Diana Akelman usually goes at things at 110 percent. But recently she’s found something appealing about 1 percent. Pledge 1% Boston, that is. Akelman was part of a wave of new members to the movement during Pledge 1% Boston’s ambitious “60 x 60” campaign at the end of 2017: to double its membership from 30 to 60 in 60 days.

Pledge 1% Boston is the regional arm of the global Pledge 1% movement, which rallies founders and companies—especially, but not exclusively, new or young ones—to pledge early in their organization’s life to give 1% of equity and other resources for social change.

For Akelman, founder and CEO of software startup PetPocketbook, Pledge 1% is a concrete way to make a tangible commitment toward the company’s social mission: reducing the number of pets surrendered because pet parents lack access to the help they need in caring for them.

PetPocketbook offers pet care companies—typically pen and paper operations—a mobile and web platform for running their dog walking, sitting or training business in a 21st century way. Ultimately, Akelman sees PetPocketbook having a nonprofit arm to create efficiencies for and foster collaboration across the animal rescue community.

Globally, Pledge 1% has signed on thousands of members like Akelman; Pledge 1% Boston, which launched in 2016, now has 66 members (and growing) thanks to the resounding success of “60 x 60.” Thirty new business leaders pledged 1% in that short span, with more joining since.

Phil Strazzulla and Yash Ambardekar, co-founders of Next Wave Hire, were drawn to the “give-before-you-get” mentality of Pledge 1% Boston.

That includes Phil Strazzulla and Yash Ambardekar, co-founders of NextWave Hire. The two became friends at Harvard Innovation Labs, and eventually united their skills to launch a B2B company that powers customers’ career websites and recruiting operations. “We help customers tell their story as to why they’re an interesting place to work,” they say. Having learned about Pledge 1% Boston from member Pranam Lipinski of Door of Clubs, they were all in. “We like that Pledge 1% is a network of likeminded entrepreneurs who want to give back to community in a meaningful way,” says Ambardekar. “The give-before-you-get mentality resonated with me the most.”

They have each pledged 1% of founder equity. Both enjoy thinking about how that pledge can take shape. Feeling they’ve been fortunate in the opportunities afforded them, they want to give back by providing opportunities to others. For his part, Ambardekar gravitates to “entrepreneurship as a vehicle to help people start dreaming big—especially in lower socioeconomic communities.” Strazzulla adds, “I think it takes some work from people who have advantages to try to figure out how to level the playing field for everyone. I would love to chip away at what’s hindering social mobility.” Pledge 1% encourages these entrepreneurs to dream, and network their dreams. That’s a win for everyone.

Originally published on the Eventerprise blog.

Zurich, Switzerland, 15 September 2017 – Global events platform, Eventerprise has today announced the official launch of its Corporate Social Responsibility initiative – Africa’s Got Digital Talent. It’s goal is to provide career-defining digital and entrepreneurial skills to talented young African students who are keen to participate in Eventerprise’s international Young Gun internship program, but who may not have the financial resources to make it a reality.

Research conducted by Eventerprise indicated that a lack of access to financial resources, transport, and digital resources such as laptops and broadband internet are preventing many students from  completing internships that could launch their careers. This has prompted Eventerprise’s outreach to international corporations and foundations to sponsor these young people so that they can travel to Eventerprise’s operational hub in Cape Town, South Africa and participate in their Young Gun internship program.

Says Eventerprise CEO, Götz Thümecke, “Technology is central to our daily lives, but not all have access to the benefits and opportunities it offers. Eventerprise is committed to bridging these information and skills gaps for the people who would benefit the most. Together with our global partners and employees around the world, we’re working to fulfill Eventerprise’s mission to empower those who lack crucial digital skills as well as financial resources so that they can achieve professional success in today’s agile working environment.”

The Young Gun program is active throughout the year and has received overwhelmingly positive feedback from students and alumni of well-known universities around the world, including the United States, Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands, who have all successfully completed 3 – 6 month internships at Eventerprise’s Cape Town offices.

According to co-founder of Eventerprise, Charlie Wright, “Young Gun interns are actively involved in go-to-market projects and strategies that revolve around diverse disciplines such as digital sales and marketing, business analysis, financial modeling, and UX design, equipping them with the necessary digital, business management and leadership skills to be successful in their chosen careers. They are proactively coached and steered throughout their internships by a hands-on leadership team with a combined 80+ years of management and award-winning industry experience.”

