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 Anna Currin, Manager, Philanthropy and Community Engagement, Okta

At Okta, we believe Okta for Good, our social impact initiative, is owned by everyone at the company. Even before Okta for Good was formed, employees dedicated their time to volunteering together at local nonprofits, and forming an ad hoc council dedicated to new ideas around providing resources to the community. So when our founders took the 1% pledge before going public, they solidified Okta’s commitment to the community, and employees rallied behind it. 

 

Years later, our employee programs have grown and evolved alongside Okta. Today, Okta has more than 1,900 employees across 12 offices, and with a lean social impact team of 4, we rely on the leadership and passion of employees to scale our community work. This year Okta for Good launched its first “Okta for Good Leadership Council”, unlocking more potential from our employees to drive social impact across offices (and amongst more than 400 remote workers!). These employees came from a variety of backgrounds –some new to philanthropy but interested and passionate about giving back, and some seasoned and experienced, looking to lead employees in new local programs. 

 

The goals of the council are simple: empower employees in all regions to give back in ways that are not only personal, but tap into the issues that are most important to those geographies. For example, the nonprofit ecosystem in Paris varies drastically from San Francisco, and our local leaders build relationships with key partners to provide opportunities for employees to contribute in meaningful ways. 

 

The first council-led campaign occured in July with Okta’s annual Tech Pathways Week, a week dedicated to opening our office doors to connect with underserved youth and job-seekers in each region in which our employees live and work. Each office leader partnered with a workforce development-focused nonprofit, and created an opportunity specific to their needs – from office tours, to micro-mentoring sessions to executive AMAs, providing opportunities for youth and job-seekers to ask questions directly to successful leaders. 

 

In September, our Okta for Good Leadership Council came together for the first time in Washington DC for our summit, which we plan to do early from now on. This consisted of two days devoted to building community among the group, learning new skills, and brainstorming how to take our programs to the next level. We invited industry leaders Realized Worth and Give2Get to host interactive sessions around corporate citizenship and how to lead programs that transform employees into changemakers. Council leads went back to their regions with inspiration and direction to engage people at their highest level of contribution. 

 

I often describe Okta for Good as a small but mighty team but when I share stories of our work in communities, our employees are always front and center. This Giving Tuesday, we celebrate our employee leaders and all the work they do to inspire giving among Okta employees and in our wider community. We’re proud of their efforts and how far we’ve come in a year!

 

For any companies interested in building a network of employee champions, here are a few suggestions on getting started:

 

• 
  

  Create a clear application process – We ask a lot from our leaders throughout the year, so it’s important they understand the commitment and have skin in the game.

  
  

• 
  

  Diversity is key! Better representation leads to more innovation and better programs. The Okta for Good Council is balanced across regions, departments, tenure, seniority and background, leading to a wide range of perspectives.

  
  


• 
  

  Provide global structure but regional focus – Our team sets global targets while acknowledging every region has its local flavor! The key is to provide guidance while allowing for regional customization.

  
  

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.

Fluxx sits squarely in the Tech For Good space. Our SaaS platform was created by philanthropists, for the philanthropy community, meaning our team embodies the spirit of our industry in countless ways. As Pledge 1% members, make we make a point to donate our time and product throughout the year, and we consider Giving Tuesday to be especially important!

 Giving Tuesday is Devoted to Volunteering

This Giving Tuesday our entire San Francisco headquarters will return to Alameda County Community Food Bank. For over 30 years the Alameda County Community Food Bank has distributed millions of healthy meals to communities in need. Their CalFresh critical nutrition program and their ongoing advocacy work also ensure that poverty and nutrition are at the forefront of community conversations and looped into public policy. Last year we bagged and sorted 17,600 pounds of food which equals about 14,600 meals for food-insecure families.

This will be our fourth Giving Tuesday with the food bank but it’s not the only volunteer work we participate in. Throughout the year we offer our time through various volunteer activities scheduled during the week. We’ve worked closely with Project Open Hand, an organization focused on improving nutrition for vulnerable individuals in San Francisco and Oakland. We’ve also spent time at GLIDE, a local community shelter, to help serve and clean up after their lunch program, volunteered with ASPCA, and lastly, we’ve banded together for beach cleanups and local trail maintenance.

