By Scott Cunningham, Head of Alliances with a focus on Salesforce at PandaDoc. Scott’s an entrepreneur, investor, and child rights activist, with a love for emerging technology, start-ups, and innovative ideas. He, his wife, and 3 children live in the heart of Silicon Slopes, Utah. Follow him on Twitter: @1c
Many businesses have the desire to get involved in philanthropic initiatives, but there are many hesitations that companies have to overcome before doing this successfully. As a small, but quickly growing company, resources and time are scarce, so how do you make the jump to building a scalable, truly impactful corporate giving program, and maybe more importantly, embrace giving as part of your corporate identity and culture?
PandaDoc was founded in 2013 with the goal of making it easy for businesses to transact faster. Over the last few years PandaDoc has grown and now counts over 7000 businesses as customers, and recently raised a $15.5 Million Series B led by Rembrandt Ventures, with participation from Microsoft Ventures, HubSpot, and others. Through this time PandaDoc has maintained a focus on three primary values: Impact, Learning, and Fun.
- Impact – We’re building something big. Something that will have a huge impact on how people do business.
- Learning – While we are all experts in our relevant fields, we always make time to continue to expand our minds.
- Fun – We work hard. But we also like to have fun while giving it our all.
Since inception, the mantra of giving back has lived and breathed throughout the PandaDoc culture but wasn’t ever defined. In full transparency, many excuses were made around why PandaDoc wasn’t able to formalize these programs. PandaDoc was growing too quickly to divert focus on areas other than revenue generation or channel development. Team members were already working long hours, and nobody wanted to add to their workload. The marketing team was small and stretched thin as it was, and creating additional content about giving back wasn’t immediately revenue generating.
Looking back, Mikita Mikado, PandaDoc CEO, says that, “We’ve always been a philanthropy driven organization, although it hasn’t always been expressly spelled out. Even though we may be perceived as late to the game when it comes to our corporate philanthropy, it’s important for every company to realize it’s never too early, and never too late to initiate a giving program. Pledge1% enables organizations of any size to build and track their programs with turn-key resources.”
As PandaDoc has grown, partnerships have expanded, and relationships with key industries have been developed. Specifically, PandaDoc integrates with over 20 of the top CRMs, such as Salesforce, HubSpot, & Microsoft Dynamics. These channels are driving the PandaDoc growth. I recently joined PandaDoc as Head of Alliances focused on growing the Salesforce channel. One of the key things I advocated early on was the necessity of creating a philanthropic culture.
In short, there are three important reasons that a philanthropic corporate culture is essential, especially when working with Salesforce:
Business Necessity
Although it’s not always spoken of publicly, it is commonly understood that being a cause-driven company has an impact on the revenues and success of businesses. Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, pioneered the 1, 1, 1 philanthropic model. This model is core to the culture and methodologies at Salesforce. If PandaDoc wants to transact and develop a deep synergistic relationship with Salesforce, it’s a necessity to not only externally exemplify what Salesforce wants as a partner, but to indeed live and support this values-driven culture internally. Marc Benioff has said, “To be truly successful, companies need to have a corporate mission that is bigger than making a profit.”
Marketing Alignment
Ensuring that the areas of focus for a company’s corporate giving initiatives align with your brand is extremely important. It’s also important to ensure that your team members, investors, partners, and customers care about and support your initiatives as well. At PandaDoc, the critical areas of our focus on giving relate to Human Rights and Gender Equality, as well as Social Equity.