For less than $650 per month, interested parties can help to offer the same career-defining opportunities to qualifying African students, with 100% of sponsorships reserved for the exclusive use of the sponsored candidate.

Corporations or foundations that would like to get involved with this initiative can discover more at the dedicated Africa’s Got Digital Talent information page. US-based organisations are invited to get in touch with Eventerprise CEO, Götz Thümecke, who will be participating in a leading accelerator program in San Francisco over the next three months.

About

Eventerprise is a global platform that connects event service, product, and venue providers (event suppliers) with potential clients around the world. Through interactive profiles, event suppliers can showcase their unique offerings, key strengths and reviews, allowing event hosts to send requests to potential suppliers across different categories and geographical locations.

New Partnership with Web Summit Inspires Companies Large and Small to Join Pledge 1%

New Orleans, Louisiana – May 3, 2018  – Pledge 1%, the global movement to make giving back the norm for companies of all sizes and stages, announced today that it reached 5000 members in 100 countries.  With a growth rate of 150% a year since its inception, Pledge 1% includes some of today’s tech leaders like Salesforce, Atlassian, Box, and Yelp, recent IPOs such as Docusign, Twilio, Nutanix, and Okta, and some of today’s fast growing companies like Postmates, Pluralsight, MediaMath, Harry’s and PagerDuty, among others.

Named by Fast Company in 2017  the #1 Most Innovative Non profit in the World and One of the top 50 Most Innovative Companies, Pledge 1% has helped founders integrate giving back into their company cultures and values from the start by committing to give 1% of equity, time, product, and/or profit to any cause of their choice. The movement has scaled tremendously over the past three years and its member companies have already ignited over $500 million in new philanthropy.

Through a new partnership with Web Summit, Pledge 1% is at Collision this week, helping founders learn more about the movement and how their companies can have an impact. In addition to recruiting new members at the Pledge 1% expo booth, the Pledge 1% message of social impact, sustainability, and corporate values are being shared by leaders of the movement from the Collision stage.

Harry’s founder Jeff Raider emphasized during his talk on “How to create the next big thing” his motivation as a founder to “create a company that impacts millions of people, and stands for something good in the world.”   Harry’s, a proud Pledge 1% member donates 1% of sales to organizations that are aligned with their ambition to help guys navigate what it means to be a man today.  “This is completely central to what we do and key to our success. In addition to being the right thing to do, we believe having a positive impact has also enabled us to attract top talent, loyal customers, and become a more sustainable business.  We encourage other companies to join the Pledge 1% movement and integrate giving back into their core values.”

In her session on sustainability and big business, Salesforce’s Chief Philanthropy Officer Suzanne DiBianca asserted, “We believe companies are the greatest platform for social change.”

Jenna Griffith, COO of MediaMath explained in her panel “Can a company be a force for more than just Profit” that  “Pledge 1% is an opportunity for MediaMath to further demonstrate its commitment to philanthropic initiatives and make an impact. In addition to providing dedicated time and technology, our equity pledge, and the work of MediaMath.org, our Pledge 1% program is a key driver in shaping our company culture and enables a scalable model for giving as MediaMath’s business grows.”

“Every day, we’re welcoming Pledge 1% members who are exchanging ideas, iterating on each others best practices, and developing new innovative ways to leverage their company’s assets to be a force for good,” says Amy Lesnick, Chief Executive of Pledge 1%. “As our membership grows, so does the peer-to-peer learning, collaboration, and leadership among our community.  Pledge 1%, founders are realizing that they can have an impact early on by integrating these values into the DNA of their company and unleashing the creativity of their employees. It’s something that is a deep part of their company culture, identity, and story. We’re proud to celebrate reaching 5,000 members with the many partners, leaders, and builders who are helping take this movement to the next level.”

To learn more about Pledge 1% or to join the movement, visit www.pledge1percent.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, product and 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.

Originally published on Markets Insider.

TORONTO, May 3, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), the global leader in CRM, today announced that Salesforce Ventures, the company’s global corporate investment group, has launched the Canada Trailblazer Fund, a $100 million fund to invest in Canadian startups and fuel cloud innovation and customer success in the region. Salesforce Ventures has supported the Canadian startup community since 2011, investing in innovative Canadian companies such as Vidyard and LeadSift.

Comments on the News:

“There is incredible innovation happening in Canada today and we want to encourage and empower the next generation of enterprise cloud startups in the region,” said John Somorjai, EVP of Corporate Development and Salesforce Ventures at Salesforce. “Salesforce Ventures’ Canada Trailblazer Fund is a commitment to our mission to help startups grow and enable our customers to reach new levels of success.”

