By Seth Levine, Managing Director, Foundry Group

At Foundry Group, an investment firm in early-stage technology firms, we believe we all benefit when everyone succeeds. That’s why every time we succeed, we give back to the community.

If you are a local entrepreneur with a startup, we invite you to join us in this movement. Together, we can continue to make a real impact in our community!

Latest case in point:

The Community Foundation Serving Boulder County announced this week it will grant an additional $300,000 to local Boulder County nonprofits this summer in response to a 62 percent cut in funding from Foothills United Way. The grants will be funded by Foundry through our membership in Pledge 1% Colorado.

When Foundry Group was started in 2007, we made the community an investor through our participation in Pledge 1%.  We saw the important role the community played in supporting our company, our investments (many of which are local) and our employees.

The timing of this most recent distribution aligned with the opportunity to help fill the gap affecting our local nonprofit organizations addressing basic needs, health care, and education for Boulder County’s most vulnerable residents.

We hope this money will impact the thousands of local families and individuals who struggle to make ends meet in what is viewed by many as a wealthy, prosperous community. In fact, Boulder County has higher poverty rates than Colorado as a whole, and more than 9,000 children in our community live below the poverty level (defined as just over $24,000 per year for a family of four.)

Pledge 1% Colorado – a program of The Community Foundation Serving Boulder County – flips traditional philanthropy on its head. Historically, an individual or company waits until he or she has become successful to donate money. With

Pledge 1%, companies and founders can be philanthropists, even before they have ample  cash to give. It gives an actionable step to the value many of us in the local startup community support around #givefirst – the idea that we give before we get that pervades the Boulder and Front Range startup ecosystem.

Pledge 1% members set aside a small percentage of their early equity (usually in the form of stock options) for the community. Although the equity isn’t worth much at the time of the commitment, the payout can be tremendous if the company becomes successful.

Local startups such as Rally, Gnip, Revolv, Mocavo, DocPopcorn, Techstars, and Filtrbox have joined Foundry Group in distributing more than $6.2 million to Colorado community nonprofits at the point of exit – when companies are either acquired or go public. There are 120 companies throughout Colorado who have similarly tied their own success to their communities – and hundreds more throughout the world who have joined this movement through the international program, Pledge 1%. When Pledge 1% companies win, the community wins.

Entrepreneurs  choose this community as their home — and their business’ home-base — because they enjoy the quality of life here. That quality of life doesn’t come without many people and organizations working everyday to make Boulder County a better place for all.

We hope that these companies’ leadership in philanthropy inspires others to do the same. Giving back isn’t limited to the economically elite: It can be an equitable value shared by the young, old, green, seasoned, rich and poor.

We’re honored to support the many people and organizations stepping up to address Boulder County’s greatest needs. We hope others will consider joining us. Learn more at http://www.pledge1colorado.org and www.pledge1percent.org.

Originally posted: November 29, 2016

Paul English, CEO and Co-Founder of Lola Travel and former CTO and Co-Founder of Kayak, has announced his commitment of at least 10% of his stake in Lola being set aside for giving back to communities locally and globally. Lola is a new kind of travel service that provides real human travel expertise on-demand through a smartphone app. Accel Partners and General Catalyst Partners recently led Lola’s $19.7M Series A round. Kayak was acquired by Priceline.com for $1.8B in 2012; a sale that served as a catalyst for English’s notable local and global philanthropic efforts.

“Joining Pledge 1% Boston was an easy choice for me personally. I have seen the impact giving back can have on communities around the world, and I hope to encourage other entrepreneurs and leaders in technology and related industries to make this pledge. Marc Benioff has done a stellar job sharing the Salesforce.com model with other companies and executives, and I am proud to be a voice for Pledge 1% here in the Greater Boston region and beyond,” English shares.

While Lola is an emerging company, English is not new to giving back. Paul co-founded and chairs Summits Education, a network of schools in Haiti that now reaches over 10,000 students in the central plateau region. English also serves on the boards of Partners in Health and Village Health Works. He is an active funder and mentor to emerging and established nonprofits as well.

