Originally published on Tech.Co.
Charitable giving has become an integral part of the business world in recent years. With over two thirds of millennials preferring to work for a company that gives back, and the incredibly tough competition for top talent, building a culture of giving within your company is officially good for business. And that’s why Pledge 1% has been such a successful movement.
Pledge 1% is a corporate philanthropy movement that aims to make the community a key stakeholder in every business. By encouraging individuals and companies to Pledge 1% of their time, product, profit, and/or equity to ANY cause of their choosing, this movement is creating a new normal where companies of all sizes and stages feel empowered to integrate giving back into their culture and values. In just two years, over 1,500 companies in 40 countries have joined Pledge 1%, including Twilio, Box, Yelp, Docusign, Nutanix, Atlassian, Salesforce, Optimizely, and more.
“Pledge 1% is creating a new business paradigm for startups around the world,” explains Amy Lesnick, CEO of Pledge 1%. “It is helping founders to deliberately shape their company culture and values, empower employees, and leverage their business as a force for good.”
We are proud to announce that Tech.Co is partnering with Pledge 1% in hopes of spurring a little good will at SXSW Startup Night. In addition to encouraging the startups involved in the festivities to Pledge 1% of their equity, product, profit and/or employee time, Tech.Co will be pledging 1% of our product to support this noble cause.
And, as a special perk, all companies that join Pledge 1% will be invited to “jump the line” and access Tech.Co’s SXSW Startup Night event via the VIPledge express line. If you have already registered and want to take the Pledge, sign up here.
“Tech.Co recognizes the importance of companies in giving back to society,” said Jen Consalvo, COO and cofounder of Tech.Co. “That’s why we’re excited to help other companies get involved with Pledge 1% in addition to taking the pledge ourselves.”
In recent months, Pledge 1% has received a number of accolades that should further prove their value in the business world. From being named one of Fast Company’s 2017 Top 50 World’s Most Innovative Companies to having the honor of being #1 on theTop 10 Most Innovative Companies in the Nonprofit Category, this movement is taking the social cause game to a whole new level.
Check out Pledge 1% today so you can make a meaningful commitment to society through your business. Additionally, if you want to attend SXSW Startup Night, make sure to RSVP here.
Originally posted: February 27, 2017
By Ben Paynter. Originally published in Fast Company.
Over the past two years, Silicon Valley unicorns Atlassian, Box, Pure Storage, and Twillio all went public, earning billion dollar valuations. At the same time—and while less profitable—each was already giving back as a member of Pledge 1%, an initiative for companies to donate at least 1% of their time, equity, or product annually to charity. Since the program launched over two years ago, more than 1,300 companies in 38 countries have joined.
We wanted to be able to show up regardless of the company performance or economic climate.
“The reason that we messaged it like that is because every company on the planet has those assets. It doesn’t matter where you are located or what you do,” says Suzanne DiBianca, the former president and cofounder of the Salesforce Foundation, who initially helped pioneer the concept. Eventually, she hopes to see the trend become so successful that the program puts itself out of business. “We want to provide playbooks that make it easy for everyone to get going . . . My vision for this thing is it becomes the new normal for how you start a company,” she adds.
In the meantime, DiBianca and Salesforce broke new ground by giving her a new title and management on the for-profit side of the company starting in April 2016. As chief philanthropy officer and executive vice president of corporate relations, DiBianca hopes to fix what she says is a fundamental hang-up in corporate giving: that generosity often seems market-dependent. “Traditional philanthropy is funded by a percentage of earnings based on quarterly results. There are a whole lot of flaws with that,” she says, noting that a down quarter—or longer if the economy itself stumbles like it has at times over the last two decades—means investments are often pulled back at the times they’re most important. “We wanted to be able to show up regardless of the company performance or economic climate.”
Salesforce’s most basic charitable agreement, which started back in 2000, is dubbed the 1-1-1 model because it covers all three of those Pledge 1% categories at once. Over the last decade and a half, It has become a huge operation, supplying free or heavily discounted services to 30,000 nonprofits and educational institutions, while donating another $137 million in grants to two causes that are in line with improving opportunity that could be related to their own sector. Educational groups such as Black Girls Code and CoderDojo have benefited, along with workforce development organizations such as YearUp and Genesys Works. Employees have cumulatively spent 1.8 million total hours—they get a week of so-called “volunteer time off” annually—to do things ranging from coaching little league to building schools and health clinics.