“Canada is recognized as an excellent place to start and build globally competitive technology companies,” said the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Canadian Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development. “Corporate initiatives such as Salesforce Ventures’ new Canada Trailblazer Fund provide valuable support to technology entrepreneurs throughout their start-and-scale journey. I congratulate Salesforce on the launch of this important new fund, and look forward to future successes as they make progress toward their goal of investing $2 billion in Canadian businesses in the next five years.”

“Salesforce Ventures is an incredibly strong partner to Canadian startups,” said Ali Asaria, CEO and founder of Tulip, a mobile platform built for next generation retail store associates to offer a world-class omnichannel experience. “Their investment and the unique access we get to the Salesforce ecosystem has enabled us to expand our business faster and maintain that rapid pace of growth.”

Empowering Canadian Startups through Salesforce Ventures’ Canada Trailblazer Fund

IDC forecasts that Canada’s public cloud software market will grow almost six times faster than on-premise software deployments to reach C$4.1 billion by 2019¹. Salesforce Ventures’ Canada Trailblazer Fund will provide funding and support to the companies driving this growth and empower entrepreneurs to deliver unique capabilities to Salesforce customers.

The first round of funding recipients include:

• Tier1CRM: A provider of cloud-based CRM solutions for the capital markets industry built on Salesforce.


• Traction Guest: A developer of cloud-based visitor management systems (VMS) that enable global enterprises to shape the workplace experience, strengthen security and leverage visitor data with its Salesforce integration.


• Tulip: A mobile application provider focused on empowering workers in retail stores. Tulip integrates with Salesforce to deliver simple-to-use apps for store associates to look up products, manage customer information, check out shoppers and personalize the customer experience.


• OSF Commerce: A top digital cloud transformation specialist focused on building multi-cloud and unified commerce projects using Salesforce.

Driving customer success and innovation with World Tour Toronto and Dreampitch

The unveiling of the fund kicks off Salesforce World Tour Toronto, taking place today at Beanfield Centre. The Salesforce World Tour is a global roadshow where Trailblazers share how they’re using the Customer Success Platform to create connected customer experiences, learn new skills, innovate at their companies and shape the future. World Tour Toronto will feature a keynote from Salesforce CFO Mark Hawkins, specialized breakout sessions for every role and industry and live demos of cutting-edge technologies.

As part of World Tour Toronto, Salesforce Ventures will also host its first Canadian Dreampitch competition. Three early-stage Canadian startups that have built products leveraging the Salesforce Platform will pitch to a panel of expert judges and compete for an opportunity to win a $100,000 USD investment from Salesforce Ventures.

Committed to the growth and success of Canadian businesses

Salesforce recently announced its intent to invest $2 billion in its Canadian business over the next five years. More than 6,000 Canadian companies are using Salesforce to connect with their customers in new ways across sales, service, marketing, commerce and more. Additionally, Canadians have earned more than 87,000 badges on Trailhead — Salesforce’s free, gamified online learning platform — acquiring the skills needed to succeed in today’s technology-driven economy and be part of Salesforce’s flourishing ecosystem.

Additional Information

• Join Salesforce, alongside thousands of customer Trailblazers, at World Tour Toronto today: https://www.salesforce.com/events/


• To learn more about Salesforce Ventures, please visit: www.salesforce.com/ventures


• To learn more about how Salesforce is driving workforce development with Trailhead, please visit: https://trailhead.salesforce.com/en

Connect with Salesforce

• Like Salesforce on Facebook http://facebook.com/salesforce


• Follow @salesforce and @SalesforceVC on Twitter


• IDC Software Tracker 2017

About Salesforce

Salesforce, the global leader in CRM, empowers companies to connect with their customers in a whole new way. Salesforce has headquarters in San Francisco, with offices in Europe and Asia, and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “CRM.” For more information about Salesforce, visit: www.salesforce.com.

About Salesforce Ventures

Salesforce, the global leader in CRM, empowers companies to connect with their customers in a whole new way. Salesforce Ventures — the company’s corporate investment group — invests in the next generation of enterprise technology that extends the power of the Salesforce Customer Success Platform. Portfolio companies receive funding, access to the world’s largest cloud ecosystem and guidance from Salesforce’s innovators and executives. With Salesforce Ventures, portfolio companies can also leverage Salesforce’s expertise in corporate philanthropy by joining Pledge 1% to make giving back part of their business model. Salesforce Ventures has invested in more than 275 enterprise cloud startups in 17 countries since 2009. For more information, please visit www.salesforce.com/ventures.

