The Good-Cause Bonus

The Good-Cause Bonus: "The Good-Cause Bonus
Help others and your career through volunteer work.

When Kathy O'Leary left a marketing job at Oracle to launch her marketing and branding consultancy, Tesla Design, based in San Mateo, California, she had a business to grow and was looking for satisfying opportunities. She heard about Taproot Foundation, a San Francisco organization that matches business professionals with nonprofits, and 'I jumped on it,' she says. 'It was a perfect fit, because it not only helped me expand my professional network, it [also gave] me the opportunity to work on a variety of marketing projects that I typically wouldn't have the opportunity to do.'

For instance, O'Leary got to rebrand, something she never got to do at Oracle. Through her five-hour-per-week commitment at Taproot, she has rebranded nonprofits, designed brochures, and built Web sites. "