Horizon helps fulfill its Pledge 1% goals for both time and profit through its robust partnership with Perspectives Math & Science Academy (MSA), a high school located on Chicago’s south side focused on educating the whole child. Providing classroom instruction isn’t enough to help these students get and stay on a path of personal success. Daily, many students confront poverty, violence and trauma, which affects how they show up in the classroom and can derail them at any point during their academic journey.
Horizon’s partnership with MSA began in December of 2016, with a holiday donation drive for MSA’s 50 homeless students. Due to the generosity of employees, Horizon was able to provide the homeless students and their families a brighter holiday.
Since then, Horizon has expanded the partnership with MSA to focus on three main areas of impact: infrastructure support, programming support and employee engagement.
Horizon’s infrastructure support led to the addition of water stations throughout the school, so the students can access lead-free water. Additionally, Horizon was able to underwrite the cost of students creating and installing multiple large mosaics at the school, construct a peace and meditation room, a central front office, a technology lab, as well as paint the rod iron exterior fence.
Horizon underwrites several programs at the school, including the robotics club, a personalized math, science and humanities curriculum, an entrepreneurship class, a drone after school program, a poetry club, and a workshop series on storytelling and documentary film making.
Horizon employees have donated more than tens of thousands of dollars through its quarterly donation drives, as well as more than 100 hours of their time to help beautify the school and mentor the students. Employees are frequent visitors at the school, conducting mock interviewing sessions and talking with the students about their STEM career paths. Additionally, employees have leveraged their day-to-day jobs in creative ways that lead to impact. For example, our IT department has donated 133 refurbished laptops and 10 printers and our facilities team has donated more than 100 items of furniture no longer needed.
Providing resources that help meet the school’s infrastructure, programming and students’ social emotional needs has been incredibly rewarding, but the personal connection between students and Horizon employees has been the most inspiring. Students are encouraged to grow intellectually and explore STEM career options, while Horizon employees have internalized that they can positively influence the local community at a personal level with the support of their company.
We often wonder “how tough is my life?,” but if we look around, there are many people who are facing tougher challenges than us. It is not always about food, shelter, or clothing, but also getting the right education to stand on your own feet so that you can offer a helping hand to someone tomorrow. Giving back is not an act, it is a feeling which is beyond words, and the biggest reward is the realization that you’ve made a change in someone’s life.
When CEPTES joined the global Pledge 1% movement, we had only one thought in our mind, “Let’s try to feed every hungry soul.” There are hundreds of families who go to bed on an empty stomach. Every human deserves food, shelter, and clothing with education & healthcare. So in order to give it back to the community 1% of our time, profit and product, we started an initiative called “Community Fridge“. This initiative is being led by our co-founder Mr. Priyaranjan Panigrahy for CEPTES.
A community fridge is a small initiative which is enabling allies in and around the Indian city of Bengaluru to join hands in order to offer food to poor and needy people. We have placed a public fridge for those having surplus food to supply. Needy people can then come and get food from this community fridge. It allows us to feed people who are unprivileged without hurting their dignity.
This initiative soon caught the eyes of many local residents and nearby restaurants who are now keeping food inside the fridge. Initially, our community fridge was feeding 20-30 people every day, but with time the number of food donors has significantly increased, and our community fridge is now serving around 80-100 people every day. Whenever we see someone needy having food from our community fridge, it gives us great motivation and belief that we are really giving it back.
Sometimes the tiniest generous act can ignite change and spread a positive impact in the society by offering a revived sense of hope. The small community fridge which started serving food is now offering free books, as well as toys, to unprivileged kids. Every month, we conduct an event in our office for all our employees, where each one of them contributes their time in collecting food as well as books, clothes, and toys for our community fridge.
At Strillobyte, we strongly believe that businesses, no matter the size, have a responsibility to improve the world we are living in. A ‘giving back’ business culture is fundamental to us to fulfil our mission.
As a company that builds chatbots, websites and mobile applications, we see tech as a tool that can empower people to spread their messages of hope and change all around the world.
The importance of giving a voice to these people is a mission to which Strillobyte pledges.
How does Strillobyte do that?
