
By: Morgan Puravet, Principal Employer Brand Talent Marketing Manager, 6sense
This post is part of a special series to recognize Pledge 1% Members featured on the 2023 Cloud 100 List.
Why did you first decide to join Pledge 1%?
Early in the 6sense company’s life cycle, our leaders decided to cement giving back to the company’s DNA. They felt that allocating 1% of their equity to philanthropic endeavors when they were still a smaller business was the ideal way to start. This way, any additional value to the company would also be used to support charitable contributions.
The Pledge 1% framework was essential as it provided a simple method to track our charitable initiatives, regardless of the program, recipient or method of giving. Pledge 1% ensures that, as 6sense continues to grow, our commitment to giving back does too.
What does your Pledge 1% program look like in action? What does your program involve?
In 2022, 6sense launched a global effort to redefine its purpose and what values and cultural experiences are unique to the company. From all over the world, 6sensors work together to serve with passion and purpose, which fuels the 6sense corporate social responsibility initiatives.
The 6sense Gives Back program involves our Friday Giving initiative, which provides every employee globally with an opportunity to nominate an organization they care for or are involved with for 6sense to donate to every week. This year, 6sense has donated over $40,000 as part of this program alone.
6sense also launched a Month of Service initiative in 2022 where employees across all 15 of our global working hubs come together in person to volunteer for organizations in their communities. Additionally, 6sense provides three additional days off for all employees to focus on individual volunteer efforts both in person and virtually.

6sensors volunteering in London, UK
What have been some of the greatest highlights or impact moments to date?
In 2022, 6sense’s Month of Service allocated time for employees across 15 “market hubs” from across the globe to come together and participate in volunteer activities. During this period, employees sorted and packed over 3,000 pounds of carrots, removed eight bags of trash from the Nashville River, prepared 1,407 meals, organized 1,206 books, collected six bags of trash from parks near schools, packed 2,000 hygiene kits for people in need in the Bay Area, and packed more than 200 bags of groceries for veterans. Additionally, 6sense provided employees with three days of paid volunteer time to use however they want, such as helping out food pantries, animal shelters, tutoring, and meal delivery.
6sense has nearly finished their 2023 Month of Service and its employees have already contributed to a range of projects, such as supporting local pet shelters in Austin, Texas; sprucing up gardens in London communities to provide increased access to fresh produce; and providing food and school supplies to disadvantaged children in six Indian cities (Pune, Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore). Furthermore, in the Bay Area, 6sense employees sorted 9162 lbs of food which will feed many families in Silicon Valley.

6sensors volunteering in Pune, India
What does it mean to you to be a Pledge 1% member on the Cloud 100 List? How are you leading with your values as a business?
As a Pledge 1% member on the Cloud 100 List, 6sense embraces its responsibility and continues to seek new ways to contribute. The 6sense core values of integrity, fun, one team, growth mindset, and accountability guide its work and inspire all 6sensors to make a positive impact beyond the industries its business serves.
Terese Lam, Chief People Officer added that “people are the heart and soul of 6sense, and we serve with passion and purpose. We know that giving back to the community is important to our employees as it brings about human connection, passion, energy and serves a bigger purpose than just our Company’s mission”

6sense’s values
Can you share any quick tips or learnings you’ve gained while implementing your program?
As our programs continue to evolve and expand, we have realized the importance of engaging our employees across the many decisions to be made. This has enabled us to make sure that employees’ opinions and voices are taken into account when deciding where to donate and when organizing time off volunteer activities. It also helps to ensure that our giving opportunities are in line with our brand and values.
If you were to give one piece of advice to companies thinking about joining Pledge 1%, what would you say?
6sense Chief Finance Officer Rob Goldenberg says to start a plan to implement corporate social responsibility into your organization early and ensure the initiative grows with you.
“Pledge 1% provided a framework to holistically drive our charitable efforts and we have been able to scale programs with it along the way.”

6sensors volunteering in South Bay, San Francisco, USA

Originally posted here.
