This piece is shared as part of Pledge 1%’s #GivingTuesdayNow campaign, which highlights how Pledge 1% members and the business community are coming together as a force for good to combat COVID-19.

xocial is a gaming platform that measures and inspires acts of positive impact.  Participants complete challenges that measure impact, effort, and time including donations, volunteering, acts of kindness, the environment, and action on UN Sustainability Goals.

As the world comes together in the face of adversity, the xocial response is to do what we do. We’ve joined forces with the NHL Alumni Association on the ‘Kicking COVID with Kindness‘ campaign, to build community, make a positive impact, and have a little fun.

We’ve raised $10,000 and some amazing prizes.  Players win donation dollars with every challenge completed and the change to win (or donate) grocery gift cards.  You can join as an individual or create a team.  It’s a great way to make an impact in the spirit of Competitive Kindness!  

For #Giving TuesdayNow, we’re ramping up the impact with special challenges and donation opportunities.  

For companies that want their own employee engagement campaign, or want customized outreach to activate their clients, we’re here to help with heavily discounted services during these challenging times. 

This piece is shared as part of Pledge 1%’s #GivingTuesdayNow campaign, which highlights how Pledge 1% members and the business community are coming together as a force for good to combat COVID-19.

Archima Solutions became a partner for Vetforce and Allies in Service. During the COVID-19 shutdown, we understand as a company and members of society, we must come together to help each other out during this pandemic. Whether it is donating food and essential supplies to healthcare workers and shelters, or it is about reaching out to fellow employees and neighbors to lift spirits up and offer a shoulder, the ways we give back, regardless of size, do make a larger impact than any of us think possible. 

Veteran Community:

Our company has been giving back by supporting Vetforce by conducting interviews for Vetforce candidates who need employment. We still have a few candidates waiting on their interview with our managing director, but at least this is a way for us to keep others hopeful about employment opportunities during these uncertain times. 

For Allies in Service, since this non-profit is currently focused on their efforts towards veterans, we are helping this non-profit by offering our support in alleviating some of their responsibilities and duties by taking them on ourselves. We expect to assist on upcoming projects from Allies in Service in the upcoming weeks. 

Spreading kindness, gratitude, and hope:

• Our managing director has been giving back to our team by sharing words of encouragement and motivation through emails and calls.


• We have team calls that are more focused on bonding and having fun with each other. This is a way for us to keep in contact with one another from time to time, and it reinforces how much we care about our employees and are there to talk and listen when things are rough. 


• We have participated in online creative games and Happy Hours to boost morale and to end the week in a positive, fun way. 

Individual Give Back Efforts

• Bethany has been delivering supplies and groceries to her parent


• Ankita has helped her younger sister with homework, has delivered groceries to friends, and has given food/water to the less-fortunate


• Marianne has been making cloth masks for friends and family; she’s been sending these out particularly to those located in high-risk areas like New Jersey, Boston and West Virginia 


• Raj has continued donating once a month to St. Jude’s Childrens’ Hospital 


• Suzanne has:
  
  
  
  • Cash donations to Second Harvest Food Bank
  
  
  • Donated blood to Red Cross
  
  
  • Buying from local farmers and produce vendors
  
  
  • Buying gift cards from local merchants and restaurants
  
  
  • Continuing to pay for regular services that aren’t able to be delivered during this time
  
  
  
  


• Swetha has been helping her child with online classes and homework, had donated funds to India, and has helped friends/family look for job opportunities during this time


• John and family have made and donated masks to essential workers, friends and family

Company Donations: 

Donations to partners so they may donate to local businesses of their choice

This piece is shared as part of Pledge 1%’s #GivingTuesdayNow campaign, which highlights how Pledge 1% members and the business community are coming together as a force for good to combat COVID-19.

Blue Skies Bakery is a family owned & operated wholesale bakery located in White Salmon, Washington.  We make artisan par baked bread & small batch granolas for cafes, restaurants, and grocers throughout the Pacific Northwest.  We are grateful to be able to continue working with our grocery customers through this rollercoaster of a time in the food world.  

When the virus shutdowns first hit in March we scrambled, along with so many others in the food world, to fulfill big orders, take care of our employees, and try to figure out which way was up!  