Fluxx is gift Matching all November

 This year, along with our annual office-wide Giving Tuesday volunteer excursion, our team will also participate in an employee gift matching program. We are matching dollar for dollar contributions (up to $100 per full-time employee) for the entire month of November. The gifts have been pouring in and our team was encouraged to research and select the charities that matter most to them. We’re thrilled to give back to so many incredible organizations!

Pledge 1% Product Offering

Lastly, as part of Pledge 1% and participants in Giving Tuesday, we’re taking our commitment to nonprofits a step further. Fluxx Grantseeker is our grants management platform for grant seeking organizations, helping them manage their grants, team, reporting, impact updates, and more. While we remain committed to always providing our basic Fluxx Grantseeker toolkit for free, (we know how tight budgets can be for nonprofits) we’re also offering a discount on Grantseeker Premium and Prospecting features. Both of these features are highly sought after – they make it easier for nonprofits to find new funders and maintain funder relationships with advanced reporting and more, but we understand that not every team can afford the monthly fee.

Therefore, in honor of Giving Tuesday, we’re also offering a discount on our Fluxx Grantseeker paid features for an entire year! Teams who are interested can learn more about the reduced pricing on our website.

Our team is thrilled to be a part of Pledge 1% and we look forward to the communal goodwill that Giving Tuesday brings each year. While we strive to maintain the energy of Giving Tuesday year-round, because of our three different, but equally important, participation programs, this year will be particularly special.

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 that the Subscription Economy has the power to benefit everyone. It can democratize access to industries like transportation and housing that, for many, have had high barriers to entry. It can create sustainable communities by more efficiently using resources and commodities. And, it puts people and relationships at the center of every interaction which is essential to creating understanding and collaboration.

 The Subscription Economy–and the move from ownership to usership–is a once-in-a-century shift that is having a major impact on consumers and businesses alike. We believe it will unlock growth, drive new levels of efficiency, and create value.

 But we’ve seen the social benefits of technology fall short, and far too often the promises of strengthened communities turn out to be empty.

 So how do we ensure the gains that we unlock are shared by a broader base of people? Or put another way, we know the Subscription Economy has the power to benefit the world, but how do we ensure those benefits are widely distributed?

 In 2017 Zuora took the 1% Pledge, and committed to using our equity, time, and product for the greater good. And even before this, impassioned employees around the world took the initiative to start volunteering and fundraising efforts to benefit their communities.

Now, it’s time for us to take the next step. “We’re very excited to launch Zuora.org; it’s important for us to be thoughtful about facilitating unique experiences for our employees, experiences that enable them to bring their whole selves to work. This launch will further augment grassroots efforts where ZEO’s–our employees–are able to chart their own path while supporting causes that matter to them and making a difference in the world.” stated Karen Gaydon, SVP ZEO Success.

 Zuora.org comprises three initiatives: the Zuora Impact Fund which invests in mission-aligned non-profits and social enterprises; employee-driven volunteer and fundraising activation; and use of Zuora products and services in the non-profit sector.

The Zuora Impact Fund

At our IPO Zuora set aside 1% of equity to be used to support philanthropic endeavours. And earlier this year, in partnership with the Tides Foundation, we launched the Zuora Impact Fund.

This fund is our opportunity to accelerate the positive impact we make in our communities, and will fund strategic grants to missioned aligned non-profits and social enterprises.

This year Zuora committed $1,000,000 and plans on contributing annually to this fund.  

Z-Philanthropy

At the core of Zuora’s culture, and the heart of Zuora.org, is all of the work that ZEOs, or our global employee base, do in their communities. As ZEOs we know that if we show initiative and put in the work, we’re able to create new opportunities and reach new levels of success. We want to help members of our community do the same, and as such Zuora supports the passions and efforts of all employees.

Non-Profit Enablement

We know that the Subscription Economy will have tremendous benefit to businesses. We want to make sure that the non-profit sector is able to unlock this new opportunity as well.

We’re committed to working with non-profits to help them take advantage of the Subscription Economy to transform the way that they engage with their donors and amplify the good they’re doing for our communities. Later next year, we’ll roll out programs that leverage our product and employee skills to help support non-profits around the world.

While we’re extremely excited with the formation of Zuora.org, we know this is just the start. We look forward to partnering with our employees, our customers and our communities to make sure the Subscription Economy benefits us all.

For more information visit www.zuora.org or reach out to zuora4good@zuora.com.

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.

