Pledge Now

I launched Pcnaid Inc. to help entrepreneurs in North Texas start faster and run smarter. Very often I meet owners who can run a great shop, but the back‑office work—formation, payments, websites, bookkeeping, utilities, and telecom—slows them down or is simply out of budget.

Pledge 1% gave me a simple framework to make help part of the business model, not just a nice idea. Pcnaid commits at least 1% of our time and services to pro‑bono or deeply discounted projects for underestimated entrepreneurs and local nonprofits. Each month I set aside dedicated hours for “give projects” that can include entity formation support, payment processing setup and fee reviews, a basic website or brand refresh, bookkeeping kickoff, and cost‑reduction audits for internet, phone, and utilities.

Even as a company of one, the 1% model keeps our impact consistent. Clients tell me the support shaved weeks off their launch timelines, helped them accept digital payments quickly, reduced overhead, and—most importantly—gave them confidence to grow. The approach also invites partners and clients to match that spirit of giving when they can.

As Pcnaid expands with contractors and new service lines, our goal is to scale this commitment alongside the business. The more we grow, the more hours and services we can return to the community. Pledge 1% has turned generosity into a system—and that’s how Pcnaid plans to keep building Main Street, one small business at a time.

When we launched in 2017, we made a commitment to donate 1% of our profits each year to nonprofits advancing equity and justice—locally, in our home communities and globally, where our clients operate.

As a small, women-founded firm working at the intersection of impact, strategy and climate, our giving program is one important way we practice the values we bring to our work: treating people like people, investing in community and conducting business responsibly. Over the years, we’ve been proud to support organizations whose missions align with our belief in people-centered impact, including:

Todos Juntos (Austin, TX): Providing bilingual early childhood education and wraparound family services for immigrant and refugee families so children are ready for school and parents can thrive.

Aveson Community Fund (Los Angeles, CA): Expanding access to experiential, inclusive K–12 learning by supporting students, teachers and families with resources that close gaps and strengthen school communities; a community that has been deeply impacted by the LA fires.

Remake (Global): Mobilizing a global community of change makers to transform the clothing industry—advancing human rights and climate justice by empowering activists, uniting brands and policy-makers and campaigning for a fashion system that works for people and planet.

We’re so proud to be a part of the Pledge 1% movement, a community worth celebrating.

Building a Tech-for-Good Culture from Day One: Space CoLAB Joins Pledge 1%

At Space CoLAB, we’re developing quantum communications technology, a vital component of critical infrastructure security into the future, across the world. However, aspiring to contribute to world-leading deep tech isn’t just about what we build—it’s about how we build, and who we bring on the journey.

That’s why we’re proud to join Pledge 1%, committing 1% of our employee time to strengthening the ecosystem that makes Australian innovation possible.

Why Start Now?

As an early-stage startup, every hour counts. We’re racing toward prototype validation of our room-temperature quantum communications system—technology that operates without cryogenic cooling, works in free space, and targets applications from defense to critical infrastructure. The pressure to focus solely on product development is real.

But a sole product focus would be missing, well, soul. That’s why we’re embedding impact into our culture from the outset, not as an afterthought once we’ve “made it.” With an annual commitment equivalent to 4,000 hours in employee time, we’re deliberately investing in supporting a stronger, safer, and thriving community. After all, that is why we started Space CoLAB and are working here to begin with.

Where We’re Contributing

Our primary focus is on strengthening the learnings and focus of the next generation of deep tech founders and researchers. For the past three years, our Founder and CEO Carley Scott OAM has served as a judge for the Deakin Future Forum—an annual pitch competition where computer science PhD students learn to translate cutting-edge research into commercially viable solutions.

Established by Peter Kinne and Trina Myers and supported strongly by (look up two admin staff) at Deakin University, the Forum does something critical: it forces brilliant researchers to think beyond the lab. Carley works directly with students to refine how they articulate problems, develop solutions, and communicate with investors and industry partners who have a real world application focus. It’s the kind of practical translation work that is often spoken about and aimed for by a range of great Australian research entities that are doing sensational foundation work around the country.

Beyond the Forum, our team aims to continue contributing to university programs, industry events, and deep tech association activities across Australia’s geographically dispersed but dynamic innovation landscape. These aren’t token appearances—they’re substantive engagements where we share hard-won lessons about building sovereign capability in an increasingly complex geopolitical environment.

