Pledge Now

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Since the early days of Zylo, we’ve been committed to supporting the communities where we live and work. Our success wouldn’t be possible without the support of our community, so we’re proud to partner with Pledge 1% to support nonprofits in Indianapolis and beyond.

One key way we support our community (and our world) is by taking action to protect the environment. Because let’s face it: we want our planet to thrive for generations to come.

As individuals, it’s easy to feel powerless when we’re up against a big issue like climate change. But in reality, small, simple changes can have a big impact — especially when we’re all working together.

Here are a few of the ways team Zylo is pledging to protect our planet not only on Earth Day, but throughout the year.


 


2021 Earth Day Plans

This Earth Day, we’re focused on celebrating and protecting the planet in ways that work in today’s virtual, socially distant world. We’ve set up safe, socially distant volunteer options for employees, including the opportunity to lend a hand with the Indianapolis Cultural Trail.

Some of our team members have made plans to gather in small groups outdoors to go hiking, plant trees or participate in other outdoor activities to celebrate the planet.

Finally, we’re also holding a virtual Earth Day Zoom hangout and we’re encouraging employees to explore their favorite place in nature (or discover a new place) and share a picture via Slack.


 


A Look Back at Year’s Past

Here’s a look back at some of Zylo’s past Earth-focused events and initiatives, too. Our hope is to bring back a lot of these things in the future — when it’s safe to do so!

Car Free Day

Did you know that there are one billion vehicles on the globe? Car Free Day, an international event held each September, challenges motorists to forgo their cars for a day, opting instead for greener modes of transportation. Each year, Zylo participates in Car Free Day. And our employees happily take part, seeking out alternate transportation methods that are better for the environment. In fact, in 2020, we won the Indianapolis area contest!

Here’s our team celebrating our big win.

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Zylos Taking to the Streets

Twice a year, all of our employees come together to do a volunteer project. It’s a great way to foster teamwork — and give back to the community that’s given us so much.

On more than one occasion, we’ve laced up our sneakers, grabbed our bags and hit the streets to pick up trash from our local neighborhoods and parks.

Of course, our volunteer projects have looked a bit different over the course of the last year. But the pandemic hasn’t held us back from doing our part to protect the planet. In 2020, Zylo organized a virtual cleanup. At a designated date and time, all employees came together (virtually) to clear litter from parks or neighborhoods close to their homes.

VTO for the Environment

Each year, Zylo gives each employee eight hours of volunteer time off (VTO) to give back to the community. Oftentimes, employees opt to use this time to support the environment — whether it’s by cleaning up parks and trails or helping to plant a community garden.

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Earth Day Bingo

On Earth Day 2020, Zylo’s entire team was working remotely. But we wanted to find a way to engage our employees and encourage them to take small (but impactful) actions to give back to the planet.

So, we developed Earth Day Bingo. Each space on the Bingo card offered a way to “go green,” such as using reusable grocery bags or ditching disposable water bottles. Employees who took actions (and completed Bingo patterns while doing so) won prizes — and bragging rights!

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In-Office Recycling and Composting

It’s been a while since team Zylo has all been in the office together. But when we were, we had built a successful recycling and composting program. This made it really easy for everyone to do their part to reduce waste going into landfills. And it’s a program that we’ll pick back up once employees are back to working in the office.


 


Happy Earth Day!


It’s our responsibility to take action to protect our planet on Earth Day — and throughout the entire year. Remember: small changes can make a big impact, especially when we’re all committed to doing our part.



Originally posted: April 27th, 2021

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At Pledge, our mission is to ‘Power Generosity,’ and impact is at the heart of everything we do.

We are committed to connecting brands and individuals to the causes they care about, including sustainability and protecting our planet – not just for Earth Day, but every day. Our hope is to inspire and serve as a catalyst for change through innovative technology as well as the example through which we lead to better our planet for future generations.

We believe that everyday moments are opportunities for impact – from your Zoom meetings and birthdays to your Clubhouse chats or your online shopping experiences. Every interaction has the potential to become more meaningful by adding a donation element, allowing you to pledge.to the causes you care about most. Through these everyday moments of impact, there is a multiplier effect that creates exponential progress around the globe. In order for our planet to sustain, we must recognize our roles and responsibilities to each do our part in its survival – from individuals to nonprofits to companies.

Everyday we witness people’s commitment to create this change and better our planet, using Pledge to fundraise for any of the 2+ million nonprofits and charitable organizations within our database. And with that, we see a future that is bright and capable of so much good. Here are a just a few recent examples of pledges for the planet, all powered by Pledge:


Whether you are a business looking to find more accessible ways to engage your audience while also giving back, or donating towards a cause you care about as an individual or community, there are many ways you can join us in the #PledgeToDoGood this Earth Month. Together, we can protect our planet and sustain a healthy future for all.



Originally posted: April 20th, 2021

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We all imagine ourselves traveling to distant lands in the summer, getting sunlight and snow on our ski vacations in winter, or taking a picture of our loved one in front of a gorgeous landscape. What can often stay hidden in that lovely perspective is how we impact those desired lands with our daily choices.

Do we think of greenhouse gas emissions and plastic reduction when we plan our next vacation? Maybe, maybe not. The Appfire family thinks it’s time to start.

That is why we joined the Earth Month Ecochallenge this April to connect the dots between our values and our actions! Our team, called The EarthWhile Project, strives to show how small actions lead to global changes. It takes several days to build a habit, and that is exactly what our team of changemakers is planning to do.

Let’s dive into some of our achievements throughout the month:



And these are just a few items from the big list of common choices each of us makes daily. Imagine thousands of people switching to public transport, walking or biking. Imagine everyone buying their morning breakfast with a reusable lunchbox. It’s not so hard, right?

We all want to enjoy the stunning beauty of nature, breathe clean air, and see how our kids grow in pure and healthy lands. Every day is a good day to take a step in this direction! Join the Ecochallenge today and keep it forever.

(Header) Photo of the mountains in Bulgaria courtesy of Cody Wooten.



Originally posted: April 20th, 2021


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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!!



Originally posted: December 9th, 2020


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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/



Originally posted: December 1st, 2020


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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.

ChallengeIn 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.


OutcomeBal 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/



Originally posted: December 1st, 2020


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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. 


  1. 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. 


  1. 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. 


  1. 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.


 



  1. 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. 


  1. 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. 


  1. 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. 


  1. 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. 


  1. 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!


  1. 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


  1. 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!



Originally posted: December 1st, 2020


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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.



Originally posted: December 1st, 2020


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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.



Originally posted: December 1st, 2020