We were pleased to be able to shift our employees’ schedules so that everyone could work solo in the bakery, thus protecting our bakers by minimizing the risk of any contact with others.  

Working solo works well for granola making, but not so much for shaping our loaves.  Our loaves are naturally leavened & long fermented, and require a 7 day process.  We shape all 360 of our loaves in 1 day each week, and bake them the following day, after an overnight cold proof.  Shaping the loaves requires 3 of us to work in close quarters, and so now it is a family affair, which has been very, very lovely.

By April we had settled into our new rhythm & we are happy to say that this month we have been able to donate $,1372 worth of bread and granola to our local food banks, school lunch program & community food boxes, domestic violence shelter, and to the local homeless population.

By Lisa Abbott

This piece is shared as part of Pledge 1%’s #GivingTuesdayNow campaign, which highlights how Pledge 1% members and the business community are coming together as a force for good to combat COVID-19.

This piece is shared as part of Pledge 1%’s #GivingTuesdayNow campaign, which highlights how Pledge 1% members and the business community are coming together as a force for good to combat COVID-19.

In response to the challenges COVID-19 has brought to non-profit organizations, Level Up CRM is proud to announce the launch of its inaugural Level Up Technical Grant program. While  working on several technical projects with nonprofit organizations in recent months, common themes around constituent relationships and digital engagement became increasingly urgent. “We’ve been considering the idea of a grant for a while. Hearing from our customers helped us define how we could be most impactful,” said Brian Wickham, founder and Managing Partner of Level Up CRM.  

As their world is transforming, most nonprofits have access to the technical resources to help them change a field, a report, or a website page. However, these can be isolated, point solutions with high costs, both in time and resources, and impacting future scalability. Many smaller nonprofits lack a strategic partner in developing a technology roadmap for their CRM system, such as Salesforce, and interconnected apps so they can successfully adapt their programs and operations to their changing realities today. A strategic technology plan can increase constituent engagement, benefit fundraising, and increase efficiency. Nonprofit organizations can be free to focus on their primary mission. That is the real gap we are aiming to address.

The first cycle of the grant program will provide technology strategy and services to non-profit organizations focused on children-related causes, ranging from educational equity, child poverty, child advocacy, health, safety and others.  The program’s goal is ensuring that nonprofit organizations using the Salesforce platform have a technology roadmap that holistically incorporates mission and goals, business processes, operations and technology.  This is ever more important now, as COVID-19 has changed the way nonprofits operate, both internally and with their constituencies.  Being smart about the technical aspects of this transformation is critical.

About Us: Level Up CRM helps businesses and nonprofit organizations implement and optimize the Salesforce platform. We combine deep platform knowledge with a focus on user experience, process improvement, and change management to create bottom-line value for your business.

This piece is shared as part of Pledge 1%’s #GivingTuesdayNow campaign, which highlights how Pledge 1% members and the business community are coming together as a force for good to combat COVID-19.

Veritas has long embraced a foundational commitment to be a good neighbor and global citizen. As one of the largest real estate firms to join Pledge 1%, Veritas has furthered its commitment to social impact during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“We have always had a culture of giving back, but as life has changed dramatically during the last few months, we saw the need to step up more in innovative ways,” said Yat-Pang Au, CEO.  “Our teams have been even more engaged to make a difference in housing the lives of those most in need.”

Dan Chung, an employee at Veritas for over four years, has created deep connections with his co-workers and business partners that allowed his personal mission to spark a company-wide effort. At a recent doctor’s appointment, Dan noticed medical staff without masks. When he learned there was a shortage, he decided to take action. He sent an email to his work group after midnight that night, and by 11am the next day, he had reached the funding goal to buy 5,000 masks. From here, Dan went further. He and other colleagues spread the word and Veritas CEO, Yat-Pang Au, matched funds to double the campaign to over 10,000 masks which later grew to include Au’s extended family. The momentum continued. 

For most, doubling their goal would have been enough, but not for Dan. He reached out to business colleague in Hong Kong who not only provided financial support but also helped source and ship an additional 10,000 surgical masks and the 1,100 hard-to-find- N95 masks, which were delivered to two San Francisco hospitals. 