BOULDER, COLO. (PRWEB) MAY 01, 2018

Scaled Agile, Inc., provider of SAFe®, the world’s leading framework for enterprise agility, today announced it has recently moved to a 27,000-square-foot office space at 5400 Airport Blvd. The space was formally unveiled during an open house event in February.

The new headquarters allows Scaled Agile to better accommodate the company’s current number of team members as well as provide for anticipated further growth. Scaled Agile hired 30 new team members in the past six months and will be hiring up to as many as 40 new employees in sales, marketing, course content development, and engineering teams. For more information about career opportunities at Scaled Agile, please visit scaledagile.com/careers.

Not only is global interest in SAFe increasing, Scaled Agile continues to expand its leadership role in this important area. Additional U.S. and international expansion is planned for 2018. The company has more than 180 global partners to help engage with and shape the global community of next-generation Agile organizations comprised of industry leaders, growth companies, and startups.

“Today, almost every company is a tech company, and with the business world’s focus continuing to center around ongoing innovation, the demand for enterprise agility has never been more pronounced,” said Chris James, President and Chief Operating Officer, Scaled Agile. “We are excited to help guide the organizations that develop and depend on the world’s most important systems in scaling Lean and Agile practices—regardless of size.”

By connecting strategy to execution, the Scaled Agile Framework visualizes how to apply Lean and Agile practices and principles to the team, program, and portfolio levels, providing the principles and practices that unlock enterprise agility for corporations like Intel, Capital One, Fannie Mae, fitbit, and Northwestern Mutual.

“We don’t spend a lot of time dwelling on our accomplishments,” said Dean Leffingwell, co-founder and chief methodologist for Scaled Agile. “But when we moved to an office that’s 27,000 square feet, it took a moment to realize five years ago we were in an office above my garage.”

“We have been based in Boulder since our founding in 2011,” James added. “We are proud to be a part of the Colorado entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem that draws on a highly skilled workforce to serve a world increasingly transformed by digital technology.”

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 250,000 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.

By Michael Quinn. Originally posted on the MediaMath blog.

I traveled to Nepal last December and had the amazing opportunity to spend time with Seva, our partner charity that is committed to transforming lives by restoring eyesight. While visiting hospitals and meeting patients from different backgrounds and circumstances, I was told a story of a mother of four who was blind with cataracts. Seva discovered her via their remote screening camps and arranged for her to be transported from her mountain village to the local eye hospital. After having operations on both of her eyes, thanks to Seva, her vision was fully restored!

This is one story of many that illustrates how the lost-cost surgeries MediaMath funds can dramatically change the lives of individuals and families in some of the poorest regions of the world.

In 2017, we launched a high-impact eyesight program, in which MediaMath funds one eye surgery for every 20 campaigns run in our programmatic platform TerminalOne.  We also executed our first Global Impact Week in June and secured long-term funding through MediaMath equity.

A highlight from 2017 for both me and MediaMath CEO Joe Zawadzki was talking to our board of directors about MediaMath.org.  We discussed the impact of the organization since its creation only one year prior, how it had made an impact on local communities through donations and hundreds of hours of time spent volunteering, as well as the over 2,000 eyesight-restoring surgeries performed in poverty-stricken regions across the globe.  Upon the conclusion of the meeting, the board unanimously agreed to pledge 1% of equity to MediaMath.org, a bonus to our commitment to dedicate 1% of our time and technology for social good.

In 2018, we will focus much of our 1% efforts on helping great non-profits become great marketers. We believe that this initiative will allow us to make a tremendous impact at scale. We here at MediaMath strive for marketing to be a force for good, and want our clients, partners and the entire marketing ecosystem to be involved and engaged. Won’t you join us?

Pledge 1% is hiring an Operations and Member Success Coordinator starting immediately! Full job description and details are below. To apply, email your resume with subject line “Ops & Member Success Coordinator” to jobs@pledge1percent.org.

We also encourage you to share this listing with any interested friends and peers!

Title: Operations & Member Success Coordinator

Company Overview:

Pledge 1% is a global movement to change the status quo and create a new normal where giving back is baked into the DNA of every company from the very beginning. Pledge 1% empowers companies to donate 1% of their profit, equity, product, and/or employee time to causes of their choosing.

