Written by Toby Yoder. Originally published on linkedin.com.

We at ABSYZ are committed to giving back to others with the help of our expertise in Salesforce Implementations. We recently did an implementation as a part of our Pledge 1%  for a Non-Profit Organization called Global Alliance of Mass Entrepreneurship (G.A.M.E). 

The organization(G.A.M.E) helps varied entrepreneurs succeed in their respective domains by providing them facilities with an engaging and connected experience all over the globe along with the help of their Donors and the Grants they receive. Whether it might be connecting an entrepreneur to a financial sponsor, or providing them a volunteer/technical hand to carry out different tasks, G.A.M.E is always present and ready to help out!

G.A.M.E was managing their everyday tasks with pen & paper mostly, and a part of it on Google sheets & Excel. They have a team of about 30+ members and each of the member’s locations were different based on the tasks they were assigned/carrying out. 

It resulted in a lag of collaboration & the process was time consuming as it was scattered & not unified. Some or the other way they were missing out a connected experience for the entire team and wanted that to be resolved. 

Their main aim was to collate/unify everything in a single place where they could manage their everyday tasks very efficiently and effectively without losing much time figuring out about pieces of information, work pieces and have a unified view (360 View of tasks ongoing/business processes being carried out). 

That is where the Salesforce Customer 360 Platform came into the picture!! 

Implementation Story:

As a part of our(ABSYZ)  Pledge 1% support we carried out a Salesforce Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP) Sales Cloud implementation for G.A.M.E  to unify their business processes and workflows together at a single place, providing a 360 view of their tasks and processes to each of their team members. Thus helping them automate a lot of tasks leveraging the Salesforce platform and providing a single 360 view of their entire business process.

After days and hours of gathering the requirements over calls and after understanding G.A.M.E’s pain points and processes, we concluded the modules that were to be implemented and included in the Salesforce Application. 

Few of the modules involved:  1. Partner & Partner Contact Management 2.Grants & Grantee’s Management 3. Programs Management 4. Taskforce & Project Management 5.Volunteer Management

A little dive about the modules and how we designed the Solution : 

Overview of the solution : We designed the solution mostly using the standard objects available in Salesforce Sales Cloud and using the declarative tools mostly. We included customizations involving use of apex accordingly and as required. Use of custom objects were included in few of the modules. The solution is purely automation centric leveraging the standard declarative tools of the salesforce platform. 

1. Partner & Partner Contact Management : GAME works with different partners such as Alliance partners, Eco. System partners etc. The partners provide them Grants and Donations which G.A.M.E leverages to help out the budding entrepreneurs in the ecosystem. They wanted to have a track on when a partner was last contacted and when the partner should be approached again for a meeting/follow up by sending a reminder to the secretariat(managing) team at G.A.M.E, and also maintain a dedicated/multiple contacts for the partner. Using the Salesforce Standard Sales Cloud Objects  and automation tools using workflows and process builder this module was addressed and automated.


2. Grants & Grantee’s Management : The team at GAME wanted the Grants assigned to be tracked along with the Grantees. They wanted to have a visualisation of analytics where they could see the number of Grants provided and also work on the queue of the process accordingly. This was achieved using the standard object, and using the standard report formats available in the salesforce platform and custom fields as per requirement.


3. Programs Management : This module focuses on keeping a track of the programs & initiatives which are run by the managing team at GAME. Programs are run and specific (one to one) to the Grants received. We followed the same standard centric solution approach to address this module.


4. Taskforce & Project Management : A project is associated with a program, Taskforce teams vary according to their domain expertise and also locations, A program is assigned with Task Forces to achieve tasks/fulfill the outcome.


5. Volunteer Management : There are people who voluntarily approach the managing team at GAME to provide helping hands in a particular project. The team wanted to store the data of various volunteers and mentors and associate them to a project. Keeping track of volunteers on-boarded and the projects assigned to them/projects they were involved in. 

All the modules follow a standard solution approach, involving automations and reporting. Customizations have been done where the solution was not achievable using standard approach.