As the annual celebration of Giving Tuesday drew near this year – and with Zylo’s commitment to Pledge 1% – Zylo recently took the opportunity to donate time and effort to support local organizations and have plans through the month of December.

On a Thursday afternoon before Thanksgiving, more than seventy Zylo employees fanned out across Indianapolis to spend an afternoon volunteering.

This service program, called Zylo on the Streets, supports four types of worthy causes aligned to our employees’ passions and interests:

• Hunger and poverty


• Education


• Environment


• Diversity and inclusion

Through our partnership with the United Way of Central Indiana (UWCI) and individual outreach, our volunteers helped four local organizations focused on two of the core causes mentioned above.

Here are a few of the organizations we were fortunate to be able to support during our afternoon of service:

Helping Veterans and Families of Indiana (HVAF)

HVAF of Indiana is dedicated to empowering Hoosier veterans and their families to end homelessness and return to self-sufficiency. When we visited, HVAF was assisting more than fifty resident veterans by providing housing and other resources.

During our afternoon of service, Zylo volunteers helped spruce up the facility, assisted in set-up work, and helped prepare an annual pre-Thanksgiving dinner for residents and their families.

Second Helpings

Seconds Helpings is a hunger relief agency that focuses on transforming lives through the power of food. Every day, Second Helpings prepares and delivers more than 4,500 meals to a variety of organizations around Central Indiana.

Zylo volunteers helped prepare rescued food ingredients in Second Helping’s Hunger Relief Kitchen. With knives in hand (and beard nets for hirsute team members), the team chopped their way through hundreds of pounds of tomatoes and green beans destined to help fulfill meal prep needs.

Wheeler Mission

For more than 125 years, Wheeler Mission has provided critically needed shelter and services for homeless men, women, and children in Central Indiana.

Through generous donations, Wheeler Mission provides shelter residents with new and gently used clothing. Wheeler also operates a thrift store with proceeds funding life-changing programs such as homelessness prevention, addiction recovery, and employment assistance.

During their afternoon of service, a large team of Zylo volunteers assisted Wheeler by sorting and organizing bulk donations. All told, volunteers processed as many items as Wheeler’s full-time staff accomplish over two working days.

 

Village of Merici

Village of Merici is a non-profit living community for adults with disabilities. Currently housing more than twenty adults and one of the first living communities of its kind in Central Indiana, the Village aims to create a positive community and provide coaching services to these adults, many of whom have never lived alone before. The Village of Merici also serves non-resident adults with disabilities with coaching services and community events.

Zylo volunteers decked the Merici Halls with holiday decorations and spent some quality time visiting with residents.

This December 3, 2019, on Giving Tuesday, Zylo will host a Lunch and Learn session featuring three local non-profits which will present information on how Zylo employees can get involved by volunteering or making financial contributions.

We are also excited to announce a new Zylo tradition to impact the Indianapolis community during the holidays: the first annual Indy Tech Circle of Caring to benefit Wheeler Mission. On December 17, we’ll be set up on Monument Circle for a celebration of generosity in the spirit of the season and partnering up with Sigstr and KSM Consulting.  Learn more at wheelermission.org/circleofcaring/

One way Zylo empowers its employees to offer financial support to organizations like these is through our referral bonus donation program. We offer team members a new-hire referral bonus of a $250 donation to a non-profit of their choice from a list of 15 organizations – and this referral bonus is also available external referral. We believe this is an excellent way to tie our programs to our Pledge 1% commitment and help support worthy local causes.

If you’re considering helping in your community by making a financial contribution or volunteering, please know that you and your team can make an impact – no matter how large or small your organization.

Organizations like the United Way or individual causes can often help support or coordinate efforts of all sizes and means. We highly recommend finding team members within your organization who are passionate about particular causes and then helping facilitate that energy and motivation throughout the wider group.

If you want to learn how to get started making an impact in your community or joining the Pledge 1% movement, please contact Julie Barker (julie@zylo.com) for more information.

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 Bastian Lehmann, Co-founder & CEO of Postmates

Homelessness in San Francisco is an all-hands-on-deck crisis. That’s why a strong majority of voters approved Prop C last November, doubling funding for crucial homeless services with a small tax increase on the city’s largest companies. The tech community was split in the run-up to the vote, but now that the people have spoken, it’s time for us to come together and help make the implementation of Prop C as efficient and effective as possible. As an immigrant who found a welcoming home in San Francisco and started my business here, I feel a special responsibility to this community. I am proud to stand with Mayor London Breed and empower her to put Postmates’ tax dollars to work right away helping our homeless neighbors. I encourage my fellow tech executives to do the same.