Commercial Realism Meets Genuine Impact

We can’t say yes to everything. We’re a focused team building what we believe will be the world’s leading free-space quantum communications solution, and that mission is front of mind and our time allocation. But we believe that supporting the ecosystem isn’t separate from commercial success—it’s foundational to it.

As we’ve seen over the decades, from incredible people who have come before us, Australia’s deep tech community succeeds when we actively transfer knowledge, create pathways for emerging talent, and demonstrate with our international partners the cutting-edge defense and dual-use technology that continues to be conceptualised and built here.

The 1% Pledge formalises what we already believe: that companies building transformative technology have a responsibility to ensure the next wave of builders don’t have to start from zero. It’s an approach we’ve benefited from and an operational approach we enjoy extending. Every hour we invest in judging, mentoring, and engaging with the community compounds into a stronger innovation ecosystem, and hopefully, a better world.

What’s Next

As we move toward prototype testing and validation in 2026, our commitment will scale with us. More team members means more hours contributed. More experience means deeper insights to share. More success means greater ability to open doors for others.

We joined Pledge 1% not because we’ve “made it,” but because we believe the culture you build in the early days defines what and who you become. For Space CoLAB, that means being forward leaning, technically excellent, commercially focused, and genuinely invested in making the places we call home, the places great innovators feel safe, inspired, able to grow and feel at home also.

That’s the kind of company we think is worth building.


We believe in nurturing our community and the wider world, and in that vein we throw our support to local organizations that are nurturing local human communities & wild places.

In 2024 we launched our Monthly Giving Program. Each month, we give 1% of Blue Skies Bakery gross sales to a non-profit organization that is doing work that inspires us. We also highlight their work on our website and social media platforms.

Organizations we support include:

At Forge & Spark, giving back is woven into our agency’s DNA. We’re delighted to share what the Forge & Spark Give Back Program made possible this year!

For every new client partnership and course student, our team donates $50 to a variety of charities aligned with our commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This isn’t just part of our business, it’s how we stay connected to the bigger picture, living our values and doing our part to move the needle on causes that matter.

This year, our client-powered donations made a difference for four wonderful local organizations: Vancouver Food Bank, Dress for Success Vancouver, the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre, and Mamas for Mamas. By keeping our approach simple we make giving back a regular habit.

Every single client project turns into tangible, local impact. And every team member and partner knows they’re part of something purposeful, not just business as usual. We believe small, consistent efforts build a more generous and joyful community.

Thank you for inviting us to celebrate and share our impact. The 1% Pledge helps us keep the spirit (and habit) of generosity front and centre, today and every day.

In the summer of 2023 I learned about Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue (SCWR) from my wife who read a news story about three black bear cubs who were relocated from Lake Tahoe, California. These were the kids of Hank the Tank who had been captured and relocated to Colorado after multiple home break-ins and extensive property damage. SCWR was to rehabilitate the cubs so they can discontinue the negative behaviors they learned from mom and be returned to the wild! This was how I first learned about SCWR and the amazing work they do for wildlife not just in Sonoma County, where I live, but for animals from all over California. That fall I signed up as a volunteer and have worked there for four hours a week ever since.

This also coincided with a major career change for me. After nearly a decade at Salesforce, where I learned all about Pledge 1% through the Salesforce 1-1-1 program, I decided I needed to do something different. In early 2024 I formed a start-up with a former Salesforce colleague to build a tool to help transform facilities operations and make it available on the Salesforce AppExchange. From day one we knew we would sign on to Pledge 1% and carry forward our community giving which was such a rewarding part of our Salesforce careers.

While we were still going through our final stages of product development and Salesforce AppExchange approval I started talking to the SCWR Executive Director, Doris Duncan, about how I thought sonpito could help the organization. Doris was incredibly supportive and enthusiastic about the idea and thought this would help propel the organization into the next phase of their incredible growth. SCWR had recently been gifted another huge property and were in the final stages of completing the build out of the largest Apex Predator Enclosure (APE) in California. If ever there was a time to modernize and utilize technology it was now!

We helped the team apply for Salesforce Non-Profit Cloud which we would install sonpito on as well as elevate their Fundraising, Program Management, Volunteer Management and Marketing & Engagement. In October 2025 sonpito was listed on the Salesforce AppExchange and our very first customer is Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue! We have begun setting up sonpito with the SCWR team and early impressions are very promising. The team is excited to be able to optimize their facilities operations with sonpito and are looking forward to the getting the full benefit of Salesforce Non-profit could early next year.

