Posted on the Docusign blog by the Docusign team.

At DocuSign it’s our mission to innovate — not just in the field of technology, but with our technology. Through our DocuSign IMPACT Initiative, we leverage the power of our product, our people and our profits to make a tangible difference in the global communities in which our employees and customers live and work.

We also strive to make a continual impact by encouraging companies around the globe to Pledge 1%. Co-founded by Salesforce, Atlassian and Rally, Pledge 1% is a global movement that has encouraged and empowered more than 2,700 companies in 60 countries to pledge 1% of profit, equity, product, and/or employee time to their communities.

In the wake of hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, it’s more crucial than ever to place disaster relief at the forefront of the conversation and take action. And with Dreamforce right around the corner, we’ll be using the conference as a platform to help raise even more awareness around DocuSign IMPACT and the Pledge 1% movement. Individuals or businesses interested in how to become involved are invited to the DocuSign booth.

Additionally, Amy Skeeters-Behrens, executive director of DocuSign IMPACT, will join leaders from other Pledge 1% companies on a panel discussing the role and efficacy of integrated philanthropy.

Want to know more about how your business can make an impact in your local community and around the world? Come visit our booth at Dreamforce. 

By Brian Fitzgerald of Pandadoc.  Originally posted on Medium.

In today’s crowded marketplaces, organizations have to work harder than ever to break through the clutter and connect with their audiences. So why burn hours and resources doing the same thing as everyone else, when your efforts might go mostly unnoticed? Rather than doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results, one way you can take your marketing message a step further is by aligning your brand with a cause that your consumers can relate to.

By Elizabeth Dobrska, TUGG, original published on Medium.

Today is Tech Gives Back and it’s my favorite tech event of the year. This year is a extra special as we’re trying something new. It’s no secret that the tech industry has some major issues around diversity and pipeline and this October 19th, TUGG is proud to be piloting a new program as a part of our annual Tech Gives Back day of service aimed to inspire the next generation of techies from across Boston’s most under-resourced neighborhoods.

The Beginning

The 7th annual Tech Gives Back, organized by TUGG (Technology Underwriting Greater Good) and SVB (Silicon Valley Bank) is the largest day of service in the tech industry. The day is about so much more than fun afternoon out with the team. Tech Gives Back is about highlighting the impact our industry can have in a single day while empowering tech companies large and small to make a difference in the community. TUGG and SVB are dedicated to providing tech companies large and small with meaningful opportunities that are aligned with the ethos of the entire tech ecosystem: experimenting, education, innovation, impact, and community.

Earlier this year, The Boston Foundation asked us if we’d be interested in scaling Salsify’s outgoing community engagement program where they host a mini-shark tank with middle-schoolers from the Boston Public Schools. Our immediate response was YES, count us in! We knew this was a fit for our community and would make a meaningful addition to the Tech Gives Back roster. And so, the Tech Gives Back Guppy Tank Pilot Program was born.

Like Shark Tank, but with Little Fish

At its core, Guppy Tank is a mini-hackathon broken out into three sections: sales/marketing, product, and design/engineering. The day concludes with a shark-tank style pitch competition.

Salsify developed this model for their own company when looking to boldly address tech’s diversity problem. TUGG is proud to be scaling Guppy Tank to 10 companies around Boston.

Tomorrow, teams of sixth-graders will delve deep into their own ideas around healthy living and using the design thinking process. With a little help from some awesome professional techies, the students will prototype their own apps. This condensed STEM program will give these students a look into what it’s like to work in tech and bring their own ideas to life.

Community Leaders

With Salsify leading the way, and generously sharing their Guppy Tank blueprint with us, it wasn’t hard to generate interest among other tech companies. We’re thrilled with the 10 companies who signed on to lead by example: Buildium, Hubspot, InsightSquared, Mendix, Rapid7, Salsify, Threat Stack, Toast, Wayfair, WeWork.