Experience-Driven Partnerships
PandaDoc is experience focused. Not only does PandaDoc have a beautifully simple and well-executed product (shameless plug….check it out at www.pandadoc.com), but is also focused on creating valuable experiences for employees, investors, customers, and partners. If an organization exhibits a high degree of purpose in its mission and objectives—taking a stand to benefit society—there is a an excellent likelihood that employees will more easily demonstrate meaning in their roles at work, become engaged, while adding to their sense of purpose in life as well. (Pontefract, D. (2017, January 09). Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff Says The Business Of Business Is Improving The State Of The World. Retrieved November 19, 2017, from https://goo.gl/pbBnTK)
Before joining Pledge 1%, we were giving financial support to a number of organizations that our team members were already working with or supporting. Since joining Pledge 1%, we’ve been able to simply structure our programs to give 1% of profit, time, and product to benefit society. Formally we have launched this program as Pandas Helping People.
Britnee Laughlin, the Talent Manager at PandaDoc, has said regarding joining Pledge 1% and establishing the Pandas Helping People program, “While talking with prospective employees from diverse backgrounds across multiple geographies, we received questions all the time about our focus on giving back. It’s so great now to be able to share specific details about our corporate giving program with applicants, and our membership in Pledge 1%. Speaking about our giving and core values to applicants has allowed me to have much deeper and personal conversations, and get to know them better.”
Although PandaDoc is a recent addition as a Pledge1% partner, our focus is continuing to grow and ensure that the core business has increased success, the messaging is aligned with the needs of stakeholders, and genuinely impactful moments will be experienced together. Over the next few months, we will be launching programs to engage with our partners in experience-driven ways, while supporting some incredibly meaningful causes. We are extremely optimistic about the future and are humbled and honored to be supporting our employees, partners, investors, and customers through giving back.
Originally posted: November 28, 2017
Author: Michael Litt, CEO Vidyard
This #GivingTuesday, we’re taking a moment to reflect what it means to give back as a business. We’re proud that community impact is one of our top priorities at Vidyard from our participation in Salesforce’s Pledge 1% to the launch of our community initiative, PlugIn.
As a busy CEO with an equally busy team, I understand that making time for giving back can seem like a nice-to-have versus a critical priority. I strongly encourage other founders to move beyond this way of thinking. For the past few years, we’ve been moving at breakneck speed, but with a little creativity and a lot of heart, we’ve managed to successfully bake community betterment into our business model. This includes donating 1% of our product and of our people’s time to supporting nonprofits in our area. How did we do it? Check out my video for some tips:
PlugIn has been an undeniable win for the community, local business owners and Vidyard employees. I love this next video because it shows the impact that’s possible. Special thanks to our friends at House of Friendship, Big Brothers Big Sisters and Lutherwood for participating:
Getting your message out isn’t always easy. At Vidyard, we’re also proud to offer in-kind services to create videos for the charities we support and help raise the profile of their work. Here’s a great example (just make sure you have some Kleenex on hand):
I feel motivated to continue our focus on community impact as we grow. It inspires me to see many other companies prioritizing these same values. I’d love to hear about how you or your company are moving the needle for the causes the matter to you and I’m always happy to share what’s worked for us here at Vidyard.
Feel free to share your comments below or find me on Twitter: @MichaelLitt
Originally posted: November 28, 2017
In late September of this year, Pluralsight, the enterprise technology learning platform, took a major step toward addressing the global technology skills gap and fulfilling its mission to democratize technology. The company launched Pluralsight One, a philanthropic arm dedicated to improving technology education and investing in technology-driven solutions to the world’s greatest challenges. To fuel this work, Pluralsight formalized its commitments to holistic, integrated philanthropy by joining the Pledge 1% community across the product, time, equity and profit pillars. Since the launch of Pluralsight One less than three months ago, the organization has made great progress delivering on its founding purpose.
Pluralsight One is building a social enterprise that will fuel its giving capacity and establish a sustainable path by which it will create lasting social impact. Leveraging Pluralsight’s practice of the human-centered product design philosophy, Directed Discovery, and best practices in the social sector, Pluralsight One is actively—and committed to continually—identifying and evaluating the complex root needs of problems within the social sector. As an early effort in this process, Pluralsight One traveled to Vancouver to conduct field research at NetHope Global Summit, meeting with dozens of the world’s largest NGOs who collectively serve millions of people experiencing chronic vulnerability and poverty. While there, Pluralsight One was able to capture challenges, host conversations and identify opportunities for the Pluralsight platform to add value and advance the way the world learns.