We are honored to partner with SCWR who play such an important role in the rescue, rehabilitation and release of sick, injured and orphaned wildlife; the promotion, understanding, appreciation, protection and conservation of wildlife through both their Educational Outreach Programs and advocacy efforts. It has been wonderful to get to know so many other volunteers from every walk of life who share my passion for wildlife.

While these past two years have been the most challenging of my professional career, it is also really important to me to keep giving back. Taking time away from launching a start up to work hard and laugh with other volunteers has been cathartic – I know that whatever is happening at work, on Wednesday mornings, I will be out in the open air, come rain or shine, feeding precious animals which brings joy to my heart. What can you do in your community to release some of the pent up stress? What is your pressure release valve? We all need time away from the grind and I encourage anyone reading this to find something you care about, where you can contribute and just maybe get some relief.

Through a generous 200% match on employee contributions made to the nonprofits that matter most to the 1,500 employees of EQT Corporation last year EQT employees and the EQT Foundation together contributed more than $1.7 million to nonprofits across the country.

While employees can donate and receive matching funds throughout the year, EQT proudly embraces the spirit of radical generosity on Giving Tuesday—amplifying our commitment to giving back and showcasing the Heart we share with our communities.

rZilient, Inc.  aims to grow/build the world’s first hybrid purpose-driven “Camel>Unicorn” thar offers “merit-based” opportunities to rZilients: marketers, developers, entrepreneurs storytelling artists (all genres including chefs!) and filmmakers who have overcome/overcoming mental health PTSD journeys (like me) and want to work and contribute as the creative, ambitious, capable people we are without STIGMA.  I hope to first unite Toronto  and San Francisco to unite build the platform and then share it with the world. I first learned about social impact in 2019 when I found out about Pledge 1% and became a member (https://www.pledge1percent.org/like-really-proud-and-grateful/) United.cool “failed” but I kept going and here I am with rZilient gifting my art to The Shoebox Project in Canada – in 2024. As when I was homeless in Toronto after returning from San Francisco in 2018 – I was given one of their gift boxes, so giving back and volunteering is very important to me. https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6wpatzJCV3/ 

rZilient, Inc.  is the culmination of 25 years of entrepreneurial failure and it brings together all of my companies, ideas and passions under one umbrella. By March 2025 – I was ready to give up, and I met a true “somebody” and when introduced to him, I said, “I am just a nobody” while I was crying! Well, this person looked at me sternly, and said, “You should never say that. Everybody can contribute. Never give up!” – And here I am today, submitting my 2nd Pledge 1% Story for Giving Tuesday in 2025!    

The rZilient PledgELEVEN 11%  Promise:  

San Francisco inspired me to GIVE and I learned about social entrepreneurship through Pledge 1%. I was so fortunate that Stephen Payne ( formerly with Pledge 1%) invited me to the Tides Foundation office where I brought a gift and the visit turned out to be the biggest gift of all! It was then that I decided I would come back home to Canada and one day launch my company that would PledgEleven 11% through Pledge 1% in gratitude ONE DAY – and that day will start on May 21, 2026 when rZilient Inc launches, small but mighty – a baby camel – so resilient that it is “turbo charged” with a Capital Z!  

rZilient PURPOSE:  is to co-creAIte a rZilient: JobHub, incubAitor, VC Fund + Film Studio in partnership with impact investors, partnering nonprofits and global government to boost local/global economies and  cut social spending by creating opportunities for those struggling with mental health to be given the opportunity to share their talents and work – as equals – without stigma.  

rZilient,  MISSION:  is to do for  Entrepreneurs what the Paralympics does for Athletes.  

Our GOAL: is to grow our “baby camel of a start-up” into a global, giving Unicorn by 2036. 

Who is “OUR” – full disclosure, just a one-person (+ inner child) MVP for now!  

My name is Gloria Maxx and I have suffered from cPTSD all my life and for the past 25 years I have tried to launch social impact start ups and failed each time.  I reached  a rock bottom so low last year that I finally  accepted to be on disability although I fought it for years! Right now, my “boss” is the Toronto, Ontario, Canadian tax payer and I want to create opportunities not just for me, but others like me who can work, and want to work to be able to contribute, thrive and succeed and support themselves – but we need an opportunity to be trusted that we can produce and perform! This is how I became rZilient – and  I am scared but resolute to become my own “MVP”.  