“Paul English is one of the most notable and savvy entrepreneurs in our region. Having Paul make such a significant commitment to giving back is an example for how we can bridge our innovation economy with communities in need both here and around the world. We look forward to working with Paul and his team on these efforts. We are thrilled and proud to have Paul English as a member of Pledge 1% Boston” noted Paul Grogan, the Boston Foundation’s President & CEO.

English’s life and philanthropy are covered in Tracy Kidder’s A Truck Full of Money.

Originally posted: November 29, 2016

Addteq was proud to take the pledge a year ago. Since then, Addteq has founded the Iris Foundation. The Iris Foundation was created in an attempt to build philanthropy awareness within the IT industry.

Pledge 1%, allowed us to pledge 1% of our time and software products to companies in need. Within the short year after we took the pledge, the Iris Foundation was able to become the official sponsors of the New Jersey Chapter of Room To Read.

Some of our other recent initiatives include:

• Volunteering at various local venues to contribute our time for efforts they may need


• Hosted a charity picnic to raise funds for Room to Read


• Created a four year scholarship program to tech students in India. We are currently sponsoring our first student’s full four-year tuition.


• Sponsorship of a local World of Music concert with Room to Read on September 11th.

It turns out, those first few team activities inspired Addteq founder Sukhbir Dhillon to do more. Because of his upbringing in India, he’s very aware of the lack of opportunity for the under privileged. And he knows what opportunities can do. That’s how the Iris Foundation was born.

Its first initiative was to form a scholarship program at RAIT (Ramrao Adik Institute of Technology), where Sukhbir also happens to be an alumni. Its mission is to bring out the genius in everyone, no matter his or her circumstances. In other words, it seeks out the Einsteins from anywhere to give them an opportunity to change the world. The Iris Foundation’s mission is to find the Einstein in everybody and provide him or her the opportunity to change the world. Check out the video from the scholarship ceremony.

“Our participation has had a real snowball effect. Now alumni at the university are offering to get involved and help contribute to The Iris Foundation, too.” – Jaclyn DePinho, Marketing Specialist at Addteq

Addteq encourages other tech industry experts to take the pledge and join a great network of people willing to spread their philanthropy across the world. Read more about how Addteq and other Atlassian partners were able to take our pledges to the next level.

Interested in what we do or have an idea and want to get involved with us? Contact us today!

Originally posted: November 29, 2016

Two years ago today, we launched Pledge 1%, a global movement to create a new normal where giving back is integrated into the DNA of companies of all sizes. Today, we are excited to announce that over 1,300 companies in 38 countries have joined Pledge 1%, committing to give 1% of equity, profit, product, and/or time to causes of their choosing. Companies range from innovative consumer startups like Harry’s to some of this year’s biggest tech IPOs like Twilio. Others include Salesforce, Accomplice, Okta, Splash, Revolar, Atlassian, Box, Docusign, Yelp, Techstars, Foundry Group, Bluewolf, General Assembly, MediaMath, and many more.

#PledgeItForward

In September, Pledge 1% celebrated an exciting milestone–1,000 member companies –by launching #PledgeItForward, a new campaign to challenge companies to not just take the pledge, but to also reach out to invite and encourage their peers as well as their ecosystem of suppliers, partners, customers, contractors and employees to join them in the movement. Our goal was to reach 1,250 pledges (that’s 25% growth) by #GivingTuesday, November 29th.  We’re excited to announce that we’ve surpassed our goal and are now at over 1,300 companies, a 150% growth since 2015.

With #PledgeItForward, Pledge 1% also launched a new Ambassador program, through which over 160 founders, CEOs, and employees at companies volunteered to help recruit new members and to spread the word about Pledge 1%.  We’re truly grateful to our #PledgeItForward Ambassadors who demonstrated the power of Pledge 1% members, partners and supporters in taking this movement to the next level.