In addition to this needs assessment research, Pluralsight One has also collected more than 500 survey responses from organizations around the world and conducted deep interviews with leaders across 50 nonprofits. Findings from the assessment are informing the development of a set of Pluralsight product offerings for the social sector. With an eye to root problems and their drivers, Pluralsight One will effectively apply its resources to strengthen the capacity of the social sector and amplify its impact, enabling organizations to build for the future and equip those they serve with the tech skills needed to create, problem solve, and access economic opportunity. This marked the start of Pluralsight One’s one percent product pledge.
Pluralsight One’s pledge to give of its time has been another central focus for the organization. To democratize technology, Pluralsight One is working to engage and support those who are underrepresented and vulnerable. In September, Pluralsight One activated its network to bring Project Homeless Connect to Utah. The event, which began in San Francisco and has since rolled out across more than 700 communities, has proven to be a successful way to increase inclusion, debunk stereotypes about homelessness and connect those experiencing homelessness with much-needed resources that can be accessed all in one place, at one time. Utah’s inaugural Project Homeless Connect provided more than 1500 individuals experiencing homelessness with more than 80 services through the support of more than 800 volunteers. As a founding volunteer sponsor, Pluralsight One mobilized a large group of employees and their families for an incredible day of compassion and community.
Studies have shown that the emotional and physical stresses associated with homelessness have significant negative impacts on academic performance among children. During the 2011-2012 school year, only 48 percent of homeless students in grades three through eight met statewide math standards and 51 percent met reading standards[1]. These striking numbers represent an incredibly precarious and at-risk group of youth. Given that those years have shown essential for technology education and exposure, Pluralsight One’s support of Project Homeless Connect serves as an important investment in the future and inclusion of these children.
Pluralsight One also recently announced a collaboration with Encircle to host Utah’s first-ever Hour of Code event for LGTBQ+ youth at the IGNITE festival. This event will take place on December 2nd at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah and kick off Computer Science Education week. The summit, designed to equip young LGTBQ+ high school students with the tools they need to foster creativity and kindle their desire to innovate, will commence with welcoming and encouraging remarks from Pluralsight CEO Aaron Skonnard and a video with messages of hope and unity from Pluralsight’s team and broader community. Pluralsight One’s Hour of Code track, called Create the Future, will include three workshops focused on inspiring youth through experiential learning opportunities around technology. In a state where suicide rates are twice the national average and LGTBQ+ youth lack access to many community resources, Pluralsight One is committed to celebrating diversity and promoting an inclusive tech ecosystem where all are welcome.
These actions are just a sampling of the great work Pluralsight One has achieved since its founding this fall. Today, on #GivingTuesday, Pledge 1% celebrates Pluralsight One and its outstanding commitment to giving and volunteerism.
Anusha Teerdhala, Pluralsight employee: “I don’t know how to even express this. Today was one of the most amazing days I’ve had since arriving in the US! Participating in Project Homeless Connect made me feel like I could really make difference in people’s lives. I was able interact with and help people with mental, physical, financial and emotional challenges, from veterans to children. I saw people who were extremely happy to see the the simple help we offered, like the food packets we had for them! Right now, I am feeling just how blessed I really am and the responsibility I have to help make my community better. Thank you Pluralsight for this experience!”
Ian Estes, Pluralsight employee: “This is Rick. He was one of the many kind faces that we had the honor of connecting with on the streets of Salt Lake City at this morning’s Project Homeless Connect event. This event helped so many individuals gain access to services that they otherwise could not afford or get access to. I am thankful to be part of a company that supports initiatives to truly give back to the community and ultimately lift the human condition.”