We pledge at least 1% of our time to give back to the community. As a micro-business, this type of commitment is the perfect fit for us. Our staff have very specific skills in designing and building digital products. At the beginning of 2018, we decided to offer our expertise to the team of volunteers who run TEDxLondon.
TEDxLondon is a non-profit organization devoted to spreading ideas surfacing hidden stories of London and Londoners that might not have a voice otherwise. At a TEDxLondon event, TED Talks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connections. All of our team have joined the organisation as volunteers, on average spending 2.5 hours per week on related activities. These include managing the TEDxLondon website, offering assistance and guidance with any tech-related issues and also helping with the communication strategy on the various social media channels.
Pledging part of our working hours to supporting TEDxLondon has helped Strillobyte achieve its goal of making a positive impact through our people. It has also improved our company culture, and we’ve had the opportunity to meet people with extraordinary stories and points of view that helped us grow as a team and as individuals.
We recommend joining the Pledge 1% initiative to all our fellow tech and creative companies around the world. Pledging 1% of your resources can be as a little as the equivalent of the time you spend in
your coffee breaks, but it can make a great difference to someone else’s life.
This commitment led to the creation of Mumspring Foundation. This year, through the Genesis Project, we empowered and provided over 100 at-risk women with sterile delivery kits to prevent infections during childbirth. Our 1% program enabled our employees express their HEARTfor the community by making a difference with their paid expertise and time.
The process
We don’t think giving money is enough and don’t think giving with blind faith is enough. So we make each person do a dragons den style business case with the following process:
- Explain the root problem they are passionate and the outcome they value.
- Identify the charities that are providing solutions.
- Explain that charities bottlenecks and struggles.
- They choose the best way to help them whether consulting time, money or organizing something else.
Examples of maximising ROI
David supports a charity that works with suicide prevention. When they saved a person’s life he sent them a 100 packets of lifesavers to help them celebrate the wins and keep morale high. That $30 investment boost productivity and commitment to the cause.
Mark supports a charity working with vulnerable families. He went to their offices and helped them optimize their internal processes.
Sebastien cares about the environment. He saved a charity time by implementing a document generation tool for them after they do environmental assessments at homes saving them thousands in volunteer time.
Daniel despises human tracking. So he offered free advice around marketing and fundraising campaigns. He then provided them cash to fund their next fundraising campaign would have the best ROI.
The outcome
Everybody gets to live out their values, our impact is a catalyst for positive change and we are helping others be wise about how they invest. We encourage you to not give to a big brand charity but really dwell on the ROI of your giving.
Originally published by PRWeb
The SAFe 4.6 role-based curriculum is designed to increase success rates for global enterprises and government agencies using Lean, Agile, and DevOps
BOULDER, Colo. (PRWEB) November 09, 2018
Scaled Agile, Inc., provider of the leading framework for enterprise agility, today announced the availability of training and certification for the 4.6 version of SAFe®. The new and enhanced courses are designed to help enterprises accelerate their competitive advantage in the marketplace through the practice of Lean, Agile, and DevOps.
The unifying theme throughout Scaled Agile’s role-based curriculum is the Five Core Competencies of the Lean Enterprise, a SAFe 4.6 initiative that focuses on creating a culture of continuous improvement and value creation for the end customer with minimal waste and processes.
