This story was submitted as part of the #Pledge1Gives GivingTuesday campaign, which celebrates the many ways our member companies are having an impact around the world.

Horizon champions socially responsible change internally and externally, encouraging other companies to follow suit by speaking to the potential for companies, regardless of size, to give by leveraging collaborative partnerships and employee engagement.

One of Horizon’s most profound partnerships is with the Perspectives/IIT Math and Science Academy (MSA), a school in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago which embraces the idea of educating the whole child. Since launching the partnership in 2016, Horizon has provided it’s profit and time in infrastructure and programming support, as well as over 1,000 hours of employee volunteering.

To date, infrastructure projects have included the installation of water filtration stations to eliminate exposure to lead-contaminated drinking water, constructing a central front office to increase student safety, and creating a peace and meditation room for students to decompress from environmental stressors and practice healthy coping skills.

Horizon’s financial support has also enabled a number of new programs and curriculum to be available for students, exposing them to new ideas and potential career paths. With these programs, Horizon employees generously contribute their time. Employees mentor students through programming with the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, Illinois Science and Technology Coalition STEM Challenge, as well as Horizon’s own STEM career speaker series. Students not only hear about various STEM career trajectories from employees, but also have the opportunity to interview the employees participating in the speaker series, developing their public speaking and leadership skills. As MSA reflects Horizon’s core business values, Horizon recognizes the potential to draw from the next generation of STEAM oriented innovators it is currently investing in.

Horizon’s various business units (BUs) also integrate volunteer events at MSA. The BUs have set up equipment, organized hygiene and college kits for students in temporary living situations (STLS), presented interactive chemistry workshops to classrooms and conducted mock interviews.

Because our employees show up for our community partners, such as MSA, Horizon was able to became one of the first biopharma companies to take the 1% Pledge, joining over 6,000+ companies in over 100 countries. Horizon views the components of the pledge as a means to realizing its CSR mission of going to incredible lengths to positively impact the communities in which we live and work.

 

This story was submitted as part of the #Pledge1Gives GivingTuesday campaign, which celebrates the many ways our member companies are having an impact around the world.

 

By Project Alianza.

 

Sometimes the world seems so broken, it can feel like there’s nothing to be done. We can end up thinking that nothing we do matters, not realizing that we each have the power to make a difference. That if we think beyond your daily life and recognize that what we choose to do matters, even the smallest action can make the world brighter.

 

We say this because we know, and we want you to know too – what you do matters. Through Pledge 1% making a difference is turned into a habit. In Project Alianza’s five short years of existence as an organization, we’ve grown from a tiny but devoted team into a movement that has impacted over 8,000 lives and it’s all because people all over the world decided to do something. With the support of sponsors like Eleva Coffee, Uber, and Tinker Coffee, we’ve cheered as students become the first ever to graduate from fifth grade in their communities, and watched as their friends and siblings followed in their footsteps. We’ve known single mothers who have worked to achieve financial independence and pursued higher degrees so they could build the best life possible for their kids. We’ve lent a hand while communities have built new schools and filled them with books and students.

 

Communities are stronger, lives are changed, and a brighter future is taking shape all because people like you knew that they had the power to do something, and so they did. Through Pledge 1% you have the power to provide the sustained and committed support it takes to shape the future for a bright world. That’s why we want you to know that what you do, what you create, what you give – it all matters. You are pledging 1% to make someone else’s world better.

This story was submitted as part of the #Pledge1Gives GivingTuesday campaign, which celebrates the many ways our member companies are having an impact around the world.

“We believe technology, when used for good, can change the world”.

As a large technology organization, Salesforce makes it their mission to do good, not only where it’s headquartered, but around the world.

In 1999, Salesforce pioneered the 1-1-1 Model of Integrated Philanthropy and encourages its partners and others to join its pledge to donate 1% of its equity or profit, product, and employee time.

Salesforce.org empowers tens of thousands of non-profit organizations and educational institutions through technology, grants, and volunteering programs through its pledge program.

Passionate about volunteering

Riva is proud to be a part of the 1% pledge program.  Riva supports our employees to pledge money and volunteer in our local and extended communities in Edmonton, Alberta; Pictou, Nova Scotia; Sunnyvale, California; Sydney, Australia; and Munich, Germany.

With headquarters in Edmonton, our staff members have done some great work in supporting our Edmonton community and beyond.  In the past year, activities have included everything from raising $26,000 to support WIN House, iHuman, United Way and Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation to donating to the Edmonton Food Bank, volunteering and taking part in the Warm Hands, Warm Hearts initiative handing out backpacks filled with winter essentials to the homeless population in the area, and volunteering to build and donate bicycles to the Boys and Girls Club / Big Brothers Big Sisters of Edmonton.