As CPO, she wants to create a “bigger umbrella” for analyzing how efforts across company divisions can lead to broader social change. Over the last year, that’s meant not just supporting the concept of equal pay for women but auditing their books and making a $3 million adjustment to fix internal discrepancies. And not just fostering an LGBT-friendly work environment but rallying other business leaders to actively oppose bills creating discriminatory policies in Indiana, Georgia, and North Carolina. (It boycotted travel to some areas, discontinued supporting programs there, and moved employees out of Indiana.)
The idea is that instead of letting workers tackle cause work as side projects, the company can adopt those causes affecting its employees—and throw its weight behind them. “Well, these are not my decisions. These are the decisions of my employees. I am advocating on their behalf,” CEO Marc Benioff told Time, noting that from a workplace-happiness perspective and broader social contract with your customers anything that enables “anti-LGBT” rhetoric should be viewed was “anti-business.”
The company’s equality push includes diversifying their own workforce by providing training for underserved future employees. It has launched a veteran training group called VetForce, and actively recruits and trains people with disabilities. It has partnered with public schools in San Francisco to establish computer science as part of the curriculum, which has been shown to correlate with higher math and grade point averages in the area.
In some cases, donating to nonprofits creates a virtuous cycle. Salesforce not only helps fund the nonprofit YearUp, which works with young adults who aren’t necessarily tracking to go to college, but also hires roughly 170 of the program’s students each year—about 70% of whom go on to become full-time employees. On the environmental side, DiBianca’s bigger umbrella includes a plan to convert the company to 100% renewable energy—the company is about 40% of the way there, through a partnership with two U.S.-based wind farms.
What’s important is that she’s empowered both to set these goals and ensure that departments plan ahead for how to achieve them. “You don’t have to do philanthropy as a new program. It’s just thinking differently about your business,” DiBianca says. “A lot of this stuff has been born up in our company but in a real grassroots way. I think the narrative and work is bigger now.”
As with Pledge 1%, they’re hoping other companies see the profitability in following suit.
Originally posted: February 22, 2017
Read the original release here.
Amplifinity, a leader in referral program software, announced today the details of their partnership with Playworks – a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating safe and healthy play in schools. As part of Amplifinity’s Pledge 1% commitment, Amplifinity has donated a portion of its referral marketing software to Playworks to help them grow their customer base and increase their impact across the United States.
The inspiration for the Amplifinity, Playworks partnership was forged by Amplifinity’s belief in the life-changing influence Playworks can have on a child and the incredible growth Playworks has achieved thus far. By harnessing ties with teachers, principals, and parents, Playworks grew from only two schools in Berkeley, California to 1,300 schools in 23 cities across the United States.
“Playworks has had an extremely positive impact on healthy play in schools,” commented Larry Angeli, CEO of Amplifinity. “Their numerous success stories are a powerful testament to the success of their mission. They just needed a way to break through the noise – the same problem our business customers face.”
Tonya Antonucci, CMO of Playworks stated, “Capturing even a small amount of time from principals or teachers was a challenge. We realized that many of our new customers come from word-of-mouth. Partnering with Amplifinity to increase advocacy just made sense.”
The Playworks referral program will launch February 23, 2017 and will give teachers and principals the opportunity to help others implement safe and healthy play in schools. Teachers and principals who refer another school will be rewarded for their support of Playworks with a discount off their school’s next purchase of Playworks training services. Furthermore, teachers and principals can help their referral make safe play a reality in their school with other offers from Playworks.
“Playworks has a very important mission,” said Larry Angeli. “By donating a referral program to Playworks we can help them expand their reach to new communities and school districts across the country to defeat bullying in schools and give all kids a safe environment to learn and play.”
In addition to donating a referral program, Amplifinity also donated $5 for every demo given at Salesforce events in 2016, totaling $4,105 to go toward other Playworks initiatives.
