reception's attendees shared
successes and strategic questions regarding pro bono, celebrated the
impact of their pro bono programming, and crafted visions of new
possibilities for pro bono and partnership driven social impact.
Still wondering how John Hancock and company slipped past security? The evening boasted eight actors mingling with the crowd in costumes representing each of the eight defined pro bono program models. The actors distributed faux-Polaroid pictures to the crowd, which depicted each of these respective pro bono program types-
Marathon: A company pools human capital resources on a pro bono project within a short, predetermined time frame (typically an intensive 24 hours) to delver a mass volume of deliverables.
Signature Issues: The combination of formal pro bono work with additional corporate assets for the purpose of leveraging significant internal resources against a specific social issues.
Loaned Employee: An employee is granted a sanctioned and compensated leave of absence to pursue a pro bono project.
Functional Coaching & Mentoring: Employees match up with their nonprofit peers, form a relationship, and share functional expertise.
Standardized Team Projects: Individuals are placed on teams, each with specific roles and responsibilities. Each project is scoped and structured around a standard deliverable based on the needs of the nonprofit partners.
Open-Ended Outsourcing: A company makes its services available to a specific number of nonprofit organizations on an ongoing, as needed basis.
Sector-Wide Solutions: A company creates deliverable pro bono that can be applicable to all nonprofits across the sector.
General Contracting: An entity coordinates and oversees internal and external resources, promoting cross-sector collaboration to address a specific special problem.
The models coupled with relevant and salient comments by the evening's hosts, Deloitte, Capital One and Taproot, spurred conversation among the guests about varying forms of pro bono and the suitability and adaptability of each one of the specific corporate settings.
"Celebrating the pro bono movement at our 'Evening of Revelry' was
an incredible experience. It was exciting to see hte variety of
corporate and professional services firms represented," said Jamie
Hartman, Vice President of External Affairs at the Taproot Foundation.
"Only two years ago, a celebration of corporate pro bono would have
been premature, with many corporations just beginning to understand
what pro bono meant for non-lawyers. Since then, the conversation of
pro bono in the corporate sector has shifted to focus on how more pro
bono can be done and done better - an indicator of the vitality and
momentum of the movement. I'm excited to see what the next couple of
years will bring us in pro bono innovation."
If John Hanock and a marathoner can model current pro bono programs
today, it's exciting to imagine the characters that will people the
next celebration representing new forms of pro bono driven social
impact. What sorts of "party-crashers" do you imagine will join the
ranks in the coming years?
Taproot Foundation's "Celebrating Pro
Bono: An Evening of Revelry" was made possible by Visionary Sponsors
Capital One and Deloitte, Catalyst Sponsor Booz Allen Hamilton, and
Trailblazer Sponsors Merck, Allstate, and FD.
Justin Gimotea is a Corporate Relations Fellow at the Taproot Foundation.
A short while ago, we launched a set of features on our intranet aimed at creating a more connected community of pro bono consultants. You can read a bit more in this blog post from last month.
Since then we have seen a flurry, albeit a small one, of discussion. It's been so exciting to see our pro bono consultants interacting with each other that we decided to spotlight a couple of our favorite posters.
Note: Our online community is currently open only to our screened and registered pro bono consultants. If that's you, join in! Lend your expertise!
Skip Winitsky - Taproot Foundation Account Director in New York
(This is how Skip appears to us, because we don't have his photo. Make sure you upload yours here!)
Skip is a marketing consultant specializing in branding, messaging, and digital media strategies. He has completed two projects as an Account Director and currently has two more under way.
Skip posted a question about meeting in-person as opposed to virtually and got 20 thoughtful responses including:
"Meeting in person: Working as a project manager for Taproot, I preferred to have the initial team (Taproot team only) meeting in person. I found that this was a better way to get to know the team members, have them get to know me and exchange ideas..."
"We have weekly check-in calls and once the project meat starts, we meet about every 3 weeks or as needed. Virtual is good for discussions, but when it comes to the content of a project, it's much better to meet in person, because then you have an instant connection to what you are talking about and looking at."
Skip also asked another question about staffing project teams. It gets right to the heart of his role as an Account Director. We are thrilled to see so much discussion about such an important part of the Service Grant process. Below is one great answer:
"My approach to staffing is simple. I focus on the team, experience and passion.
First, I determine what skills will create the most effective and well-rounded group of individuals. This will ensure that there aren't major gaps in skills. Don't forget to assess yourself!
Second, I make certain the volunteers I contact complement each other by selecting a range of industries, work experience, and Taproot status (veteran vs novice).
Finally, when I talk to them I seek their passion! Does this project align with one of their interests/passion points? Would the role be a challenge to help them fill a career gap? Why do they want to help?"
This discussion is still open, so please weigh in!
Skip doesn't just ask questions. He answers them too, addressing topics such as keeping teams on track and modifying the Discovery process in projects.
Why does Skip post questions and answer? "It helps the movement and it helps others do better work."
Gail Koff, Future Taproot Foundation Account Director in the Bay Area
Gail is retired and enjoying her travels around the world. In her professional life, she owned an HR consulting business for 23 years. She is eager to lead one of Taproot Foundation's HR projects, but so far been unable because of her travel schedule. By posting questions, comments and suggestions, she is able to contribute to Taproot without being staffed on a project.
In preparation for her first project with Taproot, she posted a question about creating a sense of urgency on projects. She got some great responses. Among others, we love this one:
"I think it always helps to engage people on a one-on-one basis. Help them [the members of the nonprofit you are working with] feel that this is 'their' project, and that they are experts in the nonprofit field, and we are the tools they can use to communicate their expertise. We can make them look good! And if that fails, I have tried homemade chocolate chip cookies."
Gail has also used her extensive experience as a consultant to weigh in on questions others have posed. "I felt I could add value because of my experience working in the public sector and answering questions has allowed me to stay engaged with Taproot."
Gail and Skip represent very different perspectives on participating in our online community, but the result is still the same: they are engaging with their peers in a way that will benefit their projects, Taproot Foundation clients, and the pro bono movement.
Natalya "Natasha" Matusova is a Product Development Fellow at the Taproot Foundation.
Every year we see hundreds of projects done for nonprofits by our pro bono consultants through our Service Grant Program. When you review the deliverables, regardless of the type of project, there are clearly projects that are manufactured and those that are inspired.
The manufactured work meets the client's objectives but lacks that leap of creativity and insight to exceed expectations. It does the right analysis and the process is solid, it just misses the transformational wow.
Having talked to folks from a range of paid professional services firms, even the top firms find this kind of transformational work the expectations and not the norm.
What has emerged is that inspiration typically comes from an unexpected experience. There is an interaction with a client or a client's client that sparks a new idea or insight. It wasn't what the team was looking for, but it suddenly makes everything click.
The trick then for a consultancy is to manufacture unexpected experiences for your consultants to increase the odds of insights forming. On the flip side, it requires the client to think about how to expose a third party to an environment and set of stake holders that doesn't produce expected experiences.
Aaron Hurst is the President and Founder of Taproot Foundation.