 

Although a San Francisco Superior Court judge has upheld Prop C, which was approved by 60 percent of voters, appeals are likely to keep the measure tied up in court for a long time to come. Until all legal challenges are resolved, the city can collect but not spend the new revenue. But the homelessness crisis can’t wait — not when nearly 10,000 people go to sleep each night in San Francisco without a roof over their heads, unsure of where they’ll find their next meal, hot shower, or medical care. That’s a 30 percent increase since 2017. The situation on our streets is unsafe, unjust, and unsustainable. We all have to step up with a sense of solidarity and urgency, starting with companies like Postmates that have benefited from all this city has to offer.

 

Our tech community is known around the world for putting innovation to work in solving seemingly impossible problems. That’s what’s needed right now to tackle the homelessness crisis in own backyard. Tech companies may not be able to solve this problem alone, but we can bring significant energy, resources, and creativity to the fight.

 

Waiving restrictions on our Prop C taxes is an important step. Tech companies and the broader business community should also work with city leaders, service providers, and advocates for the homeless to strengthen the safety net, expand access to mental health care and transitional housing, streamline bureaucratic systems, and support the construction of more affordable housing so fewer people lose their homes to begin with. Postmates is new to this fight, but we are eagerly working with organizations like the TechEquity Collaborative and encouraging other companies, big and small, to come along on this journey with us.

 

Next year, San Francisco companies will face another test of our commitment to being good citizens when a measure to normalize commercial property taxes across California goes on the ballot. The so-called “split roll” reform would preserve protections for homeowners and farmers in place since Proposition 13 passed in 1978, add new benefits for small businesses and start-ups, and provide an estimated $11.4 billion in new revenue to support schools, homeless services, affordable housing, and other vital local programs. Almost 80 percent of the new revenue would come from just 8 percent of commercial properties across the state, all of them worth more than $3 million each and taxed at below-market-rate taxes for years or even decades.

 

While no business likes to pay higher taxes, this is a common-sense reform whose time has come. Postmates is proud to stand with Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the California Teachers Association, and the California Federation of Teachers in supporting split roll — and I encourage the broader tech community to join us as well.

 

Our city faces real challenges, and to solve them the public and private sectors have to be partners, not adversaries. We should continue to support youth empowerment programs like Opportunities for All. We should stand up for the housing bond. Together we should support Mayor Breed’s call for comprehensive tax reform to make the city’s code fairer and simpler. Companies should stop grumbling about paying their fair share and city leaders should follow a comprehensive approach rather than trying to score political points with one-off tax measures targeting specific industries.

 

San Francisco is my home. It’s the city where I built my business and am raising my family. For me and for Postmates, waiving the restrictions on Prop C taxes and supporting split roll are signals of our commitment to being part of the effort to reduce homelessness and improve the quality of life for all our neighbors. I hope my fellow tech leaders will see it the same way.

 

Bastian Lehmann is the Co-Founder & CEO of Postmates. The company was founded in San Francisco in 2011.

Link to original article.

Silverline’s internal initiative, Silverline Cares, supports the Pledge 1% Movement. One of their chief philanthropic efforts includes giving back to Project Sunshine, a nonprofit that supports pediatric patients and their families in NYC and beyond. Silverline’s work includes assembling interactive kits for children during team building activities at their in-person orientation and regional company events.

By Silverline CRM.

When a young family member or friend is undergoing medical treatment, there is uncertainty, fear, and a great deal of the unknown. Although true relief doesn’t come until young patients are home with a clean bill of health, small doses of comfort can sometimes be found along the way.

Enter Project Sunshine: supporting children facing medical challenges

Project Sunshine is a nonprofit organization that works with an international network of hospitals and volunteers. Their goal? To help bring pediatric patients and their families a sense of joy and normalcy during hospital stays or extended waits. Project Sunshine delivers packages of happiness — in the form of craft projects, journals, coloring materials, and other hands-on experiences — to the youngest of patients.

Silverline has worked with Project Sunshine for the last year on giving back to pediatric patients across the country. We’ve conducted team building initiatives at our different locations — including our NYC headquarters, Atlanta, Omaha, and beyond — that directly support Project Sunshine’s mission. We even incorporated a Project Sunshine activity into our most recent new hire orientation by assembling and packaging a craft project for kids awaiting medical care.

