Originally published on the Pledge 1% Colorado blog.

On May 16, as part of Boulder Startup Week, Pledge 1% Colorado – an initiative of the Community Foundation Boulder County – and other sponsors launched a contest to showcase how cross-sector collaborations are positively impacting our community. El Centro Amistad, one of the six finalists, shared with us their approach to the contest, and what they learned:

Who we are & why we entered the contest

What we did

What happened and how we feel

How this process was for us

Where we go from here

By Erin Reilly, Twilio.  See original post on Entrepreneur.

These days, it seems like every startup is trying to figure out how to launch a social impact or “.org” arm. They see it helps build the brand, boost loyalty and even drive revenue. But, many aren’t sure how to start.

In my time working in social impact at Yahoo, Google and now at Twilio, I’ve learned that social impact can’t be “a nice to have” or something you add on so that your company is able to say, “We give back.” Social impact works best when it is an integral part of your company’s strategy, culture and values. How do you make that happen? Here are my tips for anyone who is getting started: 

1. Figure out the unique assets your company can offer.

Too often, a company’s attempt at doing good in the world is inspired by the favorite cause of a philanthropy-minded executive. Instead, consider the assets and offerings of your company, and find an angle into helping the world that your company can uniquely provide. While I was at Yahoo, I was working on the company’s green initiative. At the time, Yahoo’s home page was viewed by hundreds of millions of people every month, so it became our greatest asset for sharing tips on how consumers can be more eco-friendly in their own lives.

Ask yourself, does your product make it easier to mobilize volunteers? Do your employees have a specific skill that’s hard to come by? You’ll drive more impact by drafting off the momentum of your company’s core offering, and you’ll generate a halo that makes sense for your brand.

2. Make social responsibility as critical to the success of your company as any other strategic initiative.

Build ties so that when your company grows and generates more revenue, you also increase your ability to generate social impact. With an estimated 10 million nonprofits worldwide, providing your products at discounted rates to nonprofits, like Tableau, Splunk, Slack and many others do, allows you to make your products more accessible to many organizations while generating sustainable program revenue. Creating a virtuous cycle between social impact and business success and actively making them inextricably tied is important for the sustainability of both efforts.

3. Put a team in place.

If you’re serious about social impact, then it can’t be the side project of an employee who has another role at the company. When you value your social impact program as much as any other revenue-generating program, it is critical that you staff it that way. Hire a team who is responsible for creating, executing and reporting on your plan. That way, it won’t be ancillary, it will be integral to the success of the business.

For example, if it’s a product-driven company, then the social impact team should report into product or supply chain to ensure they align with the goals of product development. Or if the company’s brand is one of its biggest assets, then reporting into marketing will help social impact be imbedded into the overall positioning.  Better yet, have the team leader report into the CEO as part of the executive team to ensure social impact aligns with the overall company strategy and direction.

4. Join Pledge 1%.

Pledge 1% is an organization that encourages companies to dedicate 1 percent of their employees’ time, their product or their profits to social impact. More than the authenticity of putting your money and time where your mouth is, formalizing your commitment to social impact will inspire your company to real action for the long haul. Taking the pledge also immediately brings you into a community of over 1,500 peer companies, including Atlassian, Box and Okta, who are committed to giving back in the same ways you are.

5. Celebrate loudly.

So often we work, work, work, and even when we have a win, we move too quickly to the next thing. Take time to celebrate because it helps everyone in the company feel proud of the good work they’re doing in the world. For example, at the Salesforce annual Dreamforce conference, there’s an entire summit track dedicated to customers who are doing good. It’s powerful watching the employees as well as the community be inspired by the work of these organizations. One of the genuinely wonderful realities of corporate social impact is the impact on morale.

6. Measure and report. 

Set goals for social impact in the same way you would any area of the company — this holds you accountable and keeps you focused on progress. Be sure to articulate metrics for business impact as well as social impact in your objectives. Measure monthly and quarterly, report out to other departments to share your impact and successes. Many companies, including Google, LinkedIn and Twitter, use an OKR (Objectives and Key Results) system to track progress. The social impact team’s OKRs should roll up and support the overall company objectives, just like every other team at your company.