Each organization has committed to hosting an on-site Guppy Tank with about 20 students from a local Boston Public School. We’ve been continuously impressed with how committed our participating tech companies are to making this an unforgettable and inspiring day for the students.

It Takes A Village

We’re so grateful to have some stellar partners who are helping to make this happen. When you have 250 kids going to 10 tech companies, you need more than a little help from your friends. Our Guppy Tank Pilot Program is made possible in part by generous support from The Boston Foundation and Silicon Valley Bank. It is powered by Building Impact, who has worked tirelessly with the folks at Boston Public Schools to ensure that the participating students are not only prepared for the day, but that Guppy Tank will contribute seamlessly into their STEM curriculum goals.

Boston Public Schools carefully selected the participating schools to ensure that students across the board were getting a chance to be a part of this and ensuring that this is truly an inclusive program — in fact most of the schools participating are “inclusion schools” meaning that students with special needs will also partake in Guppy Tank.

The Future Is Bright

Throughout the day, our team will be hopping from one Tech Gives Back Guppy Tank to the other, wishing we could clone ourselves and be at all 10 locations at once.

While we can’t know where these kids will want to work when they grow up, our hope is that they’ll be inspired by Guppy Tank. It is crucial that Boston’s most under-resourced and under-represented youth — the youth in our very own backyard — have the opportunity to become the next generation of Boston’s tech industry… After all, you can’t be what you can’t see.

Originally posted on the AppNexus blog by the AppNexus team.

If you’ve browsed the web or turned on the news in the last couple of weeks, you’ve probably been confronted with images of the destruction caused by natural disasters in Texas, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and elsewhere.

They certainly struck a chord here at AppNexus.

Within days of the news that Hurricane Harvey had devastated much of the Houston area, AppNexians were thinking up ways to rally the company to raise money for victims. Fortunately, they weren’t alone – the AppNexus Impact Steering Committee was ready to help.

AppNexus Impact’s mission is to foster a culture of civic engagement and charity, and the primary way they do that is by providing the infrastructure and guidance for employees to spearhead initiatives for the causes they’re most interested in. That way, no one’s left in the situation of wanting to take a stand for something they’re passionate about and not knowing what the first step is – they can just contact AppNexus Impact, tap into their wealth of experience and resources, and get the ball rolling.

With AppNexus Impact’s help, we were able to come together and hold an informal, Texas-themed breakfast in our cafeteria that raised over $6,500 for disaster relief. In this article, we’re going to share some of the best practices that helped us achieve that goal and put us in position respond quickly and effectively when our employees want to promote their causes.

Build a playbook

One of the reasons that AppNexus Impact has become such a valuable resource is the wealth of experience and institutional knowledge its members have on what makes a successful charity event. Better yet, they’ve distilled this information into a handy, step-by-step playbook anyone at AppNexus can access. Some of the highlights include:

• Guidelines on what kinds of organizations to partner with


• Information on how to engage Community Groups within AppNexus to bring more attention to charitable initiatives


• A guide to marketing charity initiatives within the company


• A full rundown of all logistical needs for different kinds of impact projects


• A how-to on retroactive case studies to ensure every event results in new lessons learned

Our playbook makes it easier for us to execute on these kinds of events, and it’s always growing as we learn new lessons.

Play to your people’s strengths

Adriana McDonald, a member of our Global Office Operations team, had the original idea for the breakfast taco bake sale, and quickly got support from other members of TexNexus (our affinity group for proud Texans – there truly is a group for everyone here!).

But a successful event needs more than one person driving it. And it’s not just about getting more people involved – it’s about getting the right people in the right roles. AppNexus Impact helped Adriana identify the people with the skill sets, interests, and passion to make the event a hit. A few examples:

• The team asked Pablo Dominguez, our VP of Global Business Operations, to help publicize the event. As a senior leader, he had the reach to amplify the message to as many AppNexians as possible.


• They enlisted the help of Ashley Babinecz on the food front. Ashley is a Director in our Talent Acquisition Group but moonlights as a leader of BakeNexus (you guessed it, our affinity group for baking enthusiasts), so she was a natural choice to help the team cook up a great meal.