“We have a goal that by 2020 3.5 million children will experience safe and healthy play every day in elementary schools,” noted Tonya Antonucci. “I believe that Amplifiity’s donation of the referral program, along with the generous monetary donation will help us meet that goal.”
About Amplifinity
Amplifinity referral marketing software generates revenue growth for sales-driven companies. Amplifinity turns customer, partner and employee advocacy into high-quality leads by integrating referrals into marketing and sales processes. Enterprise companies trust Amplifinity to enable high-quality acquisition while providing an engaging experience for their advocates. http://www.amplifinity.com
About Playworks
Playworks is changing school culture by leveraging the power of safe, fun, and healthy play at school every day. Playworks provide services for elementary schools and youth-serving organizations around the country to improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play. Today, Playworks is the leading national nonprofit leveraging the power of play to transform children’s social and emotional health. Playworks currently serves more than 1,300 schools across the United States and reaches more than 700,000 students directly and through professional training services. http://www.playworks.org/
About Pledge 1%
Pledge 1% is an effort spearheaded by Atlassian, Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado, Rally for Impact, Salesforce.org and Tides to accelerate their shared vision of integrating philanthropy into businesses around the world. Pledge 1% encourages and challenges individuals and companies to pledge 1% of equity, product and employee time for their communities, thereby leveraging a small portion of future success to have a huge impact on tomorrow. Pledge 1% offers companies turnkey tools and best practices, making it accessible for any company to incorporate philanthropy into their business model. To learn more or to take the pledge, please visit http://www.pledge1percent.org.
Originally posted: February 20, 2017
Pledge 1% has been recognized as one of Fast Company‘s World’s Most Innovative Companies in 2017. In addition to this honor, Pledge 1% has also been listed as one of the top 10 Most Innovative Companies in the Nonprofit Category.
To read the full list of featured companies, visit fastcompany.com.
- Top 50 World’s Most Innovative Companies
- Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in the Nonprofit Category
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff pioneered what he calls an “integrated philanthropic model” in his company’s early days, giving away equity and goods, and enabling employees to take 1.8 million volunteer hours to date. Benioff, along with Atlassian co-founder and co-CEO of Scott Farquhar, Rally, and the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado, spun off the initiative in 2014 as Pledge 1%. The nonprofit challenges early-stage startups to bake in philanthropy from the beginning, rather than thinking about it at a later stage or post-IPO, as has been traditionally the case.
Pledge 1% has only three staff members, but it can genuinely claim to be birthing a movement. In 2016, it added 850 pledges, where startups committed to give 1% of equity, product, profit, or time, or combinations to charity. That was more than double its 2015 tally, taking its total to more than 1,300 companies, including Harry’s, General Assembly, Twilio, and Yahoo. Australian software juggernaut Atlassian alone has donated more than $6 million to the education-focused charity Room to Read. At the same time, 180 entrepreneurs have become “ambassadors,” helping spread the message to more countries (40 and counting) and more types of businesses.
CEO Amy Lesnick says the ultimate goal is to make early-stage philanthropy a natural part of setting up a company, and for Pledge 1% to become irrelevant. “In 15 years, we might not even exist,” she says. “[Early-stage philanthropy] will be as common as setting aside equity for future employees.”
Originally posted: February 13, 2017
Originally published on Fast Company.
Amy Lesnick is looking for the next Uber—to commit 1% of its equity, product, profit, or time to charity. As the CEO of the nonprofit Pledge 1%, Lesnick thinks like an angel investor, identifying promising startups. But rather than trying to buy a piece of the action, she encourages young brands to nurture a culture of giving and to maximize the potential for philanthropic contributions as they scale.
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff pioneered what he calls an integrated philanthropic model in his company’s early days, giving away equity and goods, and enabling 1.5 million volunteer hours from employees. After evangelizing for others to follow his model, Benioff spun off the initiative three years ago as Pledge 1%. In 2016, the nonprofit added 700 pledges (more than double its 2015 tally, for a total of more than 1,300 companies), including commitments from Harry’s and General Assembly. Australian software juggernaut Atlassian alone has donated more than $6.5 million to education-focused charities.
