Optoro is a reverse logistics technology company helping brands and retailers reduce supply chain waste. Every year we host a free community event called Swap Shop. Swap Shop brings our community together to trade used clothing, shoes and accessories so that these items don’t end up in landfills.

Every year, millions of quality items are sent to landfills, resulting in billions of pounds in waste. The clothing industry is the second largest polluter in the world, surpassed only by petroleum.

For every item that attendees brought to the event, they received a ticket which could be used to trade in for other items at the Swap Shop. Most attendees came with 20+ articles of clothing, and walked away with a new wardrobe! Over 4,000 items were brought to the event to be reused.

Clothing leftover at the end of the day – almost 600 lbs worth – were donated to charity to help with job creation.

In addition to Swap Shop, we’re doing a “Q4 volunteer challenge”– the employee who spends the most time Giving Back — whether through our formal VTO policy or on their own time– will receive $500 to donate to their charity of choice!

To help other companies have an impact, here are five tips to increasing participation in community engagement:

1. Track and share your progress- We have a poster in our kitchen that shows our company progress towards1%. Updated weekly, the poster is broken down by team to show which teams are leading and which teams have more hours to go. This is a great way to celebrate leaders and remind others what needs to be done to hit our goal.


2. Organize an annual company-wide volunteer outing- Each year our company takes a day off to spend time together. In the morning we volunteer in our community at various sites and then the afternoon is spent hanging out together listening to music and playing games.


3. Create friendly competitions- We’re currently doing a “Q4 Volunteer Challenge”- the employee who logs the most volunteer hours will get $500 to donate to a charity of their choice. This has been a good motivator for a lot of employees who are passionate about specific causes.


4. Monthly events- We have two organizations that we volunteer with every month. The day/time is the same each month. This consistency is helpful for long term planning and allows for whole teams to sign up for events together.


5. Create a resource for managers- We created a list of local orgs that host volunteer opportunities and shared it with managers. The goal was to make it as easy as possible for busy managers to find opportunities that interest their teams.

At ShoppingGives we believe that customers want to support brands and retailers who prioritize giving and that they will prioritize shopping at those brands. Our mission is to create frictionless giving between these brands and the causes their customers are most passionate about.

This #GivingTuesday, we’ve enabled select retailers and their shoppers to work together to support great causes by partnering with ShoppingGives. These partners have taken a step to make more of an impact this holiday season by increasing their donation with every purchase:

• Gourmetgiftbaskets.com – Gives 9%, plus save 15% off your entire order with code “SG15”


• PetMate – Gives 12%, plus save an additional 10% off sale items with code “SGTEN”


• Bagallini – Gives 13%, plus get a free RFID phone wristlet ($25 value) with your order over $50 with code “SGGWP”


• KIND Snacks – Gives 6%, plus take $5 off your order with code “SGIVEKIND”


• Happy Socks – Gives 11%


• White + Warren – Gives 5%, plus save 10% your entire order on with code “Shopping Gives10”

Beyond the Holidays, we’re providing access to over 750 of the most popular online retailers who give back with each purchase including – Walmart, Target, Nordstrom, and Best Buy.

Making giving easier for customers at major retailers is one of the biggest challenges facing many companies, which is why we’ve created a way for more brands to get involved. If your brand is interested in making a difference, ShoppingGives has created a new technology called Change Commerce. Change Commerce is a technology that facilitates an exchange between retailers and nonprofits, that uses the consumer as the catalyst.

The goal is to empower retailers to have an easy-to-use system for allowing customers to donate, that simultaneously handles all the tracking, and makes it easy to receive donation receipts and measure data. Using Change Commerce is easy for the customer, and the platform even gives them the opportunity to track their giving across Change Commerce retailers and further support the causes they care about most.

Your company has the ability to select which charities they wish to feature for their customers to support. At checkout for every purchase, large and small, customers will be prompted to select a charity, where they can donate 1% of the total pre-tax purchase price to help make a difference.

White + Warren, one of our featured partners, was able to easily expand their giving with Change Commerce:

“Supporting good causes has always mattered to us at White + Warren. With ShoppingGives, we’re able to share our passion and the charities that hold a special place in our hearts while also giving our customers an easy option to choose where the donation goes.” — Susan White Morrissey, Founder and CEO of White + Warren

If you’d like to find supporting retailers, please check out our website at shoppinggives.com to find out where you can give back to this holiday season. If you’d like to find out how you can offer this unique chance to your customers, retailers can visit our Change Commerce platform, at shoppinggives.com/change-commerce to find out how you can help make a difference. To date, our Change Commerce technology has helped create an impact for over 600 nonprofits of all sizes, around the world.

