Pledge 1% is launching a new blog series, First 100, to celebrate how companies under 100 employees are making an impact through their Pledge 1% programs. Over the past 5+ years, we’ve heard amazing stories from smaller (under 100 employees) companies. We want to highlight these members and provide more examples and ideas that inspire other businesses to do the same. 

Any Pledge 1% member company under 100 employees can participate. The Pledge 1% team will review, draft, and design each piece to share on the Community and across our social media (@PledgeOne). We encourage you to tune in, comment, and share any stories from your team and network! 

This will be an ongoing series and we are aiming to go live with the first story in mid-October.

This is a great opportunity for our community to learn about and share how you are achieving your social impact goals – whether that’s through your time/product/profit/equity pledges, leveraging leadership and influence, instituting inclusive hiring and internal policies, or other programs. 

If you have any questions, please email Kait at kait@pledge1percent.org.

[SUBMIT]

Pledge 1%’s #WomenWhoLead series celebrates female leaders who are paving the way for the next generation. While our featured leaders come from a variety of backgrounds and industries, they are united in their efforts to promote equality for all women in the workplace. We’ve asked them to share a bit about their journey to success, as well as lessons they’ve learned along the way. 

Leslie Buenz

COO,  Servio Consulting, LLC

Frankfort, Illinois, USA

Originally published on Bizjournals

Argo AI LLC, the Pittsburgh-based self-driving vehicle technology startup, announced a new partnership with a local volunteer-run food salvage platform and a food distributor to autonomously deliver meals to those facing food insecurity throughout the region.

The partnership will see Argo autonomously deliver meals sourced by food saved from 412 Food Rescue, a local nonprofit that recovers surplus food from retailers and businesses that would otherwise go to waste. Argo will also partner with its food service provider Parkhurst Dining — the contract dining division of Eat’n Park Hospitality Group — to deliver surplus food Argo originally offered to its employees out of its Strip District headquarters.

“We’re driven by our purpose of reimagining the human journey, and that includes ensuring self-driving vehicles are broadening access to transportation and goods to everyone in the communities where we operate,” Summer Fowler, chief corporate responsibility officer at Argo, said in a prepared statement. “We see an opportunity for autonomous vehicles to offer reliable delivery of food donations to address food insecurity, and we are proud to launch this initiative with 412 Food Rescue and Parkhurst.”

The parent organization of 412 Food Rescue — Food Rescue Hero — claims to have saved 100 million pounds of food from going to waste across the country as of July 2022 and since its original founding in 2015 when it only went by 412 Food Rescue. Food Rescue Hero, also based in Pittsburgh, now operates in 25 cities across the U.S.

“412 Food Rescue has always aimed to modernize food recovery to make donating surplus food easier for businesses, and delivering that food immediately, making food access convenient for people in need,” Leah Lizarondo, co-founder and CEO of 412 Food Rescue, said in a prepared statement. “We believe in using every tool in our technological toolbox to get food to people who need it, and we’re excited to explore how one of the most innovative technologies we’ve seen in Pittsburgh can be used for good through our partnership with Argo.”

An estimated one-in-five Pittsburgh residents face food insecurity, Argo and 412 Food Rescue said in a release. The local existence of food deserts — an area with limited or no access to fresh and affordable food — as well as other barriers like limited transportation options or business-focused operating hours of area food banks further exacerbates the need for more options that address the needs of the hungry, the organizations said.

Enter the self-driving car, which Argo is betting will be able to use to help address this need in Pittsburgh. While a human safety operator will remain in the vehicle per current Pennsylvania law, Argo is also hoping that another demonstration of its tech’s potential will further validate its planned offering to the public as it readies an eventual commercial rollout.

Read the article HERE. 

Originally published on Salesforce

Salesforce, the world’s leading CRM, today announced $25 million in new grants to support school districts and education nonprofits across the United States. This year marks the tenth anniversary of Salesforce’s commitment to education, with giving now totaling more than $165 million in support of schools, educators, and students around the world. 

As the education system looks to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, schools need support more than ever. Students face significant learning loss and many are struggling with social and emotional traumas experienced during the pandemic. This gap is particularly pronounced for students of color. Educators are also feeling the pressure, with teacher shortages leading to increased workloads and class sizes.