The Pictou office has been involved in some great initiatives that include volunteering and donations of time and money to the Pictou West Food Bank, United Way of Pictou County, and supporting the elementary school breakfast program.

“Being part of the 1% pledge has helped Riva share its warm family culture. It’s important to Riva to support initiatives that our employees and their families care about.  These are part of the key interests and passions that have helped our company grow into what it is today and will help us continue to reach new heights,” explains Riva CEO Aldo Zanoni.

Whether Riva is sponsoring a local children’s baseball team or sponsoring and attending a masquerade ball to raise awareness of domestic violence, the activities and causes that Riva supports are those that remain close to employees’ hearts, and in turn, all of our hearts.

One of Riva’s seven core values is “Bring your Passion” and Riva is thrilled to be able to share in the causes that are near and dear to our staff’s hearts and do our part to make the world a better place.

Riva is proud to part of the 1% pledge and we hope to give even more in 2020!

This story was submitted as part of the #Pledge1Gives GivingTuesday campaign, which celebrates the many ways our member companies are having an impact around the world.

By 97th Floor

For the past five years 97th Floor has championed #20Helps. The movement’s mission is simple: Demonstrate the positive power of money by setting aside a $20 bill for good. Each year 97th Floor sends its clients and friends a $20 bill in their holiday card with warm greetings and an invitation to spread good.

Every year this movement touches thousands of people. 

Since its inception in 2014, the movement’s focal point has been on doing the most good with a $20 bill. And while this focus remains, new elements join the campaign each year. For example giving 20 minutes of time instead of money, or tracking the impact of a specific $20 bill with the #20Helps app. 

At it’s five year anniversary, the #20Helps campaign continues to evolve. This year #20Helps is an invitation to connect with each other through a thoughtful service, which may include a $20 gift.

It’s true that a $20 bill can’t buy everything, but when gifted with the love and attention that can only come through genuine human connection, a $20 bill can elevate the lives of the receiver and the giver. 

Some examples include, sharing a book that was impactful to you to someone struggling or giving movies tickets and babysitting for new parents. 4

Those interested can learn more at 20Helps.com.

We live in an artificially connect world. And we believe that a $20 bill can change that.

This story was submitted as part of the #Pledge1Gives GivingTuesday campaign, which celebrates the many ways our member companies are having an impact around the world.

Being welcomed into the  Pledge 1% global community validated  my founder’s resolve – by example – and helped us to give back to 5 non-profits fighting homelessness in San Francisco and Toronto.

Seriously having contemplated suicide on US Thanksgiving 2018, it is a miracle that I share my Pledge 1%  UNITED.cool growing mental health UNITY @work social enterprise GIVING story. We are set to officially launch March 11, 2020. 

In front of me, as I type these words is a well-worn magazine article ripped from the May 2014 issue of San Francisco Magazine.  I have read it many times, during hard times, and each time it validates my  childhood passion of giving back and helping unite the world with whatever gifts we are given to share, despite almost 20 years of social entrepreneurial failure.

The article? The People’s Mogul. The mogul? Marc Benioff. My inspiration and infusion of hope? The Salesforce 1:1:1 philanthropic approach. 

By example, Mr. Benioff showed/s  the world that everybody matters, and everyone should give back, of whatever they have. At the time, I had every reason to think that the upward trajectory of my  (then) kids’ creativity start-up, (createKIDity.com) would allow me to give the 1:1:1 pledge  one day.  ( Pledge 1% was formally launched December 2014). 

I never thought then, that 5 years later: I would hit rock bottom, depressed, living in transitional housing after being homeless and finally accepting my mental health battles as very real – and STILL be applying to Pledge 1%.  When I applied, I was living in transitional housing and going to crisis counselling.  

I never *really* thought UNITED.cool would be accepted into the 1% Pledge fold. I applied anyway, hoping against hope. When I got the welcome  e-mail on May 31, 2019 – UNITED.cool’s  mission to grow mental health unity@work – by OPEN example™ – was validated.  Next to finding my mentor, Dr. Kevin Stolarick (or him picking me out in a job interview) nothing had validated or fueled  UNITED.cool more to  keep moving forward, no matter how impossible things seemed than that welcome e-mail ! Kevin, btw: became my Co-Founder as I could not have created the foundation of UNITED.cool we have now,  without his guidance, patience, business savvy and generous spirit.  