Chung’s action showcases that it only takes one spark to make an impact. His determination to make a difference motivated his acquaintance in Hong Kong to reach out to local business leaders in Hong Kong to lend a hand to those across the Pacific Ocean. This extra spark of kindness resulted in another 50,000 mask donation to Bay Area hospitals.

“It’s been amazing,” said Dan, “I just started asking, and it took off.”

Healthcare workers aren’t the only ones facing increased challenges during the pandemic. As the Shelter-in-Place ordinance became the “new normal” for Bay Area residents, the number of domestic violence cases began to rise. As one of the most active apartment operators in the Bay Area, we recognized the opportunity to help these families in need. In conjunction with the San Francisco District Attorney’s office, Veritas donated 20 apartments to survivors of domestic violence. “What Veritas and the City of San Francisco are doing is just huge for an individual or small family to get their lives on track,” said the director of La Casa de las Madres in an interview with Multi Family Executive magazine.  

In a similar effort, we understood this pandemic didn’t stop the need for temporary housing for families with sick children. Veritas extended short-term furnished apartments to the Ronald McDonald House Charities, which had to close its housing facility at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital due to the pandemic. 

Families receiving life-saving treatment for their infants at UCSF often travel great distances, including across state lines. Without the on-site housing services RMHC provides, these families are often not able to stay in proximity of the hospital. Last week, a family staying at a Veritas apartment gave birth to a newborn who was able to receive open-heart surgery hours after birth. As the Ronald McDonald House director told a local TV station, “The kids coming here are the sickest of the sick. They have to come to the (San Francisco) Bay Area to be treated so to be able to have a housing option for these families is incredible.”

Providing housing is in our ethos, but we recognize that the Bay Area has many people without homes. Last year we launched, Live with Character, an initiative to reward those making a positive impact in our communities, not because it’s their job, but because it’s their passion. We recently announced our first honoree who received a cash award to expand his community activism for the homeless. Veritas resident Peter — he prefers not to publish his last name — walks to work through the city’s often cold, rainy streets, and one evening was so moved by an encounter with a homeless person that he began carrying blankets to hand out during his walks. “These are just people who want to be treated with respect and compassion like anyone else,” says Peter. The Veritas award money will help Peter fund hundreds more blankets to provide to those in need.

“These efforts across Veritas’ organization have engaged and energized the entire team,” said Jeff Jerden, COO. “It’s made our company and our community better, in so many ways.”

By Erin Dieterich

This piece is shared as part of Pledge 1%’s #GivingTuesdayNow campaign, which highlights how Pledge 1% members and the business community are coming together as a force for good to combat COVID-19.

New Relic is committed to helping our customers, employees, and communities cope with the realities of COVID-19. Today, through our NewRelic.org Corporate Social Responsibility program, we are launching two initiatives to leverage our technology, people, and financial resources to provide support in unique ways.

First, we’re expanding our Nonprofit Customer Donation Program to provide free access to the entire New Relic One platform, for 90 days, to any new customer organization–nonprofits and beyond–engaged in COVID-19 relief efforts with a specific public benefit, subject to our standard terms of service. These include organizations focused on direct humanitarian relief, public and private school education delivery, and relief coordination efforts.

These important organizations are increasingly relying on software to accomplish their missions, and New Relic has an opportunity to help them keep their software and systems up and running throughout this pandemic. We recognize that the impact of this pandemic has the potential to be long and far-reaching. After 90 days, we’ll review any organization that is continuing relief efforts and extend free access to New Relic technology throughout the response.

If your organization is working on relief efforts, you may apply for COVID-19 relief related access by going to www.newrelic.org/relief and completing the form. Once received, our team will review your request and respond with the next steps.

Also, to help COVID-19 relief organizations get up and running on New Relic, we’ll be adding elements to our Explorers Hub. New Relic University content, product documentation, and help from New Relic employees will be available there.

New Relic employees give back

Second, we’re supporting the communities in which our employees live and work by launching a $100,000 charitable giving campaign that will match employee donations to the COVID-19 relief nonprofits in their local communities.

We are so thankful to the amazing organizations on the front lines of relief efforts. By extending our resources, we hope that we can do our small part in supporting our communities’ response to this global pandemic.

Are you part of an organization or do you know one providing relief efforts for COVID-19? We hope to hear from you soon!

