Sarah Ford | April 6, 2015

Giving away half of your work to nonprofits – for free?

By Ryan Scott

Giving away half of your work to nonprofits.

For free.

Nuts, huh?

But it’s a trending business idea that reimagines what it means to be engaged in pro bono service.

This innovative model was put on the map by Matthew Manos, founder and managing partner of verynice, a global design and innovation consultancy which has baked into its core business mission a massive amount of skills-based giving back (50%, to be precise). This concept was not an afterthought, but the central component of verynice’s existence from day one.

I wrote about verynice’s revolutionary approach to pro bono a couple of years back. With offices in New York and L.A., verynice has worked with 350 organizations and is tracking to donate $10 million in services by 2020. Since I sat down with Manos, he’s been busy influencing other companies to adopt its model.

Now verynice is releasing the second edition of How to Give Half of Your Work Away for Free, a book that aims to open-source the 50% pro-bono business model, which Manos refers to as the “double-half” methodology.

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