Finally, once the solution was implemented and after testing it on different levels, UAT (User Acceptance Testing) including involvement of end users from their team we went for a Go-live on May 15th 2020. 

The Implementation was concluded/completed within a span of 3 weeks (including requirement Gathering sessions to Go live).

As the world was hit by COVID-19 it became very difficult for the team to manage their processes using pen & paper and following GAME’s old approach and the team was eager to have their entire process moved & automated to the Salesforce platform where they could have an unified 360 view of their entire process. We the Implementation team at ABSYZ have gone above and beyond to fulfill that and help them out in their customer success journey!!

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.

Empower your employees to give back at the individual level by downloading our new Virtual Volunteering Playbook, which includes ideas and best practices on how to excite and inspire individual giving.

Life during this pandemic is so uncertain. One day we can all be asked to stay home and on a good week we are given the chance to roam and go help boost the economy, but just like a curve ball suddenly it could just come back to you and say no, everybody back to their corners. It’s time out for all, yet again.

This however have not stopped the team at Telcowin to continue with what we do. We took a pledge earlier this year to give back and we are keeping to that promise.

Believing that there is no better time to start giving back, as of August 6, 2020 Telcowinners embarked on a project to help with the implementation of the Salesforce Non-Profit Success Pack (NPSP) for The Lost Food Project (TLFP) to digitise and smoothen their donation, accounts and volunteer management.

TLFP is a Malaysia Not-for-profit organisation that is dedicated to a sustainable future by rescuing ‘lost’ food and finding it a new home with people who need it most. With their aim to eliminate hunger in Malaysia one community at a time, TLFP prevents quality, nutritious food and other surplus goods from going to landfill and redistributes this food and other essential items to those in regardless of their religion, gender, age, disability or ethnic group.

On rotation, 6 Telcowinners volunteers came around to form a committee to help the TLFP team get on board with the implementation of Salesforce NPFP that are broken into 3 different phases. The Telcowin volunteers pledges 4 hours each a week and the organisation waives 100% of the implementation fees. All of us at Telcowin hopes that once all phases of implementation are completed, the usage of Salesforce NPSP will help increase TLFP’s productivity in their donor, accounts and volunteer management in the future. The rest of us are also eager to go on-ground and lend a helping hand once the coast is clear for the public to go out and volunteer.

As a frequent reminder from Hafiz Izwan the CEO of Telcowin to his team, Telcowin does not just refer to us Telling Companies how to Win. ‘Companies’ in this sense refers to the organisation and the ‘company’ we have among each other to help us reach higher heights, be better and a greater version of we are now as an individual and as a team. May we together weather out this storm and rise higher and greater than ever before!  Like Aaron Lauritsen says in his 100 Days Drive: The Great North American Road Trip book “the struggles we endure today will be the ‘good old days’ we laugh about tomorrow”!

TLFP Content Source: https://www.thelostfoodproject.org/

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.

About Us: Metaoups Technology Pvt Limited, established in 2018, a salesforce partner, is delivering salesforce based digital solution and products for various industries. 

About Our Client: An NGO for education. Bal Utsav provides holistic intervention to revitalize Government schools benefiting millions of children by making focussed and sustainable interventions in infrastructure, Teacher development, Wash, and Scholarship programs. For the last couple of years, Bal Utsav has been responding to natural disaster across India.

Challenge: In response to a natural disaster, a major disconnects between what is need on the ground and what is getting supplied. This gap gets worsen in case of dynamic needs.

Impact Created: There was a major water flood in the western and southern parts of India. Which caused around 150 life and heavy casualties.  Many have lost their homes and livelihood. Bal Utsav took up a major rescue and relief effort, especially in Karnataka and Kerala states. They had challenges managing the complete operation like fulfillment centers, warehouses management, collection centers, request for material, shipment, SMS, Email and tracking at such a large scale. Metaoups was onboarded and thought leadership from both the parties put up a solution in a quick turnaround.