• They reached out to Neville Hall and Lillie Ratliff – leaders in the AppNexus Black Alliance and the AppNexus Latino Alliance respectively. Those are two of our most active affinity groups, and with their help, the team expanded their efforts to include a clothing and supply drive.

By being deliberate about who they engaged, AppNexus Impact and the volunteers were able to get the right people in the right roles to make the event a success.

Listen and be flexible

One of AppNexus Impact’s key strategies for getting engagement around these kinds of events is letting the people who drive them decide where the money is ultimately donated. People feel more connected to an event when they know they’re helping out organizations whose missions they connect with.

Flexibility in deciding who to donate to was also became important as time went on. As you probably remember, Hurricane Harvey was quickly followed within the same week by Hurricane Irma in Florida and an earthquake in Mexico. With AppNexus Impact’s help, the team was able to expand the scope of their efforts and send money to organizations in Florida and Mexico. This is the kind of decision that could have easily slipped through the cracks if not for the sense of focus and tested, repeatable processes provided by AppNexus Impact.

Ultimately, we ended up donating to five organizations in Texas, Florida, and Mexico:

• Houston Food Bank


• Houston Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals


• Greater Community Houston Foundation (an organization that will help rebuild Houston’s damaged infrastructure)


• American Red Cross, South Florida Region


• Oxfam Mexico

We felt that each of these organizations served different but vital purposes in the affected regions.

Practice makes perfect

We’re thrilled to have helped the victims of these recent disasters, and it all started with AppNexus Impact’s experience and dedication to making these kinds of efforts as smooth as possible. In fact, by following these processes, we were able to quickly coordinate similarly effective events for those affected by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico – yet another example of how our system enables us to respond to quickly to what’s happening in the world. We hope that these best practices can help other companies make it possible for their people to advocate for the causes they care about.

If you’re interested in fostering a culture of philanthropy at your organization, consider joining us in partnering with Pledge 1%. They’re the experts in corporate giving and can help you come up with a plan to allocate more resources to worthy causes. Taking the pledge represents a commitment to donating 1% of your company’s resources (not just money, but time and products too) to charitable causes, and you can get started here.

Originally posted by Dazeworks on the Dazeworks blog.

“Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago- Warren Buffett”

What is the best time for planting a tree? It was 20 years ago and next best time is now. We all grew up playing around the shelter of trees. They are the beautiful gift of nature. We often get busy with the virtual world around and keep ourselves busy. Our modern lives have become more gadget-oriented and this simultaneously is affecting the younger generation too. So we should focus on saving our nature as we all are aware that our nature has been depleting lately and needs to be paid more attention

In this busy modern lifestyle, Dazeworks Bangalore has taken a small step towards boosting up employee’s lifestyle with an initiative called Pledge 1%. In association with it, a small plantation program was conducted on Saturday near Shishu Mandir, with an aim to encourage greenery around. Our team planted 50 saplings for which everyone took part and also had fun.

Through this small program we plan to spread awareness among all the people stating our future depends on the way nature stays. Even the government should encourage more civil societies and educational intuitions in tree plantation and awareness campaigns. Our future is not bleak if we live in harmony with nature.

Originally published at TechPoint.org.

Over the past few months, I’ve had several conversations about philanthropy and what we, as part of the tech community, are doing to give back to those in need. The same question always pops into my head:

Why do we give back?

As companies in the tech community, do we champion philanthropy because it’s good PR? Do we do it because our team members and boards ask for it? Do our efforts go beyond our tech bubble and actually provide benefits to the broader communities in which we live and work?

Maybe the most reflective question of them all is this: Are we helping the community — or are we helping ourselves?

Some organizations do various philanthropic activities. Some may even think that we are huge philanthropists.