As part of Boulder Startup Week last night, attendees of “Boulder Community Night: Innovation + Impact” filled the house at the Boulder Theater. The free and open event recognized entrepreneurial and innovative nonprofit ideas to solve pressing problems and critical issues facing Boulder County. 

1. Boulder Day Nursery


2. Boulder Food Rescue


3. Community Cycles


4. El Centro Amidstad


5. “I Have a Dream” Foundation of Boulder County


6. Imagine!

By Greg Baldwin, President of VolunteerMatch. Originally shared on LinkedIn.

For more than a decade, leading companies have been investing in making their community engagement programs more strategic. This is why so few have succeeded — until now. 

In 2002, a ground-breaking article, The Competitive Advantage of Corporate Philanthropy, appeared in the Harvard Business Review. In it, Michael Porter and Mark Kramer challenged the prevailing argument at the time that philanthropy and business were inherently contradictory. Instead, they made the point, which has shaped a generation of business leaders, that companies can, and should, “…systematically apply their distinctive strengths to maximize the social and economic value created by their philanthropy.”

For over a decade now, smart companies have been innovating and evolving to align their giving practices with their business goals.

At VolunteerMatch, we’ve both benefited from and contributed to this evolution and are excited by how many companies are embracing strategic philanthropy. Companies are no longer asking whether they should align their strengths with the needs of the community, but how to do it effectively, affordably and at scale.

But as anyone who’s worked in the corporate social responsibility (CSR) space knows, this is generally easier said than done — particularly when it comes to corporate volunteering.

The problem is that successful corporate volunteer experiences must effectively align with the interests of the business, the employees, and the community — and that’s hard to do.

Too often, one or more of these interests are ignored, invariably resulting in the most common problems with corporate community engagement: low-impact, low-engagement, and low-quality volunteer experiences.

Unfortunately, these problems are the norm. Most companies struggle to find practical solutions that effectively close what we at VolunteerMatch have come to call the Engagement Gap.

The Engagement Gap

What is the Engagement Gap? And why is it such an issue?

Let me explain it this way. There are three key stakeholders in every corporate-volunteer experience, and they all bring their own unique expectations to the table:

• Companies want volunteer opportunities that match their strategy, brand, and culture.


• Employees want volunteer opportunities that match their interests, skills, and schedules.


• Nonprofits want volunteers that match their programs, priorities, and values.

While it is tempting to simplify the problem by focusing on the interests of just one or two of these stakeholders rather than all three, the consequences of that approach are predictable and problematic. Shortchanging company interests results in programs that lack leadership and resources. Shortchanging employee interests results in programs that lack traction and engagement. And shortchanging community interests results in programs that lack purpose and impact.

In their Snapshot 2015 report, titled The New Corporate DNA: Where Employee Engagement and Social Impact Converge, America’s Charities writes, “Alignment of corporate goals, employee interests, and nonprofit needs is essential. Companies can drive greater engagement but they need to align strategically to match corporate and employee interests with the genuine needs of nonprofit organizations.”

There is, of course, no one-size-fits all solution to this challenge, but the failure to build systems that effectively align these interests at scale is why so many corporate volunteer programs are either off-strategy, low-impact, or even worse — unhelpful.

Using New Technologies to Solve the Problem at Scale

After working in this field for more than a decade, we believe this isn’t a peopleproblem — it’s a system problem. It’s not that the people involved lack of training, compassion, or awareness, it is that the systems and strategies they are using to match their distinctive strengths, skills, and interests with local volunteer opportunities do not work well at scale.

VolunteerMatch has for over a decade been passionate about reducing the fragmentation and friction that undermine effective engagement, but technical limitations and old assumptions prevented us from serving thousands of companies. The fact is until last year, the VolunteerMatch Network — the web’s largest volunteer engagement service — was, for the most part, only accessible through products built by our small, but mighty, nonprofit team. We had organized the volunteer needs of more that 110,000 community based organizations but the network was closed and only available through our own products and services. By restricting access to the network in this way, we realized we were preventing tens of thousands of local community organizations and millions of employees from the possibility of connecting to make a real and meaningful difference together.