Author: Shradha Sharma
In Conversation with Shradha Sharma, Scott Farquhar, co-founder and co-CEO, Atlassian talks about the company’s efforts to develop conducive policies to motivate and engage employees.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Atlassian wants its employees to feel pride in their work without being restricted by hierarchical structures of decision-making.
- Scott Farquhar, co-founder and co-CEO, Atlassian, believes in encouraging employees to do more than what they thought was possible.
- Atlassian believes in trusting employees, allowing them to choose where they work through it’s remote-first policy, Team Anywhere.
Australia was a completely different place in 2002. The technology ecosystem barely existed and working at a startup was still considered a glorified version of being unemployed. Scott Farquhar, then a 23-year-old science graduate from the University of New South Wales, was keen to pursue a career in technology but was not excited at the prospect of working in a rigid corporate environment. Why not start building software, he thought? That one profound idea changed the course of the technology landscape, in Australia and beyond.
Scott teamed up with Mike Cannon-Brookes, a fellow University of New South Wales graduate and thus was born Atlassian. “We didn’t want to get a real job, we wanted to work in technology. And then Mike and I realised that we could build software from Australia and build a technology company,” says Scott, co-founder and co-CEO, Atlassian, in a conversation with Shradha Sharma.
Atlassian’s first product was Jira, a project management tool. Scott and Mike found early success with Jira and decided that growing Atlassian was going to be their future career path. They started with nothing and 21 years later, Atlassian has over 11,000 employees.
It is no longer just an Australian company anymore, as its presence has expanded across the world, including in India where it employs over 1,700 people.
Building teams with trust
Technology jobs are often known for their “hustle culture”, a term used to describe the 24/7 office work environment where unrealistic expectations overlook employee well-being. Scott and Mike had hustled too, when they coded at stretch for multiple days and nights during Atlassian’s early days. Their definition of hustle, however, is slightly different.
“Leadership is about making people feel uncomfortable at a rate that they can absorb. At Atlassian, it basically involves stretching people to do things that they couldn’t do otherwise. My job as a leader is to push everyone 20% more than they thought was possible,” says Scott.
For Scott, this “hustle” has to be sustainable and meaningful. A sample of this belief is the contra-view Atlassian has taken at a time when technology majors across the world have asked their employees to come back to office. Atlassian allows its employees to choose where they work through its remote-first policy, Team Anywhere: whether remote, in an office, or a mixture of the two. Not just that, Scott also wants to inspire other companies to allow their employees to work from anywhere.
“You ask people to commute two hours to come to work. Then they sit on a Zoom call for another two hours. It doesn’t make sense. Having said that, even with remote work, our people build social bonds together,” adds Scott.
This policy works especially well for employees who do not have the luxury of spending hours in daily commute to the workplace. Scott shares the example of a female employee whose husband works in the armed forces. Prior to joining Atlassian, this woman had to relocate or change jobs every two years when her husband was transferred to another location. At Atlassian, she has the flexibility to relocate when needed and continue to build her career.
The company believes in a work setting where employees feel trusted, nurtured, and are given responsibilities beyond the traditional job descriptions. It means that employees have a say in the decision making process, irrespective of their position in the hierarchy.
“Mike and I tell everyone that their job is to come in and make a difference at Atlassian. So we make sure there is nothing that is sacred, there is nothing that can’t be touched. There is no decision that is off limits here at Atlassian,” says Scott.
Another strategy the company uses is to give a lot of responsibility to young employees. Explaining the rationale behind this decision, the co-CEO says that the younger generation joining the workforce will shape the technology of the future.
Getting to the core of culture
Developing this workplace culture took time. Scott and Mike hired the first 50 people, who in turn were given the responsibility to hire the next 50. What the duo found was that the next set of 50 weren’t joining for the right reasons. So in 2006, the team got together and created Atlassian’s core values.
“Our five core values include some swear words. So it either attracts people or repels them. One of the values is ‘open company, no bullshit’, which is all about being transparent,” he adds.
So even as workplace trends change constantly, the core values stay intact. Scott explains that the company chooses people who are not just yearning to make change happen, but also being the change that they seek to bring about.
Scott believes curiosity builds companies. In fact, that is also his advice to other entrepreneurs is to keep the inquisitive spirit burning.