This year’s funding will focus on student wellbeing, supporting both social and emotional learning, behavioral and mental health programs, and trauma-informed therapy, as well as robust support to improve the resiliency of schools and educators.

Salesforce celebrates 10 years of supporting schools at Presidio Middle School

To celebrate reaching a milestone — 10 years of giving — Salesforce will today host a special event at Presidio Middle School in San Francisco. 

“Celebrating Our Schools” will feature remarks from Salesforce Co-CEOs Marc Benioff and Bret Taylor, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, San Francisco Superintendent Dr. Matt Wayne, and Acting Oakland Superintendent Dr. Sondra Aguilera. 

“As schools’ needs have changed, we’ve evolved to meet those challenges – from the early days of providing WiFi and devices, to STEM and computer science, and now a renewed focus on mental health. We’re just scratching the surface of what we can do together.”  EBONY BECKWITH, CHIEF BUSINESS OFFICER AND CEO OF THE SALESFORCE FOUNDATION

“It’s been an amazing 10-year journey working with our schools,” says Ebony Beckwith, Chief Business Officer and CEO of the Salesforce Foundation. “As schools’ needs have changed, we’ve evolved to meet those challenges – from the early days of providing WiFi and devices, to STEM and computer science, and now a renewed focus on mental health. We’re just scratching the surface of what we can do together.” 

“Salesforce’s 10-year partnership represents the single largest investment from a private entity to SFUSD. Their support continues to have a profoundly positive impact on San Francisco public school students, preparing them for 21st Century-learning in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education, all while decreasing the opportunity gap for our underrepresented students of color and girls,” says Dr. Matt Wayne, Superintendent of SFUSD. “We are incredibly grateful for their leadership, vision, and investment in our public schools.”

Originally published on o9 Solutions

o9 Solutions, a leading enterprise AI software platform provider for transforming planning and decision-making, announced today that it has joined the United Nations Global Compact initiative, a voluntary leadership platform for the development, implementation, and disclosure of responsible business practices. 

The United Nations Global Compact initiative is one of the world’s largest and most impactful initiatives for sustainable businesses. Companies voluntarily pledge to align their operations with 10 universally accepted principles to help achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests. The initiative has more than 15,000 companies and 3,800 non-business signatories based in more than 160 countries and 69 local networks. 

o9 Solutions will participate in the U.S. local network and leverage the United Nations Global Compact resources and network to adopt established best practices. The company will also use the reporting framework provided by the initiative to report on its performance based on the 10 principles of the UN Global Compact. This reporting framework is in addition to o9’s annual Environmental, Social, and Governance Impact Report, where the company reports on key performance indicators and progress in its sustainability and social impact initiatives. The inaugural ESG Impact Report highlights the following social impact activities of 2021:

• o9 was awarded a bronze medal in Sustainability from Ecovadis


• o9 signed the 1.5°C pledge as part of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi)


• o9 joined Pledge 1%, a movement dedicated to empowering companies to donate 1% of their efforts back to the community


• o9 announced developing new sustainability capabilities in its platform 


• o9 organized 17 social impact initiatives such as o9 Walks, o9 Cleans, and o9 Bikes to encourage employees to volunteer or raise awareness for social impact causes

Co-founder and CEO of o9 Solutions, Chakri Gottemukkala, said: “We are proud to join the United Nations Global Compact initiative, a prestigious and impactful global initiative. o9 was founded with a vision not only to become the most valuable platform for enterprises but also to have a meaningful impact on society and the environment through employee engagement and community actions. Initiatives like the United Nations Global Compact provide insightful resources for best practices on sustainable business while also holding us accountable for our progress on this important endeavor.” 

Read the article on o9 Solutions HERE

Pledge 1%’s #WomenWhoLead series celebrates female leaders who are paving the way for the next generation. While our featured leaders come from a variety of backgrounds and industries, they are united in their efforts to promote equality for all women in the workplace. We’ve asked them to share a bit about their journey to success, as well as lessons they’ve learned along the way. 