#GivingTuesday

Today, Pledge 1% will celebrate its second Anniversary, the end of #PledgeItForward, and #GivingTuesday by sharing 24 stories about how Pledge 1% members giving back.  Starting at midnight (ET), Pledge 1% will publish a story every hour on its blog and social media.  The stories will highlight how Pledge 1% is impacting companies and the communities they support, and how any company, of any size, in any industry can help make the world a better place.  By sharing these stories, Pledge 1% hopes to inspire founders and companies on #GivingTuesday and throughout the year by providing them with an easy and powerful way to make giving part of their business model.

To read the stories, visit the Pledge 1% blog or follow @PledgeOne on Twitter.  To learn more about Pledge 1% or to join the movement, visit pledge1percent.org.

Originally posted: November 29, 2016

By Allison Riggs, Global Marketing Manager at e-Core.  Originally published on the Atlassian blog as part of their #TeamUp4Good series.

“Be the change you want to see in the world.” – Ghandi

When the call to action came to join the Pledge 1% Initiative, the e-Core leadership team realized that this was more than just a chance to do good in our communities, but also an opportunity to inspire our teams to do good together.

Getting started as a team

Our first project started with a small community center, Casinha, or “little house”, for children in the impoverished area outside of Porto Alegre, Brazil. Since e-Core’s largest office and main service delivery center is located in downtown Porto Alegre, it made sense for us to start there. During our first visit to the center we noticed they had a lot of great computer equipment that hadn’t been set up or used yet.

Our tech teams knew this was the best way they could begin helping by building computer stations and putting desktop computers together. After setting up their computer room, our teams starting providing computer classes for kids after school.

This one small idea then turned into a dedication to bettering the home in multiple areas, including offering music classes, organizing soccer games, and eventually funding and painting the entire house. Our employees turned one small project into an ongoing partnership including monthly events with Casinha.

As the teams in Brazil became more involved, the inspiration spread to our other offices in the U.S. Choosing to combat the issue of local hunger, our New York and Tampa, Florida offices started working with food banks and shelters to package and deliver healthy meals to families in need. In just the past five months, our teams across our four global offices have completed over 190 hours of volunteer hours with four different organizations.

My Pledge 1% story

My personal journey with the Pledge 1% program started when I joined our e-Core Committee for giving back. The first project I worked on was with a few co-workers at the distribution center of Feeding Tampa Bay, where we stocked shelves of food for local food pantries. After this first small effort, I knew I could give more to people in need.

My husband and I started talking about what we could do for a village that he visited earlier this year in Las Salinas, Nicaragua. Like most under-developed countries, only 20% of Nicaragua’s population has consistent and affordable access to clean water. Contaminated water mainly affects children, often leading to months of missed school and/or serious medical conditions.

This is where we knew we could make an impact. Through my husband’s work in Central America over the last nine years, we had purchased three simple, small, and highly-effective water systems. One of these water systems can provide clean water for up to 70 homes, or an entire school, in a community indefinitely.

With our expedition bags, the water systems, and our determination to make a difference, we left for Las Salinas for one full week. Working as a team with friends in Las Salinas, we were introduced to Erno, the director of seven schools, and Martita, the director of the local medical clinic. In less than an hour, we had trained them both on how to use the systems in each of their locations.

Martita explained to us that every month she travels to even more remote villages to provide check-ups and health education to families. She was excited to bring the water system with her to provide a solution for children and pregnant women in desperate need of clean water. Their hope for their communities was visible, as laughter, hugs and tears were shared over the next few days. We realized that together we each had a small piece of the puzzle to bringing these water systems to where they needed to be and providing clean water to thousands of people.

Giving back is part of teamwork

My story is just one of many at e-Core where people are coming together as teams or individuals to make an impact around the world. The Pledge 1% program has provided the opportunities for our team to interact in a new way as people from different departments come together to drive efforts forward. Support engineers, HR Analysts, IT Teams and executives stand side-by-side giving back to those in need.

Here are some ways your team can get started:

• Just start! Once we made the Pledge, we created a committee of only four people to implement the program company-wide. Our first project consisted of a few team members who showed the kids at Casinha how to use Google to help with their homework. It doesn’t have to be a big idea to make a big impact in the lives of others.


• Create easy ways for your employees to get involved. Provide a few examples of places to volunteer and make signing up easy. We use JIRA to request, approve and track our volunteer hours.