[1] Firth, P. (2014, September 8). Homelessness and Academic Achievement: The Impact of Childhood Stress on School Performance. Retrieved from Firesteel: http://firesteelwa.org/2014/09/homelessness-and-academic-achievement-the-impact-of-childhood-stress-on-sc
Originally posted: November 28, 2017
Since the earliest days of WillowTree in 2007, we’ve made it a point to contribute our expertise to helping local charities and organizations achieve their goals with digital solutions of a caliber that is often cost-prohibitive for the non-profit sector.
Ten years on, we’re thrilled to have reached a size and capacity to allow us take that goal of being a force of good in our community to the next level with the launch of WillowTree Social Impact and our partnership with Pledge 1%.
Pledge 1% is a global movement creating new normal where companies of all sizes integrate giving back into their culture and values. Pledge 1% empowers companies to donate 1% of product, equity, profit, or employee time to causes of their choice.
Over 1,500 companies in 40 countries have taken the Pledge and committed to give to communities around the world. We at WillowTree are excited to join Pledge 1%’s network of founders, entrepreneurs and companies around the globe that have committed to giving back.
As part of our commitment to the Pledge 1% community, WillowTree will be working to provide a minimum of 1% of our annual resources towards providing world-class digital services to local and national charities and non-profits at substantially reduced costs as a part of our WillowTree Social Impact initiative.
How WillowTree Social Impact Works
WillowTree Social Impact will select non-profits to work with by carefully considering the opportunity each project has to make positive change and to be sustainable in the long run. On a case-by-case basis, we determine how we can best help suitable clients with their projects, including financial assistance of a 60% to 80% reduction in project rates.
WillowTree Social Impact identifies prospective clients in three primary areas:
- Opportunity and community We support projects that enhance our ability to better live together as human beings in a connected world–that build community by strengthening social bonds, whether through compassion or new economic opportunities.
- Sustainability and environment We work with clients who are dedicated to the long-term health of our environment and to supporting the ecosystems and living things who need sustainable practices to thrive, whether through issues of energy, the natural environment, or biodiversity.
- Innovation and creativity We are an app company, after all, and we know the crucial role of creativity in our society. We support efforts to strengthen the role of imagination in our world, whether through the arts or educational programs focused on innovation.
Our Social Impact clients receive work of the same quality and exacting standards that all our clients receive.We’re excited to take this next step together with Pledge 1% in responsible, sustainable company and community growth. For more information on the program and how to apply, please visit our WillowTree Social Impact page.
Originally posted: November 28, 2017
Just in time for #GivingTuesday, Classy is rallying behind the sector to contribute to the biggest giving day of the year.
SAN DIEGO, Calif., Nov. 21, 2017 // As nonprofits prepare for #GivingTuesday, Classy—creator of world-class online fundraising tools—is doubling down on the biggest giving day of the year by launching a real-time giving hub and new, company-led philanthropic initiative.
A Very Classy #GivingTuesday
As America shifts its focus to charitable giving after indulging in Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, Classy will launch its real-time giving hub on #GivingTuesday, November 28. This microsite is designed to offer the sector a dynamic view of up-to-the-minute fundraising activity, while inspiring supporters around the world to discover and donate to deserving organizations on #GivingTuesday.
“Our research found that #GivingTuesday donors are 60 to 150 percent more likely to give multiple times to the same organization on that one day, compared to donors who give during disaster relief, including during hurricane Harvey,[1]” said Dr. Ben Cipollini, Engineering Manager, Data Insights at Classy. “It’s clear that nonprofits can no longer afford to skip out on #GivingTuesday, so we’ve built this dynamic, data-driven hub to help the thousands of nonprofits we serve get the most out of this crucial giving day, while encouraging supporters to easily champion the causes they care about.”