We are committed to changing that.

The work began last year with a pivotal strategic announcement that, for the first time ever, we would open our network to other like-minded third-party corporate giving platforms to make it easier for more employees, in more companies, to put their volunteer time and talent to good use.

The Courage to Change

Over the last year we’ve become allies with former adversaries, and because of that, five of the most popular corporate giving platforms now offer the VolunteerMatch Network to their corporate customers. This makes it easier for companies to align their business interests and the talents of their employees with the needs of the local community at scale. By having access to over 100,000 volunteer opportunities on any given day that span every ZIP code across the U.S., employees and employee volunteer program managers can find opportunities that match their interest and skills with a simple search. Also, because each volunteer opportunity is current and posted by a verified tax-exempt organization, companies and employees won’t waste their time trying to volunteer at an organization that doesn’t really need their help, or is a bad fit.

Long-term companies will save millions of dollars a year by avoiding the extraordinarily expensive alternative of having to organize, manage, and maintain private networks of available volunteer opportunities for their employees. They will also save nonprofits the aggravation and cost of having to duplicate and maintain their volunteer opportunities on dozens of private “gated networks.”

I’ll confess that change, as they say, is never easy. I spent many long nights worrying about all the things that could go wrong with a strategic shift of this magnitude. But we believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to make a difference and are grateful to the many allies and advisors who gave us the courage to commit to reinventing ourselves. We’re both proud and excited to see so many amazing organizations like Box, Cisco, Marketo, MGM, New Relic, Pandora, Pfizer, Robert Half, Target, VMWare and dozens more take advantage of these new solutions.

A New Vision for Corporate Community Engagement in the Digital Age

If the current political climate has taught us anything it is that our communities are fragile, underserved, and divided. Corporate community engagement programs can not overcome the challenges we face on their own, but they can make a much bigger difference than they have ever made before as new expectations and possibilities converge. Companies are getting smarter about the role purpose plays in their culture, employees are demanding more meaningful opportunities to put their interests and skills to good use, and nonprofits are adopting new technologies that scale their capacity to more effectively collaborate with volunteers.

At its best, corporate volunteering is not about t-shirts, time-off, or talking points. It’s about the opportunity every company has to strengthen their own business and culture by making a meaningful and positive contribution to their community and our society.

Milton Friedman was wrong when he wrote, “There is one and only one social responsibility of business — to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits…” He was wrong not because his logic was flawed, but because the singular pursuit of profits has now become increasingly unprofitable.

Think about it. As customers, employees, investors, managers, and communities, we expect more. We know a healthy economy is fundamental to healthy communities, but over the last 20 years expectations have shifted and fewer people are drawn to businesses that wear the profit motive as their singular reason to be.

I know there are still companies that don’t care much about their employees or their community, but it’s an increasingly risky and unfashionable strategy. Smart businesses have always put purpose first and with time we can see why that is so important culturally, economically, and strategically.

The opportunity we see in the decade ahead is not about persuading companies of their obligation to give back. It’s about building technology, systems, policies, and partnerships that more effectively align the interests of companies, employees, and communities at scale in the digital age.

Start closing the engagement gap now. Learn more about how the VolunteerMatch Network can integrate with your volunteer program.

Sep 26, 2016 By Naomi Morenzoni, Salesforce.org

At Dreamforce this year, you won’t be able to go far without seeing or hearing about Pledge 1%.  Inspired by Salesforce’s 1-1-1 Model, Pledge 1%encourages and challenges individuals and companies to pledge 1% of equity, product and employee time for their communities.

Earlier this month, Pledge 1% announced an exciting milestone—1,000 companies in 30 countries have joined the global movement to make giving back part of their DNA. In fact, over 20% of Dreamforce sponsors have taken the Pledge.