“Sometimes, companies are calcified, it is easy to keep doing one thing well, and just keep doing that for years. And you have to actively fight that because inertia is a really hard thing to fight against,” he says.
For Scott and Mike, it is all about having a big vision. “We decided that we are going to focus on a human problem, which is getting people to collaborate better and track work and share knowledge,” adds Scott.
While finding ideas is crucial, what’s more important is putting bright minds to work on it. Scott has seen it happen at his own company too.
In 2012, Atlassian acquired an online private messaging service called Hipchat. Five years later, Hipchat was replaced by a business communication tool called Stride. Hipchat and Stride were considered precursors to Slack.
Scott admits that while their product was better and the first to launch in the market, they didn’t invest enough into it. Eventually, in July 2018, Hipchat and Stride were sold to Slack, with Atlassian making an undisclosed investment in Slack.
Giving back to society
Even as Scott is passionate about technology, he is also aware of the need to give back to the community.
By 2004-05, Atlassian started to donate 1% of its profit, products and people’s time to philanthropic causes. This is part of Pledge 1%, a corporate philanthropy movement where Atlassian is a co-founder alongside other corporations. Pledge 1% is an initiative wherein companies can either pledge 1% of equity, time, product, or profit or a combination of these initiatives to give back to society. In addition, Atlassian has its philanthropic arm, the Atlassian Foundation, through which it donates funds, resources, and time.
“We started it as a pledge, at a time when we didn’t have any profits or any employees. Today, the Atlassian Foundation has donated $65 million, 135,000 free licences, and 230,000 hours of community service by employees. We have been able to create a huge impact,” says Scott.
Atlassian has come a long way, be it in terms of software products or making a meaningful contribution to society. Scott is immensely proud, but his work is far from over. He wants to unleash the potential of every team. As Scott says, it is a human problem that will always need solving.
Zumzum Helped Broadstones School To Save £30,000
As part of the Pledge 1% movement, the Zumzum Foundation donates its time and services to Broadstones School, which is a special nurturing school based in Stockport, UK. With the help of the Zumzum Foundation, Broadstones School Ltd saved £30,000 by avoiding the hassle of spending money on expensive systems and hiring new staff.
Broadstones School Ltd is a special nurturing school for young people with social-emotional mental health problems, complex difficulties who struggle with confidence. The school was founded in 2015 to help students to find their interests and develop practical skills in music, construction, health, social care, hair and beauty. Broadstones School Ltd focuses on the individual education of up to 20 registered pupils.
Challenges
The school proprietor Mr. Gibbins stated that they needed a secure IT system; however, they did not have the budget or the time to learn and manage a system independently. The organisation had identified the need for an effective IT system was the biggest priority for their team since staff needed to travel and work from different sites.
“If we look at the market, the mainstream schools have IT systems, but they’ve got 1500-2000 pupils in the system. That would be hugely complicated for us. Also, we couldn’t afford it financially. So we were in a really difficult place until Zumzum took us out of massive challenges and showed us how to achieve everything we needed.”
The Solution
Zumzum introduced and successfully implemented Google Workspace for Education and Chromebooks for the Broadstones School Ltd. The Broadstones’ team felt extremely fortunate to have adopted Google Workspace for Education before the lockdown and restrictions of the global Covid pandemic in 2019. Zumzum assisted Broadstones in completely transforming how they operate the business and adapted the staff to remote working methods. Staff continue to benefit from the ease of working from anywhere, on any device, even after the pandemic has ended. All the Google Workspace for Education tools for email and communication are utilised to ensure the organisation stays connected with staff and pupils.
“Thanks to Google Meet, we could keep in contact with staff and pupil welfare during COVID. We now have morning and evening briefings with all staff, which was really difficult before because they’re on different sites. So it’s really improved the efficiency of the business.”
“Zumzum has really moved us forward. They were excellent, with very good communication. They answered all questions and queries very quickly. We are very grateful that we received the free software and services from the Zumzum Foundation.”