On #GivingTuesday, site visitors will be able to see which cities donations are coming from, which organizations are raising the most money, and how much in total is being raised on Classy. Additionally, nonprofits who raise a minimum of $500 on the platform will be entered into a drawing to win various prizes; for every $1 million transacted across the
Classy platform on that day, a new prize will be unlocked and later awarded to each winning organization. The prizes have been donated by Classy and others, including Airbnb, Amazon Pay, Plenty, Salesforce.org, and Southwest Airlines.
Leading up to the #GivingTuesday, the page will continue to feature resources for Classy clients as they plan for their fundraising efforts.
ClassyGives
In addition to the hub, Classy will kick off ClassyGives, an annual philanthropic initiative where the Classy staff bands together as a community to fundraise and provide further recognition for a Classy Award winner.
The program was inspired in 2016 when former Classy Award finalist, buildOn, challenged Classy to use its own fundraising platform to raise enough money to build a school in Nepal. The Classy staff crushed their goal, eventually sending several team members to Nepal to help build the school.
“After the amazing experience of bringing our day jobs to life by using the Classy platform to fundraise as a team, we decided to make it a tradition,” said Dina Rulli, Director of People Operations at Classy. “Not only does ClassyGives provide an unmatched opportunity for staff to experience the power of the platform first-hand, but it also helps us live up to our Pledge 1% commitment, offer our employees a deeper connection to the nonprofits we serve, and further recognize our Classy Award winners.”
The staff voted on which of the 10 2017 Classy Award winners they wanted to fundraise for, ultimately selecting Days for Girls, an organization dedicated to strengthening women and girls’ sense of dignity and self-esteem by making sustainable feminine hygiene solutions and health education available around the world.
“We were already honored to be recognized as a 2017 Classy Award winner, so to now have the Classy team rally around our cause and fundraise on our behalf is a dream come true,” said Sandy Clark, Chief Development Officer of Days for Girls. “We can’t wait to see the direct impact their efforts have on providing opportunities for women to assume leadership positions while smashing the shame too often associated with menstruation.”
Days for Girls gets their menstrual hygiene kit solutions and education into the hands of women and girls around the world in two ways—through their global volunteer network of Chapters and Teams, and through micro-enterprise programs that provide women the opportunity to create sustainable and locally-led programs.
How to Get Involved
On Tuesday, November 28, for 24 hours only, nonprofits and supporters from all over the world can visit https://www.classy.org/giving-tuesday/ to track the growth of #GivingTuesday on Classy, see stand-out fundraising campaigns, and discover nonprofits to support on the biggest giving day of the year. To follow along with the ClassyGives campaign for Days for Girls, visit https://donate.daysforgirls.org/ClassyGives.
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About Classy
Classy is a social enterprise that creates world-class online fundraising tools for nonprofits, modernizing the giving experience to accelerate social impact around the world. Since 2011, fundraising on the Classy platform has doubled each year—resulting in thousands of nonprofits collectively raising over half a billion dollars. Based in San Diego, CA, Classy is trusted by organizations of all sizes, from the fastest-growing nonprofits like Team Rubicon and The Trevor Project, to some of the world’s largest social organizations, such as Acumen Fund, Robin Hood Foundation, and Shriners Hospital for Children. Classy also hosts the annual Classy Awards to spotlight the innovative work nonprofits are implementing around the globe. Backed by prominent technology investors, including JMI Equity, Mithril, Salesforce Ventures, and Bullpen Capital, Classy has raised $53 million to-date in growth capital. For more information, visit www.classy.org or follow Classy on Twitter @Classy.
About Days for Girls
Days for Girls International (DfGI) is a global nonprofit organization with a mission to nurture community and equity for women and girls. Through DfGI programs, women and girls gain access to health education, sustainable menstrual solutions, and social enterprise opportunities. Their unique hybrid model combines the power of volunteerism with locally social enterprises around the world. Founded in 2008 by Celeste Mergens, DfGI has reached over 850,000 women and girls in 110 countries. They have received the AARP Purpose Prize award, African Seed award, and Classy Award, and have been recognized by the Huffington Post as a ‘Next Ten’ Organization poised to change the world in the next decade.
