As a young professional thinking about skilled volunteering, it’s easy to downplay your own abilities. Especially for women, queer people, and people of color, imposter syndrome can make your question your abilities, and even your worth. You may ask yourself, Do I really know enough to help a nonprofit? Spoiler alert: the answer is yes, you do! For inspiration on starting your skilled volunteering journey, get to know Kaitlyn Cole, a marketing agency founder using her skills—and building new ones—by giving back.
In 2024, Kaitlyn transitioned her agency, Reasonate Studio, from freelance to full-time. She was eager to try out new approaches that her regular clients hadn’t needed yet and fill some of the downtime in between her busy season. Kaitlyn decided to take on a few pro bono projects and discovered skilled volunteering with Taproot.
A Learning Mindset
Meet Kaitlyn Cole, a marketing agency founder and skilled volunteer
Kaitlyn is a go-getter with infectious energy. She is thoughtful about where she wants to go and intentional about creating a plan to get there. This includes her own professional skills, which Kaitlyn was able to grow through pro bono service. She explained, “I started as a volunteer with Taproot to keep my skills sharp and practice new ones.”
Kaitlyn shared that when selecting pro bono opportunities, she focuses on projects that allow her to grow as a professional. “I always lead with the skills that are my tried and true, but I also look for projects that can help me develop in other areas, too,” she said.
This learning mindset creates a mutually beneficial partnership where both the nonprofit and Kaitlyn benefit. “You have the space to try new workflows that you wouldn’t have the opportunity to do otherwise.” Without the pressure of billable hours, Kaitlyn was free to experiment with her own processes and flex new creative and professional muscles.
I always lead with the skills that are my tried and true, but I also look for projects that can help me develop in other areas, too.
Choosing Projects That Resonate
Kaitlyn is also intentional about the organizations she partners with, selecting nonprofits that resonate with her personally and professionally. “I knew going in that I wanted to work with organizations serving communities who looked like me, and it was important to me to choose ones led by women and people of color.”
Kaitlyn’s first Taproot project was with Women’s Coaching Alliance (WCA), a nonprofit that helps young women develop leadership skills through coaching youth sports. The organization was planning a panel discussion to demonstrate connections between managing successful sports teams and building successful workplace teams. They were struggling with how to message the event, however, and created a Taproot Plus project to get marketing help to attract a wider audience.
Kaitlyn shared some of the materials she created for Women’s Coaching Alliance on a Taproot webinar
Kaitlyn worked with WCA to fine tune event communications that would resonate beyond the organization’s main supporters. She created promotional posts for LinkedIn and Instagram, as well as a digital flyer that was shared via email. She heard from staff after the event that they’d had more responses than ever before and that the panel was a big success.
“We really valued Kaitlyn’s contributions and organization during her project,” said Women’s Coaching Alliance founder Pam Baker. “Her ideas definitely helped us capture a broader audience.”
In addition to utilizing her skills, the WCA project gave Kaitlyn an up-close view of the organization’s programs and how it functioned. “I was able to really learn about the organization in a way that I wouldn’t have from a more traditional volunteer opportunity. It was exciting to dive into their mission and work with the WCA leadership.”
Choosing Projects That Resonate
On another pro bono project, Kaitlyn partnered with Chicago’s Hyde Park School of Dance to develop a plan for revamping the organization’s website. “They felt their site wasn’t communicating to prospective dancers as well as it could. I worked with them to reorganize the information, create a new website layout, suggest colors that were more accessible while still being on brand, and work on better flow for text and calls to action.”
“Kaitlyn was a pleasure to work with. She really took the time to understand our organization and used that information to help move us forward,” reflected Tarah Ortiz Durnbaugh, Executive Director at Hyde Park School of Dance. “We are grateful to have worked with her!”
At the end of the project, Kaitlyn presented school leaders with a website branding strategy that was ready to take to a developer to implement a new site. “With the document I created, they could then find a web developer on the Taproot platform to bring these ideas to life.”
Real World Impact
In the projects with both Hyde Park School of Dance and Women’s Coaching Alliance, Kaitlyn was able to help fulfill critical needs and amplify the organizations’ impact. Her marketing savvy welcomed new audiences and offered expertise that these nonprofits likely wouldn’t have had the funds to access otherwise. At the same time, Kaitlyn was also able to grow her own skillsets, knowledge, and experience.
“For me, skilled volunteering is an opportunity to grow as a professional. I have a bookshelf full of books that are all wonderful, but at some point you have to implement what you’re learning in the real world! I really appreciated the opportunity these projects gave me to hone my skills and create true impact.”