Interested in learning more about how you and your company can take a stand and get involved with the movement?  A number of Pledge 1% companies will be sharing their advice throughout the event and encouraging others to take the pledge. Check out the schedule below. See you there!

Wednesday, October 5

Attract Millennials With a Give Back Culture

9:45 – 10:15 AM at Moscone West, 1st Floor, Developer Forest | Innovation Theater

Millennials need to feel a sense of purpose. Studies show they want to make a difference in their communities, near and far. How can you cultivate a company culture that will attract, retain and motivate millennial employees and customers? Hear from Samasource, Copia, and SOMA Water on innovative ideas from Samasour to help you integrate giving back into your company culture.

Building a Company as a Platform for Change

11 AM – 12 PM at Moscone West Level 2

For years, business leaders have considered giving back something to do when they’ve “made it” – something to consider once their companies have achieved success. But the conversation is changing. Today, CEOs are seeing that by building philanthropy into a company’s DNA, it can drive true business value, in addition to incredible impact on communities around the world. Join us to hear from CEOs from Twilio, Atlassian and 6Sense who have made giving back at their companies an early priority.

Women’s Innovator Network

4 -7 PM at Rotunda in Neiman Marcus

Join the BlueWolf networking event and for every 5 attendees we’ll donate $25 and 1 hour of consultants’ time to the organization ChickTech. This donation is part of their Oledge and they will also be encouraging people to #PledgeItForward with their own pledges throughout the week of Dreamforce. Topics include the impact of gender diversity on the bottom line of businesses as well as strategies to combat unconscious bias and improve diversity. To request an invite click here.

Thursday, October 6

Salesforce LIVE

1:30pm streaming live at www.salesforce.com/video

Join us for an on-air broadcast to hear from DocuSign, Okta and GlassyBaby, three companies that have actively been involved in Pledge 1%.

1% to Change the World

3:30 pm at Partner Lodge Theater, Park Central Hotel

More than 150 Salesforce Partners have made a commitment to giving through Pledge 1%. Hear from BlueWolf and Vlocity, two Partners that have actively been involved in this movement and the impact they’ve seen in their companies and communities.

Friday, October 7

Community Campfire

10 AM – 12 PM at Dreampark

Drop by the Pledge 1% Community Campfire. Hear from other Pledge 1% companies on their success and share your own story. Not a Pledge 1% company? You can still be involved by either taking the Pledge or becoming at #PledgeItForward Ambassador.

By Grand Central Tech on September 22, 2016, originally published on their website in News

When Grand Central Tech started in 2014, we did so with the goal of creating a single point of density of the best technology companies in NYC. And with that goal came a twofold mission:

First, to provide GCT companies access to key resources at the very best terms possible, and materially accelerate their progress. Earlier this week, we announced the ongoing evolution of this component of our mission with the opening of the Hub, which expands our footprint to over 100,000 square feet and allows us to work with even later stage companies working on what we think are some of the most important challenges facing the world today. Apply here.

Second, to set an example for how New York could “do tech differently” by more fully integrating the tech sector into the broader economy/community that surrounds it in a way that wouldn’t detract from any company’s likelihood of success – but would in fact augment it.

To date, this twofold mission has been adopted enthusiastically by all of our participating GCT companies — something we’re deeply proud of. Last summer alone, we took on about 50 interns from local schools (thanks to GCT company Code2Work!), of which over 80% came from either 2 or 4 year community colleges. Drawing interns from a broader talent pool isn’t just “nice” to do; across the board ~80% of these interns were offered jobs afterward… Challenging preconceived notions around where talent comes from and what it tends to look like creates a strategic advantage for companies smart enough to do so.

Today, we’re excited to announce that Grand Central Tech is partnering with Pledge 1% — a global movement to integrate giving back into the DNA of companies of all sizes as early as possible. Launched a little over a year ago, over 900 companies in 30+ countries have taken the pledge to donate 1% of time, equity, profit, and/or product including Twilio, Atlassian, General Assembly, Salesforce, Box, Yelp, MediaMath, Appnexus, and Okta.