Managing multiple needs with Salesforce

Recently, we helped Project Sunshine make their internal dreams a reality. Before Silverline, Project Sunshine was using an NPSP Enterprise edition of Salesforce Sales and Service Clouds to track volunteer information and program activities. They were also interested in using Salesforce to manage donations, donor information, and grants.

To address all of Project Sunshine’s needs, Silverline created a Donation Management Application on Lightning, installed Classy for online donation tracking, and developed assets to help NPSP users easily discover trends, whitespace, and deep fundraising event analytics. In addition, Silverline personalized pages for donors and volunteers, which featured key insights into their relationships as well as recorded historical activities. Finally, Silverline imported historical donor data — spanning a 5-year period — from existing spreadsheets, which enabled Project Sunshine to run real-time analytics on donor data, households, and corporate donations programs/matching.

One database to streamline all donor activity

Once Salesforce became the database of record for all donor, volunteer, event, and in-kind inventory tracking, the Project Sunshine marketing team used marketing automation to create targeted and personalized donor campaigns based on giving levels and prior donation history.

“Working with Silverline has been a dream from start to finish,” says Katy Kienitz, Director of Corporate Partnerships at Project Sunshine. “Not only did they help us customize Salesforce to match our fundraising and communications needs, but the staff has been such a pleasure to work with. It is clear Silverline takes great care in hiring the most knowledgeable and professional team who also care about doing good in the world. After our pro-bono work with their teams, we have been excited to engage Silverline employees in an ongoing volunteer program where individual team members can give back to the patients and families we serve at Project Sunshine.”

No matter where you are in your Salesforce journey, Silverline can help you get started on the path to a better digital experience.

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.

Appfire has been part of the Pledge 1% movement from its first year, and we’re always asking how we can do more to integrate giving into our DNA as a company.

Earlier this year, we created a Slack channel dedicated to #LivingThePledge where we share updates about volunteering year-round. And this November was our first-ever “Be Human” month where we encouraged the entire Appfire family to get out there and volunteer with organizations that matter to them.

With employees spread across the globe, it has been incredible to see how our team chose to give 1%.

One of our teammates in Hyderabad, India spearheaded a food drive at the office for the “Fill the Fridge” program run by Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC). Another team member in Denver, CO helped serve breakfast at a local children’s home for kids who have survived trauma and abuse. Another colleague in Boston volunteered with a meal program for the homeless population. We have another teammate who has been coordinating a whole team to volunteer with a tech training program for people living in rural Kentucky.

Rallying our peers to join the movement

As part of the Pledge 1% Builder Program, we’re committed to giving extra resources and encouraging others to take the Pledge. We’re constantly asking ourselves how we can maximize our impact — how we can do more. The answer? Rally our community. For us, that’s the Atlassian ecosystem.

That’s why we’ve made a special donation of $50,000 to Pledge 1%, and we’re inviting other Atlassian vendors and partners to donate as well. After sharing this vision with Atlassian CEO Scott Farquhar, he pledged to match any donations from other ecosystem partners up to $1 million.

We are truly lucky to partner with Atlassian to give back in this way and others. This past April, our team volunteered with the Atlassian Foundation during the company’s Summit conference working on a project to support aspiring female coders. We loved that work so much that we’ve signed on to be the official Atlassian Foundation sponsor for the 2020 Summit event.

There are always more ways to live the Pledge

Last year, we announced the launch of our socially-conscious app brand, Feed Three, the first of its kind on the Atlassian Marketplace. Since then, our first Feed Three product has grown and gained momentum, and we’re working to see even more progress in 2020.

Earlier this year, Appfire was invited to attend MIT’s Solve event. I attended on behalf of the Atlassian Foundation, and I wound up as an advisor to several projects with the potential to have a global impact by addressing some of society’s most challenging issues.

More recently, we just closed on the sale of one of our apps to another vendor, and to our delight, they suggested donating the proceeds of the sale to charity. We jumped at the opportunity to turn “business as usual” into making an impact. Now, those funds have been given to the Appfire Foundation to be distributed among various nonprofit charities.

You never know how you can integrate the pledge into your life, once you’re open to it. So this Giving Tuesday, remember that you can start anywhere — you too can take the Pledge.