Taproot Foundation Aaron Hurst Fellowship Awarded 2002 
Nonprofits have the greatest potential for addressing our society's most challenging social and environmental problems, but often lack the operational resources to fulfill their potential. The Taproot Foundation exists to close this gap and ensure all nonprofits have the infrastructure they need to thrive.
Aaron Hurst created the Taproot Foundation to engage this country's millions of business professionals in pro bono work building the infrastructure of the nonprofit sector. The Taproot Foundation has become the national leader in pro bono work, serving over 300 nonprofits each year across the country and setting the agenda for the development of the field. Prior to founding the Taproot Foundation, Aaron was a director of product management at iSyndicate, a digital syndication company, and iOwn, an online real estate service. His nonprofit experience includes work at the DePaul Center for Urban Education and the Chicago Foundation for Education. He also serves on the Board of Public Architecture, a nonprofit that leverages the skills of architects and design professionals for public service. The Draper Richards Foundation selected Taproot Foundation in 2001 for its visionary and scalable model. Since then, Aaron was selected for the Blue Ridge Foundation New York's incubator in 2003 and was elected to the Ashoka Fellowship in 2005. In 2006, Aaron was awarded the Manhattan Institute Award for Social Entrepreneurship and was recognized by Fast Company as a 2006 Rising Star - "a social entrepreneur with extraordinary potential." Most recently, Aaron received the Social Venture Network's Innovation Award in September 2007. Learn more at www.taprootfoundation.org. |