[1] Giving Tuesday 2016 (November 29), End-of-year fundraising (December 31, 2016), disaster relief (Hurricane Harvey; August 25-30, 2017), a typical fundraising day (Tuesday, October 18, 2016), and a summary of the platform’s previous 1 year of transactions (Sept 1, 2016 – August 30, 2017).
Originally posted: November 28, 2017
By the team at Salsify.
“I definitely see technology in my future.” Enthusiastic 6th grader, Mario Umana Academy, Boston
As with most of the best ideas, it started with a bunch of smart women in a room. Some of the women at Salsify get together occasionally to share experiences, strategize about thorny problems, and perhaps enjoy an adult beverage.
Over dinner a couple of years ago, they were focused on a familiar and distressing theme – the lack of diversity in tech.
With all the discussions, diversity committees, and tech pub op-eds, we’re still in an industry where women are on track to fill only 3 percent of the projected 1.4 million jobs opening in computer science by 2020. Currently, Black and Latinx workers make up just 5% of the workforce, according to a recent study by Atlassian.
The coworkers/dinner companions decided that it wasn’t enough to be talk about the problem – they resolved to do something about it. They reasoned that to really bend the curve towards long-term diversity, the enthusiasm for STEM careers needs to start early. In middle school, where a sense of the possible can take root.
And thus, Guppy Tank was born.
If the lawyers ask, the name has nothing to do with Shark Tank, the television competition series where entrepreneurs pitch their tech ideas to crabby investors. However, the women at Salsify did come up with the inspiration to bring middle school kids into Salsify, armed with their own ideas for apps that could help their peers. Split into groups, they huddled with teams of Salsify employees from engineering, sales and marketing that guided the students to design, build and pitch initial prototypes of their own problem-solving software to a panel of judges.
It’s magic. But don’t take my word for it – watch the video of our latest iteration. You’ll see the joy, the savviness, the perception, and enthusiasm of these kids from local Boston schools. Throughout the morning, they were exposed to all the major steps that it takes to bring a tech idea to life. How will it change someone’s day? Who’s the customer? What should the experience be like? How you do bring it to market? How do you make money?
In fact, Guppy Tank worked so well that this fall the Boston Foundation teamed with TUGG (Technology Underwriting Greater Good) and the Boston Public Schools to develop a formalized curriculum and scale it to 10 other companies and 250 students for this past October’s Tech Gives Back day. In addition, school systems from Los Angeles to Chicago have expressed interest in introducing the model into their schools.
Salsify’s employees are always the engine of our philanthropic efforts. The passion of a few inspires action by the many. That is why we are so proud to be a Pledge 1% Gives company through the commitment of one our co-founders, Jeremy Redburn. It reinforces our philosophy that seemingly small efforts can reap tremendous impact over time. If your company is interested in sparking a Guppy Tank crusade in your community schools, please reach out to me on LinkedIn. #givingtuesday is a perfect day to start a STEM revolution in your community.
Originally posted: November 28, 2017
Submit your Referrals, Receive a Reward & Give to Charity
Today is Giving Tuesday, A Global Day of Giving! As such, the time seemed perfect for Pledge 1% member Geopointe to launch its new Referral Rewards Program to help usher in a givingholiday season. For every qualified referral you submit, a $50 Amazon Gift Card will be sent your way. On top of that, all referrals submitted during the 2017 holiday season will provide food to those in need.
Champion a Worthy Charity
In addition to the $50 Amazon Gift Card for each referral submission, we’ll send a $50 donation in your name to Rise Against Hunger, an international nonprofit fighting to solve world hunger. Each referral that gets accepted will be matched with this charitable incentive.