Outcome: Bal Utsav realize their operation effectiveness folded 5 times with technology support.

To know more about Metaoups, Bal Utsav, and our solution, please refer below links:

https://metaoups.com/

https://balutsav.org/

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.

2020 – The year that has changed the entire world. Corona has redefined each and every aspect of our living. The philanthropic activities and socio-economic projects are no exception to the changing landscape. Infostretch Ignite has responded to the Corona challenges and recalibrated it to the new realities. The growth of Infostretch family and passion of Infoneers has ensured great progress in 2020 and a firm footing for aggressive growth in 2021. 

Let’s have a quick recap of 2020:

1. Mission Ahaan – Commitment Redefined: 

Infostretch Ignite expanded its Project Ahaan with the opening of an additional new centre. The unique model of providing education and recreational activities to street children continued to expand. Corona created new challenges as the families had to relocate to rural areas. The social distancing and closure of physical spaces created further disruption in the learning process of the children. Team Ahaan’s Ashok Karania and Geetanjali Sahni and our NGO Partner Shwas’ Kinjal Shah continued the interaction with multiple visits to understand the ground situation. A slow and cautious restart was made with new ideas – creating ambassadors within children, connecting with digital mediums, usage of painting and creative ideas, more offline work etc. Once the lockdown eased, the frequency of visits increased. With the closure of schools and changed  life, Ahaan team played an important role in continuity of education, managing anxiety and stress in children and ensuring positive attitude for the challenging times. 

2. Project Navrachit: 

Infostretch Ignite opened a second centre for the construction workers with Navrachit Balvikas Trust. The Corona pandemic created a challenge for the construction workers as well and the first challenge was to address the immediate loss of livelihood questions. Infostretch Ignite provided food and general supplies for the less privileged families and helped them deal with the immediate crisis. As the lockdown eased, the team worked on providing education and engaging activities to children via digital and non-digital mediums. Ignite Team’s Xama Trivedi and Devang Tripathi have ensured the success of the initiative even in pandemic situation. 

3. Mission Roshni: Working with Visually Challenged Families: 

Infostretch Ignite identified the new areas of intervention. One of the biggest affected communities were the visually challenged families. Corona robbed them of their meagre economic activities and lockdown brought never-seen-before challenges. The very survival was at stake. Infostretch Ignite collaborated with Omkar Andhjan Mandal, a grassroot organisation, to work with the visually challenged families and help them. The initial intervention was to ensure steady supply of food and general rations. It was followed with engagement for families and children in different activities like painting, games and exploring new vocational skills. Corona continues to be a challenge as we explore new economic avenues for these families. 

Infostretch Hackathon Winners donated their prize money to the cause of visually challenged families and helped in food and ration kit distribution. 

4. ConquerCorona – Digital Campaign for Infostretch Members:

Infostretch Ignite was working with the external world but it was equally important to ensure the Infostretch family was doing well. Corona Lockdown and Work From Home have been the new normal. All of us are learning to deal with Corona Anxiety and stress every day. Infostretch Ignite created a campaign called Conquer Corona to ensure every Infostretch member was staying positive during these challenging times. To defeat Corona with positive attitude, healthy mind and fit body. The message was simple: find time for exercise and mindful activities to make our immune system strong.  

The campaign leveraged the power of digital and social media. It was created as a challenge where one had to upload one video of self doing exercise and challenge 3 more people to do the same. It was a massive hit and achieved its purpose of spreading the message of staying fit and being mentally strong.

 

5. Mission Senior Empowerment: Priya Living Centre

Infostretch Ignite team has been working with the senior citizens in Priya Living Centre in USA. Ignite US members Mona Shah, Ketki Mathuria, Avani Makwana, Falguni Shah, Bina Patel, Rhonda Wallace and others have been spending lot of time and engaging with the centres through different initiatives. 