By Neha Sampat, Founder and CEO at Contentstack

This piece is shared as part of Pledge 1%’s #GivingTuesdayNow campaign, which highlights how Pledge 1% members and the business community are coming together as a force for good to combat COVID-19.

With the global pandemic of COVID-19, communities and economies everywhere are facing an unprecedented challenge, but we are also experiencing solidarity and support like never before. Some people are staying home to keep loved ones safe and to slow the spread of this vicious virus. Others with essential roles like grocers, farmers, healthcare workers, and public officials are risking exposure to care for their communities and our loved ones. For their dedication, we are unwaveringly grateful.

In the community of Vasai-Virar, where the engineering hubs for Contentstack and Raw Engineering are based, we are faced with a unique challenge to local Indian communities. Many workers are stranded far from their homes without the luxury or privilege of being sheltered safe with their families. They are fighting this pandemic without food or shelter, and in some cases, without access to proper healthcare. Necessity forces many to work, risking exposure – just to be able to feed themselves or their families.

We are seizing the moment to give back directly to the Vasai-Virar region, who has given us so much opportunity over the last decade. Raising funds in this part of the town is not easy, so we are asking everyone to come together and contribute what you can to support this community now. 

The founders of Contentstack and Raw Engineering are working with a trusted local organization with a goal to raise 1 Crore (approximately $140,000 USD) in the coming weeks, including a $70,000 match from the two of us. The organization is called Vishnu Waman Thakur Charitable Trust and they are actively feeding 3.5 lakhs families (approximately 1.5 million people) today. The Trust has also committed to providing PPE and additional facilities for overrun health institutions for the isolation and care of COVID-19 patients. Every rupee will go to a good cause and support COVID relief in the Vasai-Virar area. Please contribute what you can and thank you for your generosity.

You can either:

• If you are in the US or Europe, please contribute through GoFundMe. 


• If you are based in India, please contribute through Milaap. Any amount donated through Milaap is eligible for tax exemption (for donors based in India).  

Thank you, and please stay safe.

This piece is shared as part of Pledge 1%’s #GivingTuesdayNow campaign, which highlights how Pledge 1% members and the business community are coming together as a force for good to combat COVID-19.

It almost goes without saying that COVID-19 has disrupted the relationship between employers, employees, and job candidates. What we took for granted just months ago about how we interview candidates at our offices has been up-ended by stay-at-home orders and work-from-home as the norm. Employers need to rethink where they deploy their talent within their organization in order to address their most pressing business needs. 

For employees, the new reality of WFH creates both stresses and opportunities. Taking an Attention attribute into consideration, employees who like working from home tend to fall on the left side of the spectrum, which indicates take a methodical approach to zeroing in on relevant details to get through a task. On the other hand, those on the right side of the spectrum are biased to respond to new stimuli, which might make it tough to be productive outside the office. 

We are squarely in a new world of talent. In hiring, that means virtual interviews. Similarly, business leaders are interested in how to repurpose workers, rather than laying them off. For employees, it means helping them better understand their inherent attributes and how they can best apply those at work.  

At pymetrics, our vision is a world where everyone’s potential is realized, and our mission is to connect everyone with their best-fit job accurately and fairly. We believe this is even more critical at times like these, and so to help companies navigate the current landscape, we are offering several of our products at no cost through June 30, 2020: 

• For companies shifting to an increasingly remote interview strategy, our Digital Interview solution allows companies to interview candidates remotely. Digital Interview is a one-way, online interview that allows recruiters to gain more information about a job seeker’s potential fit for a role. Employees can continue to learn more about your candidates and move your hiring processes forward, all virtually. 


• For companies who find themselves in a difficult situation of needing to repurpose people internally to meet this new climate, our Internal Mobility solution helps move current employees to different, future roles. We use a gamified approach to assess the cognitive, social, and emotional attributes of employees and use a data-driven approach to match them to other roles in the organization where they’re likely to be a good fit.  

Candidates and employees who play the pymetrics games receive a personalized trait report, which helps them understand their inherent attributes and can be a tool to help increase engagement during these uncertain times.  

Companies who are interested in learning more about pymetrics’ offerings to help navigate the new world of talent we are now in can email us at info@pymetrics.com.