Pledge 1% is at the forefront of all things social impact + tech. Over 5000 companies in 95 countries have taken the pledge to date and in 2017, Pledge 1% was named Fast Company’s #1 Most Innovative Nonprofit in the world.

Pledge 1% companies have already ignited over a half a billion dollars in new philanthropy and we’re just getting started!

By joining the Pledge 1% team, you’ll get the opportunity to liaise with our core partners (e.g. Salesforce, Atlassian, 500 Startups, Techstars, TechCrunch) and our ever-growing list of member companies—all while working in a dynamic startup environment offering tons of independence and ownership.

Role Overview:

We’re looking for a highly-efficient and self-driven Ops & Member Success Coordinator. This is a super exciting opportunity because you’ll be an early addition to our core team. That means you’ll have the chance to shine right off the bat, and to play an integral role in helping the organization run smoothly as we rapidly grow/scale.

Reports to: Director, Operations & Partnerships (Dotted line to Chief Executive)

Core Responsibilities:

• Data:
  
  
  
  • Manage all incoming data including sets in Salesforce and Hubspot environments.
  
  
  • Develop reports to keep internal team and core partner organizations fully informed of our key metrics.
  
  
  • Practice exceptional data hygiene.
  
  
  
  

• Customer Support & Member Success:
  
  
  
  • Implement best practices in customer support to ensure P1% members are fully engaged throughout the relationship cycle.
  
  
  • Promote the success of P1% through social media and other channels. We sing from the heavens when our members do great things!
  
  
  
  

• General Operations, Office Management, Admin and EA:
  
  
  
  • Provide back-office support to all P1% staff.
  
  
  • You will be the guru for Google Suite, Salesforce, Hubspot, Crunchbase integration, website updates, and office equipment.
  
  
  • Manage orders for office supplies, marketing collateral, and meeting snacks and drinks.
  
  
  • Serve as Executive Assistant for Chief Executive (approx. 10% of time)
  
  
  
  

• Events
  
  
  
  • Provide key support for P1% events, ranging from booth set-up and side events at conferences, to intimate donor gatherings.
  
  
  • Research event venues, coordinate logistics, and provide professional frontline event presence.
  
  
  
  

• Special Projects and Research:
  
  
  
  • Research start-up accelerators, seek out growth partners, investigate the latest conferences. You will be constantly looking to identify new avenues for membership growth.
  
  
  • Become an essential member of our small high-powered team. Your flexibility and ability to think on your feet will open up an array of exciting new projects where you can show your high value.
  
  
  
  

Who you are:

• Tech savvy and enjoy leveraging technology to make things more efficient.


• People person. Good at relationships.


• Extremely organized and detail oriented. Self-motivated.


• Data excites you.


• Passionate about social change, and the role for-profit companies can play in making the world a better place.

Experience:

• Prior experience in an ops, data, events, and/or admin role is a plus.


• Track record in project management, data, and roles that involve attention to detail.


• Database management. Prior experience with Salesforce is a bonus.


• You have been part of a startup ecosystem. Extra credit if it is a high-growth tech company.


• Ideally experience with non-profits as well as for profits.


• Demonstrated top performer.

Specifics:

• Target start date: April 2018.


• 12 days vacation (and more in your 2nd year!).


• Office space in the Presidio (a national park) shared with other awesome small nonprofits.


• Pledge 1% is an equal opportunity employer.

We’d love to hear from you. Send a resume, short cover letter, and relevant portfolio materials, to jobs@pledge1percent.org with the subject line “Ops & Member Success Coordinator.” Don’t just tell us what you’ve done in the past—tell us why you’re excited to be part of the Pledge 1% team and why you’re the best person to help us succeed.

Originally posted on Salesforce.com.

Salesforce, the global leader in CRM, has completed its acquisition of CloudCraze, a leading B2B commerce platform built natively on Salesforce. Leading global companies, including Coca-Cola, Cummins, Ecolab, Land O’ Lakes, and WABCO, rely on CloudCraze to power global B2B commerce experiences and connect directly with their customers and partners to grow sales, reduce costs and increase customer satisfaction.

Salesforce is a global leader in digital commerce and during the 2017 holiday shopping season, Salesforce Commerce Cloud powered the experiences of more than 540 million consumers across some of the world’s top brands. With the addition of CloudCraze, our customers will be able to create the same richly branded commerce experiences for business buyers that they do for consumers, all from a single platform.

The acquisition of CloudCraze enables Salesforce and its customers to take full advantage of the shift to digital commerce.   For more information, see the original announcement of the acquisition agreement.