I’ve recently begun work on my first Taproot Foundation volunteer project–in this case, working with a team of other professionals to conceive, design, write, and develop a website for the Urban Community Center of East New York.

This is certainly the most unique volunteer experience I’ve ever had. In the past, my volunteer work usually consisted of manual labor or just giving money. I did build a website once, a long time ago, for the Housing Works bookstore–but the project was my idea and I worked alone, with little client input; the site was a “success” by only the broadest definition (i.e., it existed where before there was nothing).

Taproot is one of those experiences that recalibrates your expectations of and enthusiasm for what a volunteer organization can offer. For one thing, they bring a level of corporate professionalism to the volunteer process, so that team meetings are more like the meetings you’d have with coworkers on a project, only more effective because everyone is bringing his or her A-game. And the process by which Taproot awards projects to clients ensures that the client understands and responds to the inherent value of our work, which means everyone on both sides of the project is engaged and sharing the same goal.

The other, more conceptual appeal of Taproot is its basic assumption that the non-profit world can benefit from the skills and experience of corporate America as much as volunteers benefit in traditional ways from volunteering. Sustainability and growth are difficult challenges for any organization, both for-profit and non. Not to get too buzzwordy, but I think Taproot succeeds in creating a mechanism whereby the best practices we develop and refine in our pay jobs get transferred over, at least in a small way, to deserving non-profits.

Which is all just a way to say: Taproot rocks! It’s reawakened my enthusiasm for volunteer work, something I thought had died out several years ago.