As an entrepreneur, storyteller and  artist who openly co-creates with “Gloriutza” my inner-child. I have finally begun to truly overcome my cPTSD  caused by childhood trauma which began as the child of a Romanian refugee who fled his country to make a better life for his family in Canada.  

GIVING BACK my rZilient  talent to prove myself first!  

As a ‘failed’ entrepreneur and someone who openly shared my mental health journey,  so many doors closed to me. I started off my doing pro bono work, lots of volunteering over the years to prove myself and it worked! My first pro-bono rZilient job was www.theanthem.ca where I created the website from scratch on Weebly ( the only program I know and love) for Professor George Elliott Clarke ( former Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate and Toronto  Poet Laureate) because I believe in their cause of promoting his family’s Afro-Metis struggles and triumphs.  See: www.theanthem.ca  

rZilient networks and makes a yummy community day December 2024: 

I also “pitched” my non-profit  building to allow me to do rZilient  community events where I would get community partners to donate the food and entertainment. On December 2024. our Merry Happy Christmukkah event where I was able toto partner with Loblaw’s Head Office Store (Canada’s largest grocery store by market share) which supported all 7 of my events to date – even pre rZilient!  Here are a few pics!   

When we named our company “Grafted Strategies,” it wasn’t just branding—it was a commitment.

In horticulture, grafting means permanently joining two plants so they grow as one. The grafted branch doesn’t just sit on top; it becomes an inseparable part of the host plant, sharing nutrients, responding to the same conditions, and growing together toward the same sun.

That’s exactly how we approach consulting. We don’t parachute in, deliver a solution, and disappear. We become a grafted part of our clients’ teams—attending their weekly sales meetings, participating in quarterly strategy sessions, and proactively solving problems before they’re asked. We grow when they grow. We succeed when they succeed.

But here’s what we’ve learned over the past few years: many of our clients aren’t just businesses—they’re mission-driven organizations working to improve their communities.

We’ve partnered with associations like the National Association of Wholesalers, helping them achieve operational efficiency gains so they can better serve their members. We’ve worked with immigration law firms helping families navigate complex legal processes. We’ve supported healthcare organizations coordinating care for military veterans with brain trauma.

These clients taught us something profound: technology transformation isn’t just about efficiency—it’s about multiplying impact. When we help an association streamline their operations, they can focus more energy on advocacy. When we automate a law firm’s compliance tracking, attorneys can spend more time on cases that change lives. When we connect disparate healthcare systems, care coordinators can serve more veterans more effectively.

We’ve been grafted into organizations that exist to serve others. And from the beginning, we realized we needed to extend that same philosophy beyond our paying clients.

That’s why we joined Pledge 1%.

Since 2018, Grafted Strategies has committed to giving and sharing our resources of time, expertise, and product offerings, to mission-driven organizations that align with our areas of specialization. Specifically, we’ll provide 2-3 deeply discounted or pro-bono Salesforce implementations annually for nonprofits and associations working in healthcare, immigration services, community advocacy, etc. to help them optimize their efforts and impact.

We’re not doing this because we’ve “made it” or because we have resources to spare. We’re a small, growing team. Every project matters. Every hour counts.

We’re doing it because being truly “grafted” means we don’t just grow alongside our clients—we grow alongside our communities. The same principles that guide our client partnerships should guide how we show up in the world.

We believe even small but strategically aligned Salesforce implementations can create outsized impact for the right organizations. A unified CRM can help a small nonprofit stop losing donor data. Automated workflows can free up staff to focus on mission rather than administration. Integrated systems including one-time as well as recurring donation capture can help a community organization scale their services without scaling their overhead, and we offer these Salesforce integrated payment solutions via a partner that does not attempt to fleece the ones they are claiming to help. We put more dollars into the hands of the ones making the impact

Our commitment is simple: We’ll use our expertise to help mission-driven organizations achieve the same transformational results we deliver for our commercial clients. Because impact shouldn’t be reserved for those who can afford enterprise consulting rates.

If you’re a nonprofit, association, or mission-driven organization working in healthcare, immigration services, or community advocacy—and you’re struggling with fragmented systems, manual processes, or technology that’s holding you back from your mission—we’d love to hear from you.

After all, that’s what being “grafted” means: growing together, toward the same sun.

Ready to get involved?
Pledge Now