#2030isPossible
According to the official Rise Against Hunger website, they are “an international hunger relief organization that distributes food and life-changing aid to the world’s most vulnerable, mobilizing the necessary resources to end hunger by 2030.” To provide further perspective, here are just a few of their humanitarian accomplishments:
- 1,824,424: Meals Packaged This Week
- 362,955,535: Total Meals Packaged
- 74: Countries Served
- 1,040,351: People Served in 2016
- $17.6: million Gifts in Kind Distributed in 2016
Our Pledge at Dreamforce 2017
As Geopointe continues to grow, we continue to strive to further our philanthropic efforts and give back to the community. This made our decision to participate in the Pledge 1% Program at Dreamforce for the second year in a row an easy one. For every badge scanned at the Geopointe booth, a dollar was donated to Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Additionally, members of the Geopointe team volunteered to help the Pledge 1% team spread awareness of the program at Dreamforce. During this season of giving, philanthropy is on our minds more than ever which is why we’re excited to extend our philanthropic efforts through the end of the year with the announcement of our Customer Referral Rewards Program.
How to Send Referrals & Claim Rewards
To take part in the program, you must submit your referrals using our online submission form. Once submitted, we will review your referral based on the official contest guidelines. Once approved, you’ll receive an email with a $50 Amazon gift card (digital) and a $50 donation will be sent to Rise Against Hunger, in your name. If you choose, you also have the option to donate your reward as well.
Seasonal Offer Deadline
Don’t wait – the additional $50 will no longer be available once the ball drops at midnight, Jan. 1, 2018. And, if your holiday schedule gets as crazy as most, we recommend you send your referrals today, or as soon as you have a free minute. Don’t put off this chance to Rise Against Hunger!
For more information and to submit your referrals, head to the link below and help us make a difference!
https://www.geopointe.com/referral-rewards-program/
Originally posted: November 28, 2017
By Amanda Deol, Addteq
In the last blog on Spotlight on #BeBoldForChange Campaign at Addteq, we talked about our individual 2017 goals for the Women in Tech movement, and Pledge 1% growth at Addteq. Our goals were to empower women’s advancement, promote women’s education and promote gender equality. Now that we are nearing the end of 2017, Addteq is proud to say that we have succeeded at our mission. With minimal to no effort, the program is organically growing within our culture.
We feel that everyone can play an integral role in helping drive better outcomes for all genders. Through result driven actions we can all be responsive in creating a more gender inclusive workplace. The World Economic Forum predicts that the gender gap won’t close entirely until 2186. This is just too long of a wait. This is how Addteq shapes their company culture to help in closing the gender gap.
Our Journey with #BeBoldForChange
We are continuing to Empower Women’s Advancement while driving more focus on education and gender equality.
Promote Women’s Education
Addteq wanted to offer the opportunity to continue education with a tuition reimbursement program and flexible work schedules. We were set out to allocate one tuition reimbursement for the year. However, we over succeeded and allocated three tuition reimbursements for employees. 2 out of the 3 recipients were women. According to the Department of Labor, “only 11% of all engineers in the U.S. are women. Among computer programmers, the situation is better – but not much. “Women account for only 26% of all American coders.” (via Wired).
Sneha Sheth was one of the employees at Addteq to take benefits of the tuition.
“I am a firm believer that women must have the opportunity to get educated and earn success in life. The tuition flexible schedule helped me achieve my education goals without the burden of paying a large sum of money at the same time. It eased my worry as I could concentrate more on the actual studies than being concerned about the cost”. Sneha Sheth, Atlassian Implementation Expert at Addteq.
We also re-elected, for the second year in a row, a female student from India to receive the Iris Foundation’s International Scholarship award. Suvarana Maji was the first and second year recipient of Addteq’s very own, scholarship award. Addteq continuously works toward our goal to bring more women into technology by promoting women’s education.
Promote Gender Equality
In October of 2016, we launched the gender equality program at Addteq and introduced paternity leave. This was in hopes that the men have equal opportunity to take time off with their loved ones. In October, we had one of the first male employees who took advantage of this new benefit at Addteq. We also allocated flexible work schedules to allocate extra time to the new parents.