Our gifted and talented Infoneers and family members showed their “creative sides” by colouring, drawing and writing letters to Senior Citizens that live in and around the Silicon Valley.  Many of these seniors have little access to family members due to Covid-19 and social distancing regulations. Our Infoneers brought “loads of sunshine and love” in their lives through their paintings and letters. Senior citizens were touched with our gesture and the entire idea was  an overwhelming success.

Infostretch Ignite Team brought joy to the lives of senior citizens through a specially designer musical event “Zindagi Ek Sunahara Safar”. Our leaders and energetic champions created a magical evening for the Priya Living elderly members to celebrate Diwali and to celebrate the festival called “Life”! Manish Mathuria, Rutesh Shah, Mona Shah, Ketki Mathuria, Padmini Murthy, Avani Makwana, Deepak Parmar, Dharminder, Shraddha Agarwal, Kinjan Shah, Bina Patel and others created a lasting Diwali memory for the seniors. 

Ignite Team has been is planning to work with other senior citizen shelters. Our support goes beyond the sharing of our time and helping with different activities. 

6. Mental Health Matters:

Our world is changing disruptively at a rate faster than ever experienced in the entire humankind. Our life is getting busier, demanding and more stressful. This affects our productivity, relationships and happiness. Left unattended, it creates anxiety, depression and serious mental health issues. One in four people suffer from mental health issues globally. The most alarming is the rise of mental health issues amongst the youth. The time to address the mental health challenges is NOW!

Keeping this thought in mind, Infostretch Ignite introduced a new initiative to create awareness around mental health and well- being. Infostretch Ignite is working on the following ideas: 

1. Mental Health Awareness Session 


2. Collaboration with National Alliance On Mental Illness (NAMI) – Joint Activities, NAMI Walk


3. Online Forum for Sharing and Connecting


4. Curated Content 

Ignite’s Mental Health group collaborated with National Alliance on Mental Illness and participated in the NAMI Virtual Walk on Oct 10, 2020. The walk was successful in raising funds as well as awareness – Feelings & Thoughts Are As Important As Our Fitness! Cheers to Ignite Team’s Ketki Mathuria, Niraj Pendal, Kavneet Kaur and others. 

7. VOSAP Art for Heart 2020 Collaboration:

Infostretch Ignite Team had partnered with VOSAP for showcasing their wonderful initiative “Art From Heart” Contest 2020 to Ignite NGO partners in Gujarat. 

The Contest was a great success. The Contest took VOSAP’s global theme to the grassroots. It created awareness and initiated conversations around disability amongst kids and youth. A message of hope, sensitivity and empathy was communicated beautifully. 

Salient Features:

1. More Than 200 Registrations 


2. Workshops For Awareness on Disability & Contest


3. Surprise For All Participants


4. Partner NGOs – Robinhood Army, Shwas, Omkar Andhjan Mandal & Navrachit. 


5. Prizes For All Individual NGOs 

The highlight of the campaign has been the association with Omkar Andhjan Mandal.

Omkar Andhjan Mandal organised a workshop for children of the visually challenged and less privileged members for ‘Art From Heart’ initiative. The location was Indira Nagar, Lambha, a place on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. On a hot summer afternoon, the children assembled and discussed the topic of disability. Infostretch Ignite Team’s Ashok Karania, Geetanjali Sahni and Omkar Andhjan Mandal’s Vikram Rajput interacted with children and chatted about different disabilities, impact on lives and how to help the specially abled brethren. This helped to take VOSAP’s global theme to the grassroots. It provided a new perspective to the people on the fringes – who usually take disability for granted. It opened up conversation and dialogue amongst the generation next. A message of hope, sensitivity and empathy was communicated beautifully. 

8. Happy Periods: Building For Scale 

Ignite Sheroes-driven Happy Periods Campaign goes national! After the overwhelming run in the inaugural state of Gujarat, Ignite’s highly popular Happy Periods Campaign saw its successful launch in Pune, Maharashtra. The highly enthusiastic Ignite Happy Periods team continued their interactive and engaging sessions in multiple schools. Happy Period’s success was attitudes to its unique format: The delicate topic of menstruation being discussed through a mixture of fun activities, experience sharing, open Q&A and distribution of ‘Happy Period’ kits. The campaign is paused as schools are working in digital format and the nature of workshop is best suited to personal and intimate interactions. But the Happy Periods Team of Zil Shah, Mansi Dave, Ashwani Singh, Pooja Shah, Aarti Tanna, Krunal Sagan, Geetanjali Sahni and others are planning new avatar of the Happy Periods campaign. 