• Create a culture of sharing your experiences. We ask our teams to share their stories on Confluence. Teams are motivated to encourage each other and talk about how they are giving back.

We are thankful for the opportunity to be a part of the Pledge 1% community and we hope you will join us and take the pledge!

Originally posted: November 29, 2016

Pledge 1% Boston, spearheaded by the Boston Foundation and a network of community leaders, is pleased to announce a new partnership with Life Science Cares. Since launching two months ago, Pledge 1% Boston has recruited almost 20 companies to pledge 1% for their communities. We are excited to parlay this initial success into an alliance with the life sciences community, one of Greater Boston’s most influential sectors. This kind of industry-specific partnership is a new approach for Pledge 1%, and we are excited to be blazing the trail in this region.

The life sciences sector in here is far-reaching and substantial. According to the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, all of the world’s top 10 biopharmaceutical firms maintain facilities in the state. More than 500 other biopharma companies and 400 medical device makers also call Massachusetts home. With this burgeoning and growing economy in our region, we have an opportunity and obligation to connect leaders with the practice of giving back from an early stage.

Life Science Cares is an emerging nonprofit that engages leaders and companies in the space with giving back. The mission of Life Science Cares , is to “put the true good that life sciences companies represent into action—not  just for human health, but for human potential.” In just the last year, Life Science Cares has recruited more than 70 leaders and companies to unite their human and financial resources to end poverty in greater Boston.  The organization has attracted leaders from across the industry to its Board of Advisors, including Alnylam Pharmaceuticals CEO John Maraganore, Vertex Pharmaceuticals CEO Jeffrey Leiden, Mass Bio CEO Bob Coughlin, Ovascience founder and chairwoman Michelle Dipp, and Mass Life Sciences CEO Travis McReady. Other notable Greater Boston community leaders on Life Science Care’s Board of Advisors include Deval Patrick and Greg Shell from Bain Capital,, former Millennium and Forum Pharmaceuticals CEO Deborah Dunsire and  former Cubist Pharmaceuticals CEO Mike Bonney. Initial nonprofit grant partners include Citizen Schools, Bottom Line, and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Massachusetts Bay.

“Pledge 1% Boston is an important initiative for this community, and the broader Greater Boston region”, said Rob Perez, Founder and Chairman of Life Science Cares.  “Engaging founders and companies to set aside 1% of equity or other resources for giving back to communities from an early stage is a terrific way to provide meaningful resources for the future of Greater Boston. We are excited to partner with Pledge 1% Boston and the Boston Foundation to embed giving back into the DNA of life sciences companies.”

We will be formally announcing this partnership in early December at a reception for the life sciences community hosted by the Boston Foundation.

Originally posted: November 29, 2016

Salesforce.org, the philanthropic arm of Salesforce, is one of Pledge 1%’s founding partners.  Over the years, their 1% commitment to charity has grown and they have been–and continue to be–a key partner for Room to Read. Since its earliest days, Room to Read has been able to leverage Salesforce’s technology, people, and resources to help them reach as many children as possible throughout Asia and Africa.

As a way to thank Salesforce employees for their dedication to volunteering, Room to Read hosted a group of Salesforce employees from around the world on a trip to Cambodia. Together, they visited Room to Read’s Literacy Program schools as well as Girls’ Education Program participants, volunteering in local communities and learning about Room to Read’s work.

Thanks to partners like Salesforce, Room to Read is able to further their mission to support children, providing them educational opportunities to help them succeed in life. To learn more about Room to Read, and to donate, visit www.roomtoread.org.

Originally posted: November 29, 2016

Watch this video to hear why Michael Carter, co-founder at Kahuso, decided to Pledge 1%.

Originally posted: November 29, 2016

The holiday season brings with it the season of giving, and at Comalatech that means fondly remembering the opportunities we’ve had to give back to our communities. We are ardent believers that our success as a team comes with an obligation to return some of that good fortune to the places we call home. We are all so proud to share the various ways we’ve supported charities and non-profit organizations this year, including an update on our “Pledge 1%” promise we made last year.