Addteq hopes that this new benefit will take the pressure away from new mothers to have to take time away from work. With the new fathers being able to also take time away from work, it alleviates the family’s pressure of missing out on paychecks.
How is Pledge 1% shaping our company’s culture?
We noticed that since we have taken the Pledge and associated Addteq with Room to Read interest by our teammates to give and volunteer has sparked. A few of the employees volunteered to donate a portion of their paycheck toward the Iris Foundation Scholarship Fund. Leaders are becoming philanthropy role models at Addteq by utilizing 1% of their time to volunteering efforts.
Recently Himanshu Chhetri, CTO at Addteq, presented a “DevOps with Atlassian Tools” talk session at nPower. Motive for his presentation was to bring awareness of DevOps to students in the IT field by showing real world examples of DevOps and Atlassian tool usage. Himanshu also wanted to set an example for his team, that you can utilize your day to day work and still volunteer. To continue his effort, Himanshu is interested in setting up an internship program at Addteq to support the nPower students.
Also, while Himanshu is taking leave to visit his home country of Nepal, his goal is to visit ECDC. ECDC’s goal is that “No child should grow up behind prison bars.” Himanshu’s goal is to build an education partnership with ECDC to help promote their cause back in the states.
Pledge 1%, Room to Read and the addition of the Iris Foundation has shaped our company’s culture and allowed the leadership team to look into different causes and programs from another perspective.
Originally posted: November 28, 2017
By Zak Kaufman, Co-Founder and CEO, Vera Solutions
Each November, staff at Vera Solutions nominate peers for annual Recognition Awards, tipping their hats to teammates who have exemplified the company’s five values: Impact, Excellence, Sustainability, Teamwork, and Leadership. The five awards are announced publicly before the holidays on Veraforce, the company’s Salesforce-based system for managing everything from projects to expenses to performance reviews. But award recipients don’t just receive acknowledgement, they help direct which organizations receive a portion of the company’s profits from the year. Over the years, Vera has donated to a range of charitable organizations, including Gardens for Health, GiveDirectly, Planned Parenthood International, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, and Grassroot Soccer.
“We were already giving back from the beginning,” says Vera Co-Founder and CEO Zak Kaufman. “We created the Recognition Awards to say thanks to our MVPs and to let them drive how we give back as a company.”
And staff are into it. In 2016, Vera staff made over 150 nominations. Carol Ernst, a Vera Consultant who has worked in Mumbai and Geneva, received the 2016 Recognition Award for Excellence. “I think it’s a really unique initiative,” says Ernst. “It feels great to work for a company that not only focuses its work on social impact but also goes further to give back and to recognize staff.”
This is just one way that Vera, a member of the Pledge 1% Movement, is giving back to social sector organizations around the globe. Vera also discounts its consulting rates for non-profits as well as license fees for its Salesforce-based performance indicator management app, Amp Impact. “In reality, we put 100% of our time, energy, and knowledge towards helping social sector organizations,” says Kaufman. “We joined the Pledge 1% movement because we wanted to join other great companies in giving back and setting an example.”
Part of the Vera Solutions team on a 2017 retreat in Western Massachusetts
To learn more about how Vera is amplifying the impact of the social sector, visit www.verasolutions.org.
About Vera Solutions
Vera Solutions is a global social enterprise and Certified B Corporation using cloud and mobile technology to help social sector organizations better track their impact, streamline their operations, and put data in the hands of people who need it. With teams in Mumbai, Cape Town, Geneva, Boston, and Washington DC, Vera works with both implementers and funders, building their capacity to collect, manage, analyze, and utilize data to deliver better results. Since 2010, Vera has worked with more than 220 organizations in 45+ countries, delivering over 140,000 hours of consulting services.
Originally posted: November 28, 2017