9. Infostretch Movember – Mo2:

Movember is an annual event of growing of moustaches and beards during the month of November to raise awareness of men’s health issues like prostate cancer, testicular cancer and men’s suicide.  Infostretch Ignite brings the Movember movement to Infostretch. 

Infostretch Movember is about discussions and actions for promoting men’s health. The inaugural edition of Movember was a grand success with strong participation from Infoneers across the globe. The second edition is under action in November 2020 – The second edition has more prizes, launch of running club and top-down participation! The energy, the creativity and the overall awareness created is amazing!

10. Ignite Running Club

Taking the spirit of Movember to next level, Infostretch Ignite introduced Infoneers to one of the most effective way to boost our health – Running! Ignite Running Club is our commitment to make Infoneers healthy – through sessions, WhatsApp group, solo runs, group runs, sharing, tips and other means! The joys of running are manifold and nobody knows it better than super talented Infoneers – marathoner Harish Nair and dashing Hoshedar Daboo who are spearheading the initiative. Harry and Hoshi are champion runners who have a first-hand experience of the benefits of running and they are committed to boost Infoneers health and well-being through Ignite Running Club

11. Corona Compliant: 

In lieu of the extraordinary circumstances due to Corona Virus situation, all employee participation activities of Ignite have been paused. The partner NGOs are taking ground actions as per situation – street kids live in many centres and our partner NGOs are taking all precautions. Ignite also supported other causes like:

– Ignite Pune’s Rohini and team have been working local Samaritans like Sanchita for supporting the basic necessities of visually impaired, differently abled and less privileged citizens. 

– Infostretch Hackathon Prize Winner Med-Techies donated their prize money for the old age home in rural Gujarat – Jalaram Gharda Ghar

Ignite Team’s actions and initiatives in 2020 prove that extraordinary circumstances require us to renew and recommit ourselves to our causes with more energy and zeal. Giving up is easy, staying and supporting is the difficult but right thing to do. The leadership, team spirit, innovation and commitment of Infoneers has been very vital to ensure that the Ignite vision keeps shining bright and the larger community goals are achieved. Corona Time is the time for reprioritising, consolidating and getting ready with new flights of imagination and giving back!

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.

Empower your employees to give back at the individual level by downloading our new Virtual Volunteering Playbook, which includes ideas and best practices on how to excite and inspire individual giving.

Following the example set by Pledge 1%, Nextep is committed to donating time, dollars, and services to organizations bettering the community. Each year, the Nextep Charitable Foundation donates $100,000 to various organizations. In 2020, Nextep decided to dedicate a large portion of those funds to organizations that support the Black community.

In early June of 2020, Brian Fayak, Nextep founder and CEO, announced the Nextep Charitable Foundation would donate $50,000 and match employee donations to organizations supporting the Black community. 

“I believe that at Nextep, we get a lot of things right as an employer and as a thought leader in our community. That being said, I have no delusions of perfection — we can do better,” Fayak said. “We’re a team full of passionate, intelligent, and action-oriented people. I’m optimistic and hopeful that we’ll come together to drive positive change in our organization and community.” 

As part of this commitment, Nextep pulled together a committee to research and find organizations that aligned with their initiatives and could use support to further their mission.

The committee chose five organizations to receive $10,000 to further their efforts and projects. Through this initiative, Nextep hopes to support these organizations and bring awareness to the great work they’re doing in the community.

The first organization to receive a donation was Grand Gentlemen. It’s dedicated to “uplifting, encouraging, and inspiring young men of color to secure their future.” (Grand Gentlemen) The organization does this through mentorship, culture-based artistic entertainment, and their “Man of the Year Award” scholarship program.