To date, we were able to give back to 5 organizations (3 Bay Area and 2 Toronto) and we have not even launched yet!

 

 

A Woman’s Place –  San Francisco, CA

• Donated: 12 boxes of new art supplies; my HEART artwork (to decorate their walls!) 


• EVENT: Held a ShelterSALON™  WORD ART workshop and donated the supplies as well. 

Bright Horizons – Novato, CA

• Donated 2 boxes art supplies and a brand-new easel

YWCA of Sonoma County, Santa Rosa, CA

• Donated 1 Art Supply Box

Margaret’s  – Toronto

• Donated two pieces of art for Annual Gala auction – one piece sold for $200

St.Clare’s Multifaith Housing – Toronto 

• Donated items:  5 boxes of almost new cookware for our community kitchen

Events:  

ShelterCHEF™ Eggspirational Community Meal – catered the entire meal for 50 people by myself with Nancy – volunteer and community activist helping me serve   (ShelterStartUP.com Inc.  Pledge 1% time) with funds from UNITED.cool and Loblaws (Canada’s largest grocery chain) to augment St.Clare’s budget. Loblaws Dupont store generously donated a gift card and was a co-sponsor with UNITED.cool 

 

Halloween Pumpkin Carving:  we created the flyers for the building, customizing each one by hand, shopped for the art supplies ( no more to donate!), and led the Pumpkin Carving ShelterARTSY™ party volunteering time and lots of passion and energy. 

These events may be small. There is no million dollar giving, but UNITED.cool gave more all it had, because this whole time I was battling with depression, homelessness, financial ruin through “maxxed” credit cards and losing my credit rating and STILL facing stigma even as I try to launch a mental health initiative.  

Despite these obstacles, UNITED.cool grew – and will be launching March 11, 2020 with a lot of giving before introducing our first product: a culture change consultancy to help organizations grow mental health unity – by OPEN example™. Thank you Pledge 1% – looking forward to sharing our growth next Giving Tuesday 2020, too! 

This story was submitted as part of the #Pledge1Gives GivingTuesday campaign, which celebrates the many ways our member companies are having an impact around the world.

Building sustainability into the core of elenest was decided upon before elenest was born. Having worked in sustainability and built women’s health programs in Asia, it was important to elenest’s founder to have a mission beyond product from the beginning. Pledge 1% has a flexible model that can be adapted as the company grows. The adaptability of the model encourages commitment to giving back in a way that’s unique to your brand.

Bathing a baby is no easy job. Wet babies are delicate, slippery, wiggly, and need to dry off and stay warm immediately because of their inability to regulate their body temperature well. Shortly after becoming a mother, our founder realized traditional hooded baby towels were impossible to use. She could never bathe baby without her husband there to hold the towel, she seemed to get more wet than baby, and the towels simply didn’t work. So she made a better one — the elenest handsfree wearable baby towel — and it’s patent pending.

Our towel makes bath time fun, easy, safe, and provides parents with confidence as they pick up baby from the bath tub — keeping everyone dry. It’s made from sustainable bamboo and organic cotton. It’s better for the environment, and better for baby. Place your hands through our towel, and with just one swoop of the hood, baby is wrapped up in seconds. From bath to changing, our hassle-free towel makes it all a breeze. No need to call the whole family to bathe baby!

We’re on a mission to elevate parenthood with smart, natural products for your nest, making parenting easier. And elevating women is part of our DNA. It’s even in our name: ‘ele’ comes from elevate. Bringing a life into this world is no small feat, and every mother should have access to quality care to keep herself and her baby safe and healthy.

Pledge 1% enables elenest to support maternal health causes as the outcome of product sales, but also helps to frame other aspects of the business like sourcing and manufacturing. Using organic cotton and sustainable bamboo for our products means they are environmentally friendly and sensitive on baby’s skin. Our elenest baby towel and elenest washcloths are sewn in the USA by a manufacturer who provides skills training to workers with employment barriers. All of our products are designed in California. With each sale of our baby towel, we’re not only helping out at bath time, but also committing 1% of profit to moms. 1% for moms brings everything full circle.

Our nonprofit recipient, Every Mother Counts, works to achieve quality, respectful, and equitable maternity care for all while mobilizing communities to take action.

We’ve launched just in time for the holidays. The elenest handsfree wearable baby towel is the perfect gift for any parent, grandparent, or caregiver wanting an easier, safer, and fun bath time with baby. With each purchase, you’re supporting mothers around the world in many ways — not only on Giving Tuesday, but every day through Pledge 1%.