For Lesnick, the growth is a step toward her ultimate goal: irrelevancy. “In 15 years, we might not even exist,” she says. “[Early-stage philanthropy] will be as common as setting aside equity for future employees.”
Originally posted: February 13, 2017
Two years ago today, we launched Pledge 1%, a global movement to create a new normal where giving back is integrated into the DNA of companies of all sizes. Today, we are excited to announce that over 1,300 companies in 38 countries have joined Pledge 1%, committing to give 1% of equity, profit, product, and/or time to causes of their choosing. Companies range from innovative consumer startups like Harry’s to some of this year’s biggest tech IPOs like Twilio. Others include Salesforce, Accomplice, Okta, Splash, Revolar, Atlassian, Box, Docusign, Yelp, Techstars, Foundry Group, Bluewolf, General Assembly, MediaMath, and many more.
#PledgeItForward
In September, Pledge 1% celebrated an exciting milestone–1,000 member companies –by launching #PledgeItForward, a new campaign to challenge companies to not just take the pledge, but to also reach out to invite and encourage their peers as well as their ecosystem of suppliers, partners, customers, contractors and employees to join them in the movement. Our goal was to reach 1,250 pledges (that’s 25% growth) by #GivingTuesday, November 29th. We’re excited to announce that we’ve surpassed our goal and are now at over 1,300 companies, a 150% growth since 2015.
With #PledgeItForward, Pledge 1% also launched a new Ambassador program, through which over 160 founders, CEOs, and employees at companies volunteered to help recruit new members and to spread the word about Pledge 1%. We’re truly grateful to our #PledgeItForward Ambassadors who demonstrated the power of Pledge 1% members, partners and supporters in taking this movement to the next level.
#GivingTuesday
Today, Pledge 1% will celebrate its second Anniversary, the end of #PledgeItForward, and #GivingTuesday by sharing 24 stories about how Pledge 1% members giving back. Starting at midnight (ET), Pledge 1% will publish a story every hour on its blog and social media. The stories will highlight how Pledge 1% is impacting companies and the communities they support, and how any company, of any size, in any industry can help make the world a better place. By sharing these stories, Pledge 1% hopes to inspire founders and companies on #GivingTuesday and throughout the year by providing them with an easy and powerful way to make giving part of their business model.
To read the stories, visit the Pledge 1% blog or follow @PledgeOne on Twitter. To learn more about Pledge 1% or to join the movement, visit pledge1percent.org.
Originally posted: November 29, 2016
Pledge 1%, the organization that challenges companies to give 1% of profit, product, equity, or time, and Founders Pledge, which invites founders to pledge 2% of their personal proceeds to charity upon exit, are proud to partner to cultivate a community of like-minded leaders and to give founders around the world an easy way to give back.
Pledge 1% and Founders Pledge have been helping transform giving in the tech industry. By working directly with founders and companies, Pledge 1% has created a new model that integrates giving back into the DNA of companies around the world. Founders Pledge is incubating tomorrow’s philanthropists today by providing socially committed tech founders with the research, charity sourcing and inspiring events they need to make confident donation decisions. Together, Pledge 1% and Founders Pledge will provide a seamless solution for both companies and founders to give back and have an even greater impact.
Pledge 1% will refer interested founders and companies (based outside of the United States and Canada) to Founders Pledge as an option for fulfilling their equity pledges. In turn, individuals who take the Founders Pledge will have the opportunity to join Pledge 1% and integrate a culture of giving back into their companies. Ultimately, all donations will be directed to the causes of each donor’s choosing, and pledges will receive access to both Pledge 1% and Founders Pledge’s amazing network and community of leaders.
Bound by a shared vision to enhance philanthropy in the tech sector, Pledge 1% and Founders Pledge are excited to launch this partnership and to help achieve the incredible impact that’s possible when we engage founders and investors to make a difference in the world.
To learn more about Pledge 1% or to see how you can participate, visit pledge1percent.org or email our team at members@pledge1percent.org.