Nicola Askham

The Data Governance Coach, Nicola Askham Ltd

London, UK

Every startup hub has the ultimate goal to be profitable because this is how business founders and their employees make a living. But when giving back to the community is infused to their business and brand, that’s what makes their work more meaningful.

Pledge 1% members Mangala Martinus, Managing Director of Payments Consulting Network, Kate Kesby, Founder & CEO of WYDA, and Tom Lipczynski, Co-Founder & CEO of Vpply will participate in a panel discussion to talk about how building a giving pledge has helped their organizations define and deliver on their purpose, to achieve meaningful social impact, while still creating a profitable business.

The panel discussion will be held at the UTS Startups on Friday 30 September and be moderated by Murray Hurps, Director of Entrepreneurship at University of Technology Sydney.

Support our fellow community members! You can attend in-person at 3:30 pm or watch the Livestream via LinkedIn or YouTube at 4:00 pm.

Get your free tickets here if you’d like to attend live:  https://events.humanitix.com/startups-confessions-7rkq1ys3/tickets?dateId=632185fe30de697772bf7525 

Watch the livestream through the following links:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCRGRrc9VYo
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6977778225569574912

Pledge 1%’s #WomenWhoLead series celebrates female leaders who are paving the way for the next generation. While our featured leaders come from a variety of backgrounds and industries, they are united in their efforts to promote equality for all women in the workplace. We’ve asked them to share a bit about their journey to success, as well as lessons they’ve learned along the way.  

Tammy Begley

Marketing Automation Practice Lead, Destined (a media.monks company)

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

What is your current role? Briefly describe in 1-2 sentences.

I lead a team of Marketing Automation Consultants at a Salesforce Partner. We are responsible for implementing and ensuring our customers get the most out of the Salesforce Marketing Automation platforms across APAC.

What’s the best part of your job? What do you enjoy the most?

I get to work with a fantastic group of self motivated, passionate people who are always looking for new innovative ways to help our clients. I really enjoy being able to make an impact in the businesses that we are working with.

We’ve all faced personal and professional challenges, especially during these past two years – what motivates you to keep going?

I just think my extremely resilient personality made it possible for me to keep going over the last 2 years. I also had some really great career advancements over the last 2 years. I was promoted twice, I was invited to sit on a Salesforce advisory board and I was selected as a Salesforce Marketing Champion 2020, 2021. This all made my work really enjoyable and challenging at the same time. And even though I was juggling the home schooling of a prep school child, being a wife and home maker at the same time, the joy I got from the interactions I had with my colleagues and clients helped me to pull through.

What’s the best piece of advice you ever received?

Don’t ever be afraid to ask for help. You do not know the answers to everything.

What does generosity mean to you?

Generosity for me is a combination of giving unselfishly without expecting to get back snd being kind and helpful to other.

How do you feel businesses can play a larger role in solving today’s biggest challenges? Do you have any specific stories or examples from your work or colleagues you can share?

I am a big believer in work place flexibility when it comes to where people work from. Covid showed us that people can be highly productive working from home. We moved to Australia 11 years ago without any immediate family. This meant we did not have any family support when I had our son. When I had my son 8 years ago I made the decision that I would not work 5 days a week as I wanted to ensure I had a day in the week to focus on my family and me to be able to better support us. This work flexibility has really helped as its allowed me to find the right balance between being a working mother, a wife and a homemaker.

If you could describe yourself in one word what would that be and why?

Effervescent. I have a really bubbly personality and I am extremely energetic. I think the word effervescent describes me perfectly.

If you could pick a song to guide you through 2022, which song would it be?

Shine – Kygo Remix 

What are you looking forward to this year? Are there any goals (personal or professional), activities, or experiences you are excited about?

I am really excited about this year! From a professional perspective I have the goal of turning our Marketing Automation Practice into a successful part of our business where we attract great people who love what they do and who love working in the team and who want to stay. From a personal perspective we are travelling back to South Africa for the first time in 2.5 years to be with our families in June. We are going to celebrate what was my moms 70th birthday 2 years ago in the Serengeti. I cannot wait to get back into the African bush and to reconnect with our family.

Women Who Lead

Are you planning to be at any of these events? We’re connecting our members in person and virtually around the world this month. Share which events you plan to attend in the Community!