Business Gains
Broadstones School Ltd was able to avoid the expected costs of a new IT system that would have cost up to £30,000. As Zumzum manages the Google Workspace for Education system for Broadstones, the organisation was also able to avoid the costs of hiring and training IT staff. Taking advantage of the full suite of communication, collaboration, and learning tools, staff, faculty, and students were able to move to a near real-time collaboration. Students’ attendance increased since they could attend classes from anywhere and from any device. Overall, the organisation achieved the major goal of improving collaboration by working from any location.
“Our staff said how good it was since we implemented the Google Workspace for Education tools. And it’s almost like opening your eyes to a whole new way of working. Having migrated to Google, we just couldn’t go to the old way of working now. I wish everyone else used it too.”
“I am very impressed by the speed of the service; nothing was a problem for Zumzum. 100% it helped us to save money. I can’t say enough how much it changed the business. We were looking to invest in IT systems, and we needed someone to manage it, which would have also increased our staff costs. Some of the systems we were considering would have cost us with the systems, which were up to £30,000. We could not have afforded that. We will always be grateful for the donation from the Zumzum Foundation that helped us save up to £30,000.“
Zumzum Foundation
Zumzum Foundation is part of the Pledge 1% movement and is Zumzum’s way of giving back to the community. We donate free software and services to help charities more easily achieve their mission. For more information, visit this website.

Study.com: Keys to the Classroom
Keys to the Classroom is an education initiative created by Study.com to help combat the teacher shortage across the nation and diversify America’s teacher pipeline. This article discusses how they are addressing the crisis with the help of 25+ institutions.
Keys to the Classroom: Where did we start?
Research shows that students of color experience many positive benefits when they have at least one same race/ethnicity/identity teacher. These benefits come in terms of higher-performing academic outcomes, self-esteem, high school graduation rates, college persistence and more. We also know that state credentialing exams for aspiring educators of color can be one of the biggest barriers to becoming teachers.
In 2021, we created our educational initiative Keys to the Classroom to directly address these issues and to help aspiring educators pass their tests and start teaching. Through Keys to the Classroom, we donate a year of access to our online courses to ensure educators from diverse backgrounds have everything they need to succeed.
Results to date:
Since we launched Keys to the Classroom a year ago, we have built partnerships in 20 states across the country. In addition to growing this new community, we have also seen the following accomplishments:
- 25 total programs to date and growing (TNTP, Teach.org, Tennessee GYO, Vt NEA, Center for Black Educator Development, and many more)
- 50% of recipients identify as people of color.
- 1/3 identify as African American (5x higher than the national teaching corps representation at 7%!)
- More than 60% identify as first-generation students
- Recently won Fast Company Most Innovative CSR Initiative

Some of our current partners
What we’re doing now?
Since starting the initiative, we have built a coalition of over 25 institutions (including State DOE’s/Grow Your Own programs, Unions, National nonprofits, MSI’s, etc.) to target donations of our teacher test prep materials and share knowledge about what tools are working.
We are building community, collecting data and in conversation about– with a specific focus on alternative educator pathways, especially those that focus specifically on building a more diverse teacher pipeline.
We are interested in growing this program and would love to hear your thoughts.
Originally posted on The Collab Catalyst
Pledge 1% Update: SEETurtles.org
The Collab Catalyst is still a very new company, but it was important to establish our values and the accountability for how we embody them early. One of our core values is always give back As such, I have pledged to donate 1% of our net profit and 1% of our time towards causes that are important to us.
This month, we made our first donation to an organization called SEETurtles.
SEETurtles connects people with sea turtles in meaningful, personal and, memorable ways. They help the sea turtle community connect, grow, and thrive by supporting community-based conservation efforts. Their impact is impressive:
They have saved more than 9 million turtle hatchlings at more than 60 nesting beach conservation projects in 25 countries across Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia, and Africa. We have provided more than 200 grants to date, totaling more than US $900,000 in funding.
More than 1,500 people have visited turtle projects, supporting conservation and local communities. More than 500 volunteers have completed more than 5,000 work shifts at turtle projects.
We have generated more than US $1 Million in benefits for turtle conservation and local communities through tours, donations, and in-kind services.
To learn more about their extraordinary work, visit their website.