The SAFe 4.6 training program includes 10 courses and professional certifications designed to meet the needs of Lean-Agile professionals from the beginning of their learning journey through their veteran years as they practice, consult, or train others in SAFe:
Core courses updated to SAFe 4.6:
- Leading SAFe® with SAFe® Agilist (SA) certification—Developing the Five Core Competencies of the Lean Enterprise
- SAFe® Scrum Master with SAFe® Scrum Master (SSM) certification—Applying the Scrum Master role within a SAFe® enterprise
- SAFe® for Teams with SAFe® Practitioner (SP) certification—Establishing team agility for Agile Release Trains
- SAFe® Product Owner/Product Manager with SAFe Product Owner/Product Manager (POPM) certification—Delivering value through effective Program Increment execution
- SAFe® DevOps with SAFe® DevOps Practitioner (SDP) certification—Enabling Release on Demand for the Lean enterprise
Advanced courses updated to SAFe 4.6:
- Implementing SAFe® with SAFe® Program Consultant (SPC) certification—Implementing the Scaled Agile Framework® for Lean Enterprises
- SAFe® Advanced Scrum Master with SAFe® Advanced Scrum Master (SASM) certification—Advancing Scrum Master servant leadership with SAFe®
- SAFe® Release Train Engineer with SAFe® Release Train Engineer (RTE) certification—Facilitating Lean-Agile program execution
New SAFe 4.6 core courses:
- SAFe® Agile Software Engineering with SAFe® Agile Software Engineer (ASE) certification—Enabling technical agility for the Lean enterprise
- SAFe® for Government with SAFe® Government Practitioner (SGP) certification—Applying Lean-Agile practices in the public sector with SAFe®
Scaled Agile’s role-based curriculum leverages the latest in learning science to create learner-centric experiences that propel success for the individual and the business. “The design and development of our curriculum is informed by learning theories and practices from the fields of cognitive psychology, education, and neuroscience,” said Jennifer Fawcett, Director of Learning and Certification, Scaled Agile. “Classroom experiences combined with valuable resources in the SAFe Community Platform provide each student with an active, engaging, and collaborative learning environment.”
Chris James, Scaled Agile’s President and Chief Operating Officer, noted, “As the practice of SAFe continues to expand globally, the demand for SAFe training and certification is accelerating. This new offering of courses represents the next, most important step in meeting that demand and building out Scaled Agile’s role-based curriculum. We remain laser-focused on providing world-class courseware that is standardized to produce the most consistent results, even in the most complex and diverse environments.”
Descriptions of each course and registration information for public SAFe classes can be found at scaledagile.com/which-course.
About Scaled Agile, Inc.:
Scaled Agile, Inc., is the provider of SAFe®, the world’s leading framework for enterprise agility. Through learning and certification, a global partner network, and a growing community of over 300,000 trained professionals, Scaled Agile helps enterprises build better systems, increase employee engagement, and improve business outcomes. Scaled Agile is a contributing member of the Pledge 1% corporate philanthropy and community service movement. Learn about Scaled Agile and SAFe at scaledagile.com and scaledagileframework.com.
Originally published by SmartCompany
Social impact and philanthropic gestures have long gone hand-in-hand with the world of startups, as billion-dollar companies and investors strive to put their wealth to good use.
Bill and Melinda Gates’ foundation has all but eradicated polio, Salesforce founder Marc Benioff and his wife Lynne have donated millions to healthcare organisations, and Warren Buffett has donated over $40 billion dollars since the turn of the century.
And while this may seem to many like the exclusive realm of the mega-rich and mega-successful, the founders of Aussie startup success story Atlassian say they want every company, big or small, to do their bit for charity.
This is in part because Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar have been doing their bit for charity since the early days of the company, creating the basis for what’s known today as the Atlassian Foundation just a few years after the company’s founding in 2002.
Speaking to StartupSmart, head of the Atlassian Foundation Mark Reading says the two’s philanthropic efforts date back to the SaaS company’s formative years, with the two founders pledging from early on to follow Marc Benioff’s 1-1-1 model of giving back.
This model sees a company pledge 1% of its resources, equity, profit and employee time towards philanthropy and giving back, and to date, the Atlassian Foundation has donated over $23 million to charities and over 37,000 hours of employee time.
Reading says the founders decided “the most impactful” thing they could do was change the lives of disadvantaged youths, choosing to donate to education-focused charities.
However, four years ago, the company decided to kick it up a notch, and partnered with Salesforce and Rally to create a new movement to get other companies involved with the 1-1-1 model.
“We began the Pledge 1% movement to make giving back a core part of more organisations,” Reading says.
“If every single founder embedded giving 1% back into their business model, we could mobilise some serious global resources for social good.”
Reading says the push is based on the founders’ belief business has a huge opportunity to contribute positively to society, and them wanting as many businesses as possible to make a 1% contribution to make it the “new normal”.
“Just the same way you save a portion of equity in a new business for future employees, we want every business to commit just 1% of their equity for good,” he says.
“I couldn’t imagine starting a new business today without investing at least 1% of your resources for good.”
And while 1% may not sound a lot for a small startup in its early days, Reading says as long as its embedded in the company from the beginning, the amount given will scale as the company does.
