The Pro Bono Ethic Has Taken Root

By Melissa Paulo & Natalya Matusova on March 24, 2010 8:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Several weeks ago, the Taproot Foundation's Pro Bono Action Tank Leadership Council hosted the Bay Area Corporate Pro Bono Workshop at Gap Inc.'s headquarters in San Francisco- the last stop on the Workshop circuit that had included Los Angeles, New York City, Washington, DC, Minneapolis, and Chicago.

The workshop was designed to promote an active dialogue about pro bono service among the 50 Bay Area business leaders who were in attendance. The response was overwhelming. Karen Baker, the Secretary of Service and Volunteering and the State of California, gave an impassioned keynote address, highlighting the pro bono ethic and encouraging business leaders to get their employees engaged and hooked on the movement. The audience was enthusiastic when Jamie Hartman, Executive Director, Pro Bono Action Tank, gave her State of the Pro Bono Union address that highlighted the achievements of pro bono service thus far. Participants remained fully engaged as Carol Gutery, National Director, Pro Bono Action Tank walked through the eight different models of pro bono service delivery and shared resources around designing a strong pro bono program. 

Another highlight of the event was a lunchtime panel that featured representatives from Gap Inc, Deloitte, Salesforce.com, and Operation Access, who spoke about their active pro bono engagement programs, lending their best practices and learnings to their Bay Area peers. Notably, Operation Access is itself a nonprofit and successful recipient of pro bono services. Ben Aune, the CEO of Operation Access, is an advocate for the movement and has launched an impactful pro bono program for Operation Access employees.

Perhaps a sign that the economic tide is turning, the energy in the room was palpable as workshop participants discussed their triumphs and challenges, brainstormed strategies, and identified solutions around pro bono service. The conversation, to our great satisfaction, centered on " how to do pro bono well" rather than "why should we do pro bono." Pro Bono Action Tank's Business Value Flashcards were especially a big hit.

All in all, the formula for a successful corporate pro bono program is simple: identify what a company does best, think about how to apply it to the nonprofit sector, and work with available resources. Whether the goal is to build the capacity of a few local nonprofits or catalyze change in broad issues area, it is possible to build a pro bono program that is as effective and as innovative as the company running it.

Did you attend one of the Workshops? Does your company offer opportunities to do pro bono work? Do you have any tips or questions about how to best engage in pro bono service?


Melissa Paulo is a Western Region Development Fellow at the Taproot Foundation. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley's College of Letters and Science.

Natasha (Natalya) Matusova is the Product Development Fellow at the Taproot Foundation. She is a graduate of Northwestern University's School of Education and Social Policy. 

Kara Hartnett Hurst- Policy for a Sustainable World

By Kate Gazzaniga on February 10, 2010 1:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Corporate social responsibility plays an important role in the pro bono movement. To discuss CSR and pro bono, here's an interview with Kara Hartnett Hurst.


Kara Hartnett Hurst is the East Coast Managing Director BSR, a leading corporate responsibility organization with a global network of over 250 member companies. Kara specializes in facilitation of collaborative industry efforts, stakeholder engagement, corporate transparency, responsible supply chain management, and strategic CSR policy setting. She is also a founding member of the groundbreaking Electronic Industry Citizen Coalition.

Let's start you off with a softball to ease you in to this interview- who is the best looking guy in the field of pro bono service?

Oh- let me think about that one (laughs). Yeah- it'd have to be my husband [Taproot President, Founder, and Esteemed Interview-Question-Writer Aaron Hurst]. Shocking (laughs).  

You co-authored the children's book "Mommy and Daddy Do It Pro Bono" with your husband this year- how did that come about?

As parents there really wasn't a way to talk to our kids about what we do. We're not in professions that are really straight forward like doctors or lawyers or something that you can kind of point to- firemen or ballerinas. With both of our jobs and the fields that we're in, things can tend to get a little bit dry and serious.  I spend a lot of my time talking about the doomsday scenario around the environment, human rights, labor violations, and corporate misdoings- and I think with volunteering and pro bono it can be the same. Combining all of our interests as parents as well as career-wise, it really pointed towards a kids' book.  We also don't have any time in our lives (laughs)- so the shorter the better!