Originally posted on GlobeNewswire
Coveo Partners With U-Go: Donates 100 University Scholarships to Help Young Women Access Education Across Low Income Countries
Coveo (TSX:CVO), a leader in AI platforms that transform digital experiences with intelligent search, recommendations, 1:1 personalization, and merchandising, today announced a new partnership with U-Go, a recently-launched nonprofit organization that helps young women in low-income countries including Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines and Vietnam to pursue higher education by providing financial scholarships. As part of Coveo’s commitment to the Pledge 1%, Coveo will be sponsoring approximately 100 university scholarships through the program.
UNESCO estimates that around the world, 129 million girls cannot access education. And only 21% of young women complete an upper secondary education. Gender parity and increased access to education for young women is one of the most transformative development strategies. A recent World Bank study estimates that the “limited educational opportunities for girls, and barriers to completing 12 years of education, cost countries between US$15 trillion and $30 trillion in lost lifetime productivity and earnings.”
“Knowledge and education are at the center of our 1% Pledge. We’ve chosen to prioritize programs that support young people in vulnerable social groups to give them equal, accessible, and unconstrained access to education. The U-Go scholarship program is the perfect fit,” said Sheila Morin, CMO at Coveo. “U-Go has already had a huge generational impact on families around the world. Access to education not only empowers women across nations, but can help lift their households, communities, and countries out of poverty. We could not be prouder to join U-Go to support these young women.”
“I’m so excited that we are announcing this new partnership between U-Go and Coveo,” said John Wood, Founder and CEO of U-Go. “Our team’s core belief is that while talent is universal, opportunity often is not. Access to education is one of the only ways to move a family from the bottom tier of income and wellbeing to the top, in a single generation. This year our goal is to increase the cohort of U-Go scholars to over 2,200, and with Coveo’s help we will be able to welcome 100 ambitious and promising young women into the U-Go family.”
Originally posted on Salesforce.com
Salesforce Philanthropy Q4 Recap: Catalyzing Education, Environment, and Economic Opportunity

Giving back is built into Salesforce’s DNA. When the company was founded 24 years ago, we committed to giving back 1% of our time, 1% of equity, and 1% of product to our communities – and that was before we even had anything to give.
Now, as we turn our focus to a new fiscal year, we reflect on the incredible impact this model has driven to date. At the close of the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2023 (January 31, 2023), Salesforce has:
- Donated a total of $614 million in grants
- Provided 7.8 million employee service hours
- Supported more than 50,000 nonprofit and higher education customers through our software
Read on to learn how our fourth quarter funds made an impact.
Expanding support to 20 new grantees of the Salesforce Catalyst Fund
In the fourth quarter, Salesforce broadened the impact of its Catalyst Fund by providing $2 million in flexible capital to 20 new grantees – including 10 Black-led organizations forging pathways to education and career success for U.S. youth, and 3 organizations closing the education gap and creating career pathways for Indigenous students in Australia.
The Salesforce Catalyst Fund, which launched in June, supports 20 nonprofits in Australia, the UK, and the United States, and provides critical, unrestricted capital to nonprofits led by underrepresented leaders to counter historic gaps in philanthropic investments.
Click through the slideshow here to see some of the latest Catalyst Fund recipients and their goals.
Elevating economic opportunity through giving
Today talent is everywhere — but opportunity is not. Only about 7% of people have college degrees, and many from underserved communities lack access to the education and networking opportunities needed to secure jobs in technology.
In the fourth quarter, we accelerated our longstanding mission to widen access to economic opportunity by providing $1 million total in grants to COOP Careers and Ivy Tech as they work to expand career opportunities in their communities.
Accelerating progress on $100M climate commitment
In the fourth quarter, we made strides towards Salesforce’s $100 million climate commitment, bringing total progress to date to $12 million. We also launched the Salesforce Accelerator for Nature to provide nonprofits with unrestricted funding, technology, and pro-bono support. The first cohort of the Accelerator is supporting Global Forest Generation (GFG), GreenWave, Island Conservation, and Rainforest Connection – helping ecopreneurs bring promising solutions to market.