Every year, events like Giving Tuesday come up, and company leaders are quick to jump on the bandwagon. You see tweets about how employees took half a day to clean up a street or plant some trees. Don’t get me wrong, we do these things too, and they are important contributions that make communities better places to work and live.

Many people, including me, think there are still huge gaps, a notion that’s supported by tech companies who only add philanthropy as part of their principles after an IPO. After initial funding. After success. After profits. After the company is secure and even thriving.

For leaders and business owners, the financial commitment of many philanthropic opportunities can be a burden early on, an added stress to starting a business and keeping it successful. What I propose, however, is a new way to look at philanthropy, one that begins with a different type of IPO.

A Different IPO: Initial Philanthropic Opportunity

What if instead of a nice-to-have, we treated philanthropy as an integral part of doing business?

This is where the idea of an Initial Philanthropic Opportunity comes into play, and it can help answer that question I proposed earlier: Why do we give back?

I’m the son of a truck driver and a hair stylist. I was raised in a modest environment, even poor by most standards. Nevertheless, my parents stressed the importance of helping people who were less fortunate than us. While we didn’t have a lot of money, my parents had a strong belief to give back to our church, our community and to other families who needed help buying groceries.

My parents didn’t attend big fundraising dinners. They never had buildings named after them. Instead, they quietly helped out wherever they could, and they taught us the importance of giving back — even if it’s a small amount or tiny gesture.

And that’s the key. Your Initial Philanthropic Opportunity can be anything. It doesn’t have to make headlines or generate social media buzz. It sure as heck doesn’t need to make you a superstar.

In a recent search of large local arts and medical charities, I’ve noticed that the tech community is largely missing. We should be present. And we should be leaders in philanthropy.

Tech companies: join the fun! You don’t have to wait until you reach your IPO to do some good. As we all know, statistics show that many new businesses won’t make it more than a few years. The important thing is to start helping now, however you can. Then, if you make it big, you’ll be ready to do even more because it will have always been a part of who your company is.

So, how do you make philanthropy a core piece of your business and take advantage of your Initial Philanthropic Opportunity?

Seize Your Initial Philanthropic Opportunity

When first starting out, consider different types of philanthropic opportunities, such as getting involved in a local non-profit organization, providing consultation at no cost or offering in-kind donations of your services or products.

Notice I didn’t say you had to give away a pile of cash — there’s more to philanthropy than just the financial side. For many companies (and their employees), the option of sharing time or expertise may be more appealing than dipping into their own pockets. This is one way to increase involvement early in your company’s growth without breaking the bank.

At TrendyMinds, we started small. Starting with our founding in 1995, we requested 10-15 “Letters to Santa” from NYC kids. Before having our holiday party, our team would hit the malls and buy presents for these children in hopes our gifts would brighten their lives and give them something to smile about. Was this a huge investment? No. Did it establish a foundation for future growth that we still build upon to this day? Absolutely.

In 2016, we formalized our philanthropic program even more by joining Pledge 1%. We promised to donate one percent of our equity, time and product to philanthropic causes each year. Even though we’ve grown our philanthropic efforts during the past 22 years, we’re by no means finished.

As entrepreneurs, we are no strangers to finding creative solutions that solve complicated problems. Working philanthropy into the tight budget and demanding schedule of running a startup is exactly the kind of puzzle we love to figure out. In the tech sector, it’s still something we need to figure out, and it begins with being deliberate.

It begins with answering that question: Why do we give back? It begins with seizing that Initial Philanthropic Opportunity, no matter how small, and making philanthropy a part of our foundational principles. And, perhaps most importantly, it doesn’t end.

About the Author

Trevor Yager founded TrendyMinds while still a student at Anderson University. Today, he provides strategic planning, business development, marketing and technology guidance and support to local, national and international clients across the agency.

In 2009, Junior Achievement recognized Trevor as one of “Indy’s Best and Brightest,” and in 2011, Indianapolis Business Journal named him one of Indianapolis’ “Forty Under 40.”