This story was submitted as part of the #Pledge1Gives GivingTuesday campaign, which celebrates the many ways our member companies are having an impact around the world.

LaunchDarkly has joined Pledge 1%, a global movement to create a new normal for companies of all sizes and stages to have a positive social impact through their businessLaunchDarkly is conscious of the impact it has as a tech company locally and globally. We created the LaunchDarkly Foundation to tackle problems at a local and global scale by partnering with several non-profits through donations and/or staff time. We are committed to supporting education for the underserved, homelessness relief, and moving towards having a net-zero carbon footprint.

Our current programs include donations and group employee volunteering engagements. Donations go towards two non-profits – one in Oakland and one with a global impact. Group volunteering engagements will focus on Oakland nonprofits that address homelessness and poverty. 

 As the company grows, the LaunchDarkly Foundation will expand its programs to include donation matching and a carbon off-set system/partner.

What we have been up to with our Oakland partner – CodeNation

This fall will be LaunchDarkly’s third year partnering with CodeNation.

Code Nation is a not-for-profit organization operating in NYC, the Bay Area, and Chicago. They explain their mission best: We equip students in under-resourced high schools with the skills, experiences, and connections that together create access to careers in technology.

LaunchDarkly teaches the Foundations Course, where our volunteers go to schools in Oakland and teach introductions to HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. We also host the Fellowship  Course at LaunchDarkly’s HQ office, where students from an Oakland highschool review and build upon what they learned in Foundations and complete numerous projects over the school year.

LaunchDarkly participates in CodeNation’s professional development day. Students spend the entire day practicing their networking skills, working on their resumes, thinking about their personal story and brand, practicing their interviewing dos and don’ts, and having professional headshots taken for their portfolios.

LaunchDarkly sponsored CodeNations Bay Area Hackathon 2019, which was hosted at GitHub HQ and judged by our very own CEO Edith Harbaugh. The 2020 hackathon will be judged by our CTO John Kodumal.

In the summers, LaunchDarkly welcomes two interns from CodeNation for five weeks. We are proud to hear the news that the 2018 interns are both in community college, and the 2019 interns are finishing up high school.

 CodeNation Volunteer Spotlight:

“I feel it is our responsibility to share the things we’ve learned with students whose path into the industry may not be clearly defined. Each student should be able to decide whether they want to join the industry or not. They should not be locked out.”

– Alexis Georges, LaunchDarkly Engineering Manager

LaunchDarkly is proud to join the Pledge 1% community and encourages other companies to take the pledge and leverage their business as a force for good.

This story was submitted as part of the #Pledge1Gives GivingTuesday campaign, which celebrates the many ways our member companies are having an impact around the world.

Last year, GivingTuesday, the global movement that celebrates generosity worldwide, asked, “What if everyone around the world, gave together, on one day?” At ActiveCampaign, when we give together, to us that means having an active impact on our community around the world.

ActiveCampaign has been fortunate to grow in so many ways. From the size of our team, revenue, customers in over 150 countries who grow with us, and offices, our reach has truly gone global – and for that we are growing with so much gratitude. As a global, distributed company, ActiveCampaign will give around the world this #givingtuesday, and we are humbled to be in a position to do so.

Last year, we formed ActiveImpact, the vehicle by which ActiveCampaign gives back. What started as a committee to organize volunteer opportunities and collective giving, has blossomed to become a fundamental part of ActiveCampaign’s identity and culture. It’s not just what we do, it’s who we are, so it was without hesitation that we joined Pledge 1%. Since taking the pledge, we’ve launched a number of new initiatives to drive our #ActiveImpact.

1. Volunteer time off

Every employee at ActiveCampaign gets 3 paid days a year to volunteer!

● 1 day dedicated to a passion project

● 1 day for team volunteering and community outreach

● 1 company organized service day

2. Mentoring

We are committed to supporting youth entrepreneurship and empowering the next generation of founders.

3. Fundraising

Instead of giving out swag at our Dreamforce conference booth, ActiveCampaign gave back to the Tech Community! We handed out tokens around our booth – and for every token returned to our booth we donated $5 to Girls Who Code.

ActiveImpact is all about staying engaged. This GivingTuesday, we’ll kick things off in our Chicago headquarters with the #ChiTechFoodDrive, benefiting the Greater Chicago Food Depository.

Follow along as our campaign travels the world throughout the day, from Brazil #DiaDeDoar to Ireland and Australia #GivingTuesdayAUS! How will you make an #ActiveImpact on the world this #GivingTuesday?