As part of our partnership, all GCT companies automatically qualify for inclusion in Pledge 1%, in recognition of all the hard work and time they’ve committed to giving back to the community and making New York the best place in the world to start and build a company.

We’re proud to partner with Pledge 1%, and encourage you all to take the pledge too. It only takes 30 seconds, and together we can continue to be an example to the rest of the world about how New York does tech. And, if you/your company can’t necessarily take the pledge outright, you can sign up to be an Ambassador!

To read the original article and to learn more about Grand Central Tech, visit: http://www.grandcentraltech.com/grand-central-tech-is-proud-to-partner-with-pledge-1/

You can also get involved and join our growing community at www.pledge1percent.org.

To celebrate reaching 1,000 members and to help kick-off the campaign, we are offering YOU – our amazing Pledge 1% community – an additional BONUS PERK from now through September 27.

Any person that recruits a new pledge in these next two weeks will receive a free #PledgeItForward t-shirt.

Pretty cool, right?

Let’s get out those asks and show the world how our community can #PledgeItForward!

By Shana Franti.  Originally published on the Salesforce blog.

Pledge 1% is a corporate philanthropy movement spearheaded by Salesforce.org, Atlassian, and Rally for Impact and Tides dedicated to making the world a better place. It encourages and challenges individuals and companies to pledge 1% of time, equity, product or profit to improve their communities — because pledging a small portion of future success today can have a huge impact tomorrow.

Today, as we kick off Salesforce World Tour Melbourne, we’re thrilled to celebrate the incredible Pledge 1% members in Australia and New Zealand. We’ve had an unbelievable year — since our local launch last year,  80 Australian and New Zealand companies have taken the pledge.

And we’re just getting started
Here are just a few of the local companies that are leading the way and making the community a key stakeholder in their business:

·     Ansarada has pledged 1% of equity, 1% of time and 1% of product.

·     Arxxus has pledged 1% of time.

·     Blackbird Ventures has pledged 1% of profit and 1% of time.

·    BrickX has pledged 1% of equity, 1% of time and 1% of product.

·     Campaign Monitor has pledged 1% of time.

·     Culture Amp has pledged 1% of equity, 1% of time and 1% of product.

·     eWay has pledged 1% of equity, 1% of time and 1% of product.

·     Goodcompany has pledged 1% of time and 1% of product.

·     Hit 100 has pledged 1% of equity, 1% of time and 1% of product.

·     Hoist has pledged 1% of time and 1% of profit.

·     Industrie IT has pledged 1% of equity, 1% of time and 1% of product.

·     Ivy College has pledged 1% of equity, 1% of time and 1% of product.

·     Pozible has pledged 1% of equity and 1% of time.

·     Premonition has pledged 1% of time and 1% of product.

·     Propeller Aerobotics has pledged 1% of equity, 1% of time, 1% of product and 1% of profit.

·     Safety Culture has pledged 1% of equity and 1% of product.

·     Wilson Asset Management Group has pledged 1% of profit and 1% of time.

“The business of business is not business. The business of business is improving the state of the world. “ – Marc Benioff

Did you know that companies that integrate corporate citizenship into their businesses have 2.3 times the employee retention and an increase of 29 per cent in new hire commitment than companies that do not? Employees want to work with an organisation that matches their social values and gives back. This is of particular importance to Millennials with Deloitte finding six out of 10 Millennial employees say that a “sense of purpose” is part of the reason that they chose to work for their current employers.

Will you pledge 1%?

It’s easy to get started. The Pledge 1% website details how companies can pledge 1% of their employee’s time, equity, product or profit. By providing a turnkey solution featuring tools, best practices and relevant information, the website is intended to make it easy for any company or person to incorporate philanthropy into their business model from the beginning.

Thinking about building giving back into your company culture? Join the movement today at www.pledge1percent.org.

By Miguel Milano, President of Salesforce in EMEA.  Originally published on The Huffington Post.