Trevor serves as chair on the Board of Visitors for Jordan College of the Arts at Butler University and was appointed by Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels to serve as a commissioner on the Indiana Arts Commission, where he became chair in June 2013. He has been featured as a regular “Insider” on Inside Indiana Business and has been featured in outlets including MSNBC, ABC News, Politico, The Advocate, The New York Times, The Washington Post, PR Week, The Indy Star and Indianapolis Monthly.

Originally posted on the RFPIO blog.

It’s back to school time, so the RFPIO team is giving back to our educational community. For our Q3 philanthropy mission, we’re partnering up with a local school in Beaverton to support their school year initiatives.

There are many causes, and each quarter we think about the best way to lend a helping hand to our community. There are plenty of options online, but we truly love to serve our local organizations. We are fortunate to have the support of our community as a rapidly growing startup and we feel it’s important to give back.

Source: American Association of School Librarians

As Salesforce partners, we work with Pledge 1% to participate in the culture of giving.

In Q1 we hosted the ROI of Compassion and helped Oregon Food Bank bring over 600 meals to families in need through online donations and an office food drive. In Q2 we got our hands dirty with SOLVE for the Go Green campaign and cleaned up Kelley Point Park on Earth Day. The result? Nearly 6,000 volunteers collected 35 tons of trash and debris from 162 sites.

Now we’re kicking off our Q3 initiative, the Give Back to School campaign. It was difficult to choose from so many wonderful schools near our headquarters, but Elmonica Elementary happens to be the same school where Ganesh’s daughter attends—so we reached out to find out how we could help.

That was when we discovered their amazing new program, MakerSpace.

Elmonica Elementary is beginning to use the idea of MakerSpace to enhance the learning environment by combining the benefits of library, media, and technology. The Elmonica staff believes in teaching students to be independent thinkers who will actively learn and create. MakerSpace blends the traditional library experience with 21st Century technology skills. Elmonica would like students to explore STEM learning while they research ideas.

Being a technology company, the RFPIO team was excited to help support this forward-thinking program to support the students at Elmonica. Last week RFPIO donated to the MakerSpace program, giving solar robots and a crazy fort (yes, we’re considering one of these for the office!).

Want to contribute to RFPIO’s Give Back to School campaign?

Supporting education is incredibly important and we’re excited to help make a positive impact on Elmonica’s bright young minds. You can help too!

We understand if you have local schools you want to work with, and we fully support that. If you’re not sure where to start, and you’d like to join forces with the RFPIO team, you can donate to Elmonica’s MakerSpace program easily by selecting items straight from their Amazon wish list.

Donate online right here to help Elmonica Elementary!

A company is much more than its product.  Take GlobeIn, for example, a subscription company that delivers “a fresh collection of useful and enthralling [artisan] items from around the world” straight to your doorstep each month.  While the contents of their boxes are delightful, their fair-trade and philanthropic philosophy is equally important for members.  By embracing their potential to lift communities in developing countries, they are creating not just a new line of products, but a sustainable change in our world.  Such kind-spirited inventiveness inspires our team at Subscription Trade Association (SUBTA) to raise the bar and challenge ourselves to give back.

First and foremost, our newly launched Subscription Trade Association (SUBTA) understands the need for a unifying force in the rapidly growing subscription box industry.  Currently, more than 2,500 subscription box companies comprise the industry that is projected to exceed $90 billion in annual revenue over the next decade, said SUBTA co-founder Christopher George. Our association is building the ecosystem for box companies and partners to provide networking, professional development, customer experience, profitable growth and research.  Essentially, explains George, “we want to help our members grow enduringly fantastic businesses.”

In addition to profitable growth, SUBTA believes that part of what makes a business “enduringly fantastic” is a commitment to sustainability and philanthropy.  “We want to foster a socially conscious sustainable box industry, where profitable growth and impact thrive together,”  explains SUBTA cofounder Michelle Lange.  Part of this holistic approach to successful business means engaging in “conscious capitalism.”  This is where Pledge 1% comes into play.