Due to Atlassian’s long-standing commitment to philanthropy, Reading claims the Atlassian Foundation is the second-largest foundation of its type in the country.
“The earlier you get on board, the easier it is,” he says.
Reading even says the pledge has been a “great business decision” for Atlassian too, though an unintended one, as the company has found it easier to attract great talent due to its prominent dedication to giving back.
Social enterprise sector still lagging
As part of the efforts, Farquhar will be participating in the ‘Fastest Executive Race’ for education charity Room to Read in Sydney this week. Though he admits he hasn’t seen Farquhar run, Reading says the word in the Atlassian corridors is the executive has “Buckley’s chance” of coming out on top.
Looking broadly at the social enterprise space in Australia, Reading says there’s definitely “room for improvement” locally compared to efforts being made in the US and the UK.
“We’re probably not as advanced as some other countries, but we’re definitely doing great things. I think it comes down to the whole ecosystem doing its part,” he says.
“It has always been said the not-for-profit sector achieves so much with so little, and the for-profit sector achieves so little with so much, so we’re hoping to do our part to flip that on its head.”
Originally published by Webwire
Northern California IT Startup Joins Growing List of US Companies Devoting Resources to Philanthropic Causes
Cloud Pathfinder Consulting (CPC), an emerging IT startup enabling business clients to fully harness the capabilities of Salesforce customer relationship management (CRM) software tools, today proudly announced it has joined the Pledge 1% movement. Founded in 2014 as a joint philanthropy project of Salesforce, Atlassian and Rally, Pledge 1% encourages progressive companies of any size to formally devote one percent of resources—equity, time, product or profit—to nonprofit organizations serving their local community and beyond.
In keeping with the goals of the Pledge 1% movement, CPC will formally commit at least one percent of employee time and net profits to directly aid Merivis Foundation. A Texas-based nonprofit, Merivis shares CPC’s core mission of rewarding America’s military veterans and their families with valuable Salesforce skills training, certifications and job placement as a starting point for prosperous civilian careers.
“We recognize Pledge 1% as a terrific pipeline for companies to ’give back’ to their communities,” said CPC founder and CEO Jesse Grothaus, an Army Reserve veteran who served several overseas deployments. “Merivis Foundation is a perfect match for us to lend our specific Salesforce expertise—and share our success with a larger group of fellow veterans.”
“We’ve already achieved great success stories in training and mentoring veterans with the in-depth Salesforce skills so many employers are struggling to find,” said Hector Perez Jr., president of Merivis Foundation Board of Directors. “We couldn’t find a better partner than CPC, and we gladly accept their assistance toward helping give veterans a leg up in today’s competitive job market”
About Cloud Pathfinder Consulting
Founded in 2017, Cloud Pathfinder Consulting (CPC) enables business clients to reap maximum advantages from the Salesforce customer relationship management (CRM) platform, from navigating front-end setup (consulting, planning, training and migration) through back-end support, including full data integration management, reporting and advanced analytics, with a range of service tiers tailored to meet the needs of companies of every size. CPC is also among select recipients of the Salesforce Impact Fund, Salesforce Ventures’ $50 million commitment to accelerate promising new companies which utilize Salesforce tools to benefit society. A veteran-owned small business based in Northern California. For more information, visit www.cloudpathfinderconsulting.com .
About Merivis Foundation
Merivis Foundation supports veterans preparing for their next missions through training, mentorship and job readiness for Salesforce cloud technology positions. With a growing need for Salesforce certified professionals and an increasing numbers of underemployed veterans in the country, they bridge the gap to help veterans transition to civilian life and find great careers. Learn more at www.merivisfoundation.org .
About Pledge 1%
Pledge 1% is an effort spearheaded by Atlassian, Rally, Salesforce and Tides to accelerate their shared vision around integrating philanthropy into businesses around the world. Pledge 1% encourages and challenges individuals and companies to pledge 1% of equity, profit, product and/or employee time for their communities, because pledging a small portion of future success can have a huge impact on tomorrow. Pledge 1% offers companies turnkey tools and best practices, making it accessible for any company to incorporate philanthropy into their business model. To learn more or to take the pledge, please visit www.pledge1percent.org .