To learn more about Founders Pledge and giving your 2% or more to charity, visit founderspledge.com or email Ben at info@founderspledge.com.
by Amy Lesnick, Chief Executive, Pledge 1%
On Tuesday September 13, we celebrated reaching 1,000 members by kicking off a new campaign, #PledgeItForward, which asks YOU–our amazing Pledge 1% community–to invite others to join the movement. The day started with an on-stage announcement at TechCrunch Disrupt from Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com, and concluded with a dinner and fireside chat hosted by Accel‘s Rich Wong and Ryan Sweeney and featuring Scott Farquhar, Co-CEO and Founder of Atlassian and Co-founder of the Pledge 1% movement.
We were delighted to hear from Scott, who shared his story and personal experiences on Atlassian’s founding and growth, his biggest learnings as the company evolved, and their ongoing partnership with Accel. Scott also talked about the importance of company culture. “In the beginning, a company’s culture reflects the values of the founders,” explained Scott. “As it grows, you need to be more deliberate.”
In particular, Scott shared his passion for Pledge 1%. Scott and his Co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes decided to pledge 1% in Atlassian’s earliest stages. They integrated the values of giving back into the company’s DNA. Those values have led to the creation of the innovative “freemium” model, whereby customers paid $10 for 10 licenses, with the proceeds from those licenses going to the nonprofit Room to Read. As the company grew, this program grew with it and eventually led to millions of dollars donated to benefit girls in Cambodia.
Not only was this program benefiting communities around the globe, but it was helping Atlassian engage its workforce and customers. Atlassian has been named “Australia’s best place to work,” listed as one of Fortune’s “top 100 best workplaces for Millennials,” and has been recognized as one of the “best medium sized workplaces in tech.” And, according to Scott, customers love the fact that they can partner with a values based company and help make giving back a reality.
Scott believed so passionately in the importance of this program and its impact on Atlassian that he went on to co-found Pledge 1% with the goal of helping more founders and CEO’s understand that this is a smart decision not just for the world, but for their company’s success. He envisions a future where giving back is as automatic as filling out the paperwork to incorporate your company.
At Pledge 1%, our community believes in that future as well, a future where pledging 1% is so normal, we don’t even need an organization or a movement to promote it. We’re so fortunate to have a visionary leader like Scott as our Co-founder and evangelist. Special thanks to Scott as well as Rich, Ryan, and the rest of the team at Accel for kicking off #PledgeItForward and for being a role model for other partners.
September 13, 2016, By Amy Lesnick, Chief Executive, Pledge 1%
In December 2014, we launched Pledge 1% in order to start a philanthropic movement, encouraging companies around the world to use their resources to give back to their communities.
Today, we are excited to announce an exciting milestone—1,000 companies in 30 countries have joined Pledge 1%, committing to pledge 1% of equity, product, profit or time to make a difference in their communities. These companies range from innovative consumer startups like Harry’s to some of this year’s biggest tech IPOs like Twilio. Others include Salesforce, Atlassian, Box, Docusign, Yelp, Techstars, Foundry Group, Bluewolf, General Assembly, MediaMath, and many more.
Over the last twenty months working with entrepreneurs and founders to build philanthropy into their business models, we’ve confirmed what we’ve always believed about early-stage philanthropy: that any company, of any size, in any industry can use their companies as a platform to make the world a better place.
On this special day, we’re also thrilled to announce the launch of #PledgeitForward, a campaign to engage Pledge 1% members, partners and supporters in taking this movement to the next level.
Together we can change the status quo. We can create a new normal where ALL founders, regardless of company size or stage, feel empowered to integrate giving back into their company DNA.
#PledgeitForward is a call to action for YOU—the Pledge 1% community—to reach out to your peers and ecosystem of suppliers, partners, customers, contractors and employees and invite them to join you. Our goal is to reach 1250 pledges (that’s 25% growth) by Giving Tuesday, November 29th.
With help from an amazing team of Pledge 1% Ambassadors and support from our members we hope to increase our impact and raise general awareness for Pledge 1% worldwide.
To learn more about the campaign, see what other companies are doing, or download free new tools, digital badges, and materials to #PledgeitForward, visit the campaign headquarters site atPledgeitForward.today
Help us celebrate this 1000 pledge milestone. Share this with your network. Join Pledge 1%. Ask yourself how YOU can #PledgeitForward today.