When you were a kid, did you want CSR guru when you grew up? You mentioned not being a ballerina, but what did you want to be?

(Laughs.) You know, I always thought I would be a senator. The first job I had in college, I worked for Senator Moynihan in the Chrysler Building here in New York, and I loved it, but I also saw how much of that job was about fundraising and how much of that job didn't actually entail the substantive policy work that I was interested in. That started my- disillusionment (laughs) with politics. I tried a couple of different positions and decided to work more directly in policy.

A lot of people talk about CSR, volunteering, corporate philanthropy, and pro bono interchangeably- what do you see as the difference?

The most simplistic way that I can put it is that with CSR, it's not about what you do with the money that you make- it's about how you make the money in the first place.  I'm less interested in how a corporation is spending money in a community- I expect them to do that; that's great; it's definitely something we need. I'm interested in how they made that money. If they made all of the money they're giving away by mistreating their workers, sourcing irresponsibly, and creating products we don't need, that is the core issue. It's not just about giving to organizations that work in the community.

What are some examples of breakthroughs that you've seen in the field of CSR?

One of the big breakthroughs for companies- and I see this in a number of different corporations across the industries that we work in- is conceptualizing corporate social responsibility not just as something that they must do but as something that really can bring a tremendous amount of value to the business. You can create a better bottom line by operating responsibly. Operating responsibly can bring new thinking; it can bring new perspectives. It's not just about saying, 'ok we're doing what we want to do, and nobody's going to campaign against us'- it's also about bringing in innovation.

You have started on a number of innovative industry collaborations. Why were these competitors willing to collaborate in this setting and around these issues?

The do it because they're much better going at it together than they are alone. One example of collaboration is the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition. That group now is a group of 43 electronics companies and electronics supply chains that have addressed environmental and labor issues together. No one company is going to solve human rights issues in the electronics supply chain alone no matter how good their code of conduct is, how good their auditing is, how good their supplier relationship is- the issues are just too big.

Companies understand that even though they may compete against each other in the marketplace, these issues are about leveling the playing field for workers, for communities- they're about bettering practice overall within a supply chain where there are multiple companies working with the same suppliers.

How has the field of CSR change in the last ten years since you got in the game?

There's been a big change in terms of the level of integration we see. In the last economic downturn we've been experiencing, people always ask me- have companies been cutting their CSR programs? What we've seen is that in companies that really understand CSR and do it well, there's not a whole function you can just lop off. It would be like me saying they have to cut their sales function or their HR.  Operating responsibly is good for business and we've definitely seen greater levels of integration.

So, where is the field of CSR going in the next 10 years?

I think one key is companies understanding more about aligning their public policy positions with their citizenship agendas- those two things can't remain as disconnected as they have been. Another issue is around board governance- aligning sustainability with board governance, getting boards to ask better questions about company operations. Another is integration of CSR with enterprise risk management- companies looking across the whole organization in terms of how they manage risk, looking to be more global and anticipatory and incorporating sustainability issues into risk management.

Where do you see pro bono service fitting in with CSR?

Well I think the idea that companies are getting smarter about how they run, smarter about how they incorporate CSR into their operations, really translates to how companies are approaching pro bono and volunteering. People have their own agendas; they have lives outside of their work places, however there's a tremendous need to recognize our professional skills and understand the value those skills might have in the nonprofit sector. Nonprofits also need professional level skills, and they're incredibly hard to access. I think that realization is becoming a lot more main-stream.

A lot of business professionals are seeking to get into CSR- what are a few things all professionals can do to be CSR change agents?

Start small- start within the company you're at and connect to the larger conversation. Start looking what changes you can make; be a maverick internally; advocate for change. Look to what other businesses are doing and think about how you company can do things differently- where can you innovate to lessen your environmental footprint? Where can the policies you advocate for align with corporate citizenship? There's a lot of information out there and a lot of people who have great ideas, so I would just say get involved.