Providing disaster relief to communities in need
At Salesforce, we are committed to supporting our communities, particularly in a time of crisis. We help prevent the impacts of future disasters through our technology and philanthropic grants, prepare humanitarian NGOs with proactive investments before disaster strikes, and empower our employees with the tools and resources to safely and effectively respond.
In response to the recent Turkey-Syria Earthquake, our early investments in disaster relief jumpstarted response efforts for our humanitarian partners, CARE, Save the Children, IFRC, and World Central Kitchen, so they could be on the ground within 24-48 hours. Within a matter of days, Salesforce employees mobilized a grassroots campaign to raise more than $850,000 in employee donations and corporate matching.
Within a matter of weeks, Salesforce employees mobilized a grassroots campaign to raise nearly $1 million in employee donations and corporate matching.
Moving forward, our vision remains focused on using our business as a platform for change and leveraging our philanthropy to build a more equitable and sustainable world for all. We look forward to the many opportunities ahead to drive impact in 2023 and beyond.
CTA Architects P.C.
New York, New York, United States
Number of employees: #58
https://www.ctaarchitects.com/
CTA Architects P.C. (CTA) is composed of talented, hands-on architects well-versed in traditional urban building types and new technologies. The firm has garnered respect from a myriad of clients from both the private and public sectors and specializes in new design, historic preservation, adaptive reuse, building restoration and rehabilitation. They have committed to pledging their profit and time towards helping the community.
While CTA Architects P.C. (CTA) has been dedicating a portion of its time and profit to valuable causes and nonprofit organizations since its founding, we only recently signed on to Pledge 1% in 2022. We have been uplifted and inspired by the community stories shared and have continued to take on new ways in which we can give our time and profit to causes in need of support.
One of the newer causes that we supported beginning this year was the New York Architect’s Regatta Foundation. CTA sponsored a boat for the 2022 New York Architect’s Regatta hosted in September 2022, and had five of its very own sailors aboard a J-24 sailboat in the Hudson River, racing to support providing waterfront access and educational experience to a wide audience of various socioeconomic backgrounds.
Over the past few years, the Regatta helped to realize some amazing feats such as:
• Successfully lobbied Congress and the NYS Legislature to enact laws that protect our drinking water supply
• Modified a fleet of sailboats so that people with spinal cord injuries, many of them combat veterans, can sail
• Taken classes of elementary and middle school students out for a day of sailing mixed with science lessons, on the Long Island Sound
• Provided leadership training, social services, college application support, STEM classes, and scholarships to students all over the NYC area
• Supported the US Olympic Sailing team, and especially, the US sailing team representative to the Paralympic Games
One of CTA’s very own employees came across this opportunity about a month before the event, and asked the Partners if we would be able to support the cause with a short timeframe. Without hesitation, an office-wide message was sent out asking for interest and participants for the regatta. Five members of CTA staff (also known as the “sailors”) volunteered and committed to raise a minimum of $2,500 to participate in the regatta. The sailors reached out to contractors, consultants, friends, family, and employees of the company, to gain financial support necessary to secure a sailboat on race day, with CTA itself making a generous donation to our team’s cause. At the end of the fundraising period, CTA was proud to have raised a total of $3,445 in just two and a half weeks, an achievement that we are very proud of.
The team was a group of all first-time sailors, and welcomed the challenge of sailing on a rainy day in the Hudson River with a great attitude and determination for success. The sailors, Nadja, Christian, Saša, Ben and Isabel, along with their trusty skipper Thomas, took to the waters and utilized their communication skills and strong sense of teamwork to excel during the races. CTA’s sailboat placed 6th in race one, 4th in race two, and 7th in race three. For a boat of first-time sailors, our skipper assured us that our listening skills, teamwork and above all else, our goal to have fun, helped us excel.
It was very encouraging to be able to support a new cause and get involved in something we had no exposure to, all while making a difference. We hope to continue supporting this cause on an annual basis and host a boat in the competition in future years!

Their #1 tip or advice for companies?
It is most important to base and build an impact program upon values and causes that your company cares about, and to give employees the ability to bring their own foundations and causes close to their hearts to the table for discussion of support. More progress is made when employees are passionate about the causes we support.
Originally posted on Olo For Good.