The next donation went to Knowing Your Worth. The nonprofit offers workshops, support, and mentorship to girls ages 11 to 18 in an effort to build strong, confident women.

Nextep also donated to Progress OKC, an organization working to revitalize underdeveloped communities and create opportunities for low- to moderate-income individuals and families. Along with their partners, Progress OKC does this through community development, affordable housing, and economic development. 

The fourth donation went to The Education and Employment Ministry (TEEM). The organization uses job training, education, mentorship, and social services to help individuals who are or have been incarcerated get back on their feet.

Nextep’s most recent donation was made to the Urban League of Greater Oklahoma City. The nonprofit works to accomplish its mission through workforce and career development, education and family development, housing and financial literacy, and community convening and social justice.

These donations are only the beginning. Nextep is committed to finding more ways to support the Black community and partnering with organizations that are doing the same. Learn more about each organization on Nextep’s blog page.

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.

This Giving Tuesday, we here at Digital Additive want to take a moment to recognize a project we’re honored to support: The Harvard Diversity Project. This unique and impactful program is an Atlanta-based pipeline of the Harvard Debate Council that recruits, trains, and matriculates highly motivated black youth into a summer debate residency at Harvard. 

From thousands of applicants, they select a cohort of bright young minds to work together every weekend for 10 months. During these sessions, students are introduced to debate through the exploration of academic disciplines that foster critical thinking, public speaking, and argumentation. The program culminates with a summer residency at Harvard College, an undergraduate program within the university, where students study academic debate alongside and compete against hundreds of gifted scholars from around the world. Since the project’s founding in 2017, the team has won each of the three consecutive Harvard International Debate competitions, and alumni are continually accepted to top-tier universities across the country.

Meet the Harvard Diversity Project

Giving back to the Harvard Diversity Project was a perfect fit for Digital Additive. Our core values as a company align seamlessly with the educational and leadership goals the Harvard Diversity Project instills in its students. Digital Additive sponsors a participant of each year’s cohort, but our engagement goes beyond fiscal support to forge a true partnership. Digital Additive and the Harvard Diversity Project both champion reciprocal communication and strive to forge meaningful connections in all that we do. 

Members of the Digital Additive team engage with each year’s HDP cohort to discuss relevant topics and real-world examples of data security and privacy.  This year our team received a first-hand look at the training received by the scholars with a Critical Thinking & Communication for Critical Times workshop led by founder and CEO Brandon Flemming and Director of Operations Kelly Britton.

We here at Digital Additive are thrilled to share a hometown with such an impactful program and to see it flourish year after year. We urge you to find out more about the Harvard Diversity Project now

About Digital Additive: At Digital Additive, we understand that real relationships – ours with our clients, our clients with their customers – are at the root of effective email marketing. Founded in 2012, we’ve built a team of 48 people who are passionate about email marketing. And yes, we believe you can (and should) be excited about email.

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.

When Doug Lessing, founder of Phin, saw the economic destruction being caused by COVID-19 visually represented in lines of cars snaking for miles at food banks, he recognized it as the “Moment Everything Changed”. He knew that Phin had to play a part in addressing the pressing social challenge that had many people in our country requiring help getting basic needs covered. The Phin Food & Shelter program was born harnessing the time, energy and passion of Phin employees and our wonderful sponsors to raise funds and awareness for food banks and shelters across the country.

Focusing on the areas hit hardest by COVID-19 and/or lockdown economics, Phin’s impact team found 15 amazing food or shelter providers whose impact and innovation made them stand out. The creative team put together several events with music ranging from New Orleans jazz to acoustic guitar to rap and fun segments on oyster shucking and specialty drink mixing. These events helped to raise awareness and give thousands of people the opportunity to learn about the causes and direct the sponsored donations to those that spoke to them the most. The Phin team volunteered on a food distribution day for one of the causes, Island Harvest. In the end, what positive impact did all of this have?