In an effort to integrate social responsibility and impact into our business, Olo joined the Pledge 1% movement and created Olo For Good in March 2021. Since then we’ve committed one percent of Olo’s time, product, and equity to foster sustainable contributions to the communities in which we live, work, and serve.
Olo For Good supports organizations that are aligned with our mission and values, including those focused on:
- Advancing all aspects of racial, ethnic, and gender diversity, equity, and inclusion
- Providing relief for the restaurant industry and its front-line workers
- Ending childhood hunger and increasing access to food
- Protecting natural resources and reducing waste and emissions
As part of that commitment, we intend to donate one percent of Olo shares over 10 years to an independent donor-advised fund sponsor, Tides Foundation, in conjunction with our Olo For Good initiative. So far, a total of $7 million in grants has been donated to the following organizations:
- American Forests
- Appalachian Trail Conservancy
- Black Girls Code
- Clean Air Task Force
- Emma’s Torch
- Feeding America
- FoodCorps
- Girls Who Code
- Giving Kitchen
- Heart of Dinner
- The LEE Initiative
- Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
- Okra Project
- Partnership with Native Americans
- World Central Kitchen
These nonprofits are focused on diversity, supporting restaurant workers, environmental initiatives, and the fight against hunger. We are committed to working closely with each organization to ensure continued success.
Here are a few examples:
Emma’s Torch
Emma’s Torch is a nonprofit social enterprise that provides paid culinary training to refugees, asylees, and survivors of human trafficking and helps them find meaningful careers in the food industry.
When the pandemic forced Emma’s Torch to halt in-person dining, the organization needed a way to scale its business, including adding pick-up options for guests. And so, in addition to a grant, we donated our time and resources to get them set up with Online Ordering and Dispatch for restaurant delivery, and waived the usage fees.
Since then, Olo has helped Emma’s Torch streamline operations by eliminating manual work, improve order accuracy, and increase its reach throughout New York.
We remain committed to increasing online ordering capabilities for Emma’s Torch, assisting the organization as it expands to new locations, and leveraging each team’s strengths within the culinary industry to build a stronger community.
Giving Kitchen
Giving Kitchen supplies emergency assistance to food service workers through financial aid and a network of low or no-cost community resources.
When a food service worker experiences an injury, illness, housing disaster, or other trauma, they can apply for financial assistance to cover living expenses. Additionally, Giving Kitchen’s Stability Network connects people to resources related to mental health and substance misuse, employment, housing, social services, and more.
Formed out of an overwhelming community response to the terminal cancer diagnosis of Chef Ryan Hidinger, the nonprofit has provided over 6.7 million dollars to food service workers in crisis since 2013.
The pandemic underscored the value of Giving Kitchen, with 2,500 individuals served in 2020 alone, and set its intentions for the future. We’re proud to help the organization in its efforts to increase awareness within the restaurant industry and expand beyond Georgia and Tennessee to serve food service workers in need throughout the United States.
Partnership with Native Americans
Partnership With Native Americans (PWNA) provides consistent material aid, educational support, and community-based services to Native Americans living on remote, isolated, and impoverished reservations.
After an Olo employee nominated the nonprofit, PWNA received a grant to support its first-ever ancestral foods distribution to Tribal communities in the Northern Plains and Southwest regions of the U.S. Alongside PWNA’s Native-led, peer-to-peer ancestral foods training that teaches individuals how to prepare traditional Indigenous meals, this distribution will complement the organization’s food sovereignty efforts.
PWNA will also use a small portion of the grant to purchase and distribute portable solar lights from Watts of Love to Tribal communities that lack sufficient electricity and lighting infrastructure to be safe and productive.
We’re grateful to partner with an organization that is working to eliminate food insecurity and increase safety among the Native American population.
How to Get Involved
Individuals or nonprofit organizations that want to get involved with Olo For Good or explore potential partnership opportunities are encouraged to reach out to oloforgood@olo.com.
Stay tuned for the announcement of our next batch of Olo For Good grant recipients in April 2023.
For more information about how Olo supports nonprofits via Olo For Good, and our ESG work, visit www.olo.com/esg.