At Phin, we discuss impact a lot, how to define it, how to measure it, how to present it in an engaging and illustrative way. We research facts that help illustrate the positive social change created by a campaign like Phin Food & Shelter. For this project, we have created an infographic to show this impact “by the numbers”.

The true social impact of the Food & Shelter project and other campaigns however go far beyond simple measurement tools. While these do a great job of showing the primary impact in the number of people fed and sheltered, it doesn’t tell the story of the secondary positive effects, the effects these actions have on society beyond those directly impacted. 

When people in need are fed and sheltered for a day, those close to them have that burden lifted a little. The food being shared sometimes comes from local farms which need the income to survive especially while restaurants are not operating near full capacity. Sometimes people preparing the food are getting paid which helps lift the whole community economically. Employees working for the causes can continue their demanding work knowing they are supported and valued. The audience for the live events not only discover music that can uplift their days but also the satisfaction of knowing they helped direct sponsored contributions to important causes. They may be moved to contribute to the causes by volunteering their time, spreading awareness to others or donating themselves.

While it is exciting to come up with reports, graphs and fun infographics to show social impact for Phin campaigns, even more satisfying is knowing the true social value is broader and deeper than anything that could be measured.

We try to capture some of these stories behind the numbers for our curated causes on the Phin Stories “Featured Cause” posts. To learn more about a few of our Food & Shelter causes and see what really goes behind a night of shelter or a prepared meal, check out Cultivating Community:  The Story of Mobile Loaves & Fishes and Reimagining Community: The Genesis of CommonTable.

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.

Empower your employees to give back at the individual level by downloading our new Virtual Volunteering Playbook, which includes ideas and best practices on how to excite and inspire individual giving.

This year had its fair share of struggles and challenges, and the need to give back has never been greater. Back in May, we shared how Fluxx had been selected to power the new state-wide Colorado COVID Relief Fund. Driven by the Colorado Governor’s Office and supported by our client The Colorado Health Foundation, this initiative was formed to provide grants up to $25k to help support Colorado communities most disproportionately impacted by the crisis.

And now for this Giving Tuesday, we’re sharing the creative ways that our team is getting into the spirit of a safe, yet still impactful, day of giving. 

We’ll start by saying that Fluxx is headquartered in San Francisco. Our team is now fully remote, but many of us are still based in the Bay Area where we are actively working to stop the spread of COVID-19 through social distancing, adhering to the statewide stay at home order, and increased sanitation measures. So while each Giving Tuesday we normally donate our time to the Alameda County Community Foodbank, this is not feasible this year.  

Instead, in the spirit of giving, our team is encouraged to give by donating time and/or money to the organizations and causes dear to them. We’ve created a spreadsheet where team members can anonymously share information about the nonprofit organizations and causes they love. Team members can find information about which nonprofits are accepting virtual volunteer activities, which are hosting small, localized in-person activities, along with information about the organization and where to leave a donation.

As a fully remote team as of March, we felt that it was important for everyone to have the opportunity to showcase their favorite organization and volunteer activity no matter where they are currently residing. Some of our team are volunteering for local Thanksgiving meal delivery services in Hawaii, others are calling older adults throughout the holidays through the Little Brothers, Friends of the Elderly organization, and some are even knitting warm clothing for local families with Hamilton Families Bay Area. 

We’re thrilled to see such a variety of causes and activities listed. There’s truly something for everyone and every interest and it’s amazing to see the power and impact and team can have across the world.

Along with our virtual giving Tuesday activities, our team has also engaged in virtual gift matching programs in April and October. Led by our CEO the gift matching programs supported 19 different organizations worldwide. And lastly, our team will also be donating laptops and iPads to RRRcomputer.org. The organization is dedicated to refurbishing technology so it can then be donated to low-income students.  

This Giving Tuesday we’re looking forward to supporting a number of causes and communities. This day of giving is a reminder to all of us all that we can (and will) come together, even when we’re spread apart. Stay safe this year!