We believe in the work that Pledge 1% is doing, and based on our experience working with small companies and major retailers, we know that for every dollar made through Change Commerce, two dollars go back to the nonprofits chosen by our retailer partners’ customers. If you are on the fence, why not make this year’s #GivingTuesday, the day you took a step towards giving back? Using ShoppingGives’ Change Commerce technology, you can make 2019 the year that you started giving beyond just #GivingTuesday.

By Laura Wronski, Senior Research Scientist, SurveyMonkey

As we head into the holiday season, many people are eager to give back and donate to the causes they care most about. In fact, according to last year’s SurveyMonkey/#GivingTuesday survey, 76% of Americans said that donating to causes they believe in is more or equally as important to them as buying gifts for loved ones.

With 2018 #GivingTuesday on the horizon, nonprofits all over the world will look to leverage every tool they can to maximize their donations and help their causes this year. Seeking feedback from your most important constituents–community of supporters, donors, volunteers–is one of the best ways to continuously grow engagement of these contributors, and as a result, your organization’s impact.

Many nonprofits are often understaffed and may feel that they don’t have enough time to create a survey to send to potential donors or their community. But really, that means they’re losing out on opportunities. Surveys can help generate valuable insights that will surprise future donors, volunteers and establish credibility that only hard numbers can provide. In short, they build confidence.

Surveys can also help gather more qualitative information, too. Is your mission clear? Are there topics your community is interested in learning more about from your blog or annual report? What problems have volunteers run into when trying to help your organization? What feedback do they have for you on the latest event? You can use surveys to ask open-ended questions that will give you talking points when you first meet a new donor. This helps organizations’ leaders stay aware of potential issues, and builds credibility as someone who is responsible and trustworthy—and who cares. That’s invaluable.

Here are just a few types of surveys that can give you very actionable insights for this year’s #GivingTuesday and holiday giving campaigns:

• Market Research surveys help to discover specific needs from your target community before launching new initiatives. What causes do they care about? For example, our survey leading up to #GivingTuesday last year showed that disaster relief was top of mind for over a half of Americans (54%)–more than any other cause. With Camp Fire’s devastating consequences in California, disaster relief is likely still a cause that people care about this year. What can your organization do to help?


• Donor feedback is extraordinarily important to keep cash flow positive. Checking in with the donors before and after #GivingTuesday will help make sure you’re giving them the best experience as they support your organization, and find out what you can improve to keep their donations coming in. For example, in our survey last year we found out that nearly one-third (31%) of respondents who are familiar with #GivingTuesday noted that the movement makes them more likely to contribute in some way to nonprofits. Knowing this, you might want to focus on raising awareness about the movement which can result in increased donations.


• Volunteer satisfaction with the experience can mean the difference between volunteers who continue to support your cause and them moving on to something else. Ask questions like, “How appreciated did your volunteer supervisor make you feel?” and, “How easy was it to get along with the staff at this organization?” to get the information you need to keep your valuable volunteers happy, fulfilled, and coming back.


• Volunteer recruitment. Need to spread the word and recruit volunteers fast? Create a survey and post the link on your social media pages to use your social network’s built-in virality to get sign-ups quickly–and feedback later on!


• Fundraiser event planning and feedback. Before your fundraising event, a planning survey can help collect contact information and get a better understanding of funding sources, demographics, staffing, and more. After the event, a fundraiser feedback survey will help discover areas your organization excelled in, and where you could improve your efforts.

Now to the surveys and how you can make sure you get a high response rate and really actionable feedback in return. There are a few simple rules survey scientists at SurveyMonkey follow when sending any survey out. Follow them to survey like a pro:

We treat a survey as a conversation. Respondents are growing weary of poorly designed surveys. An uninspiring look and feel can easily turn your potential respondents off, so take the time to match your template to your brand standards, as well as utilize the great pre-designed survey templates you can use for surveys these days.

We skip the buzz words and explain the goals. You can get better quality results if you state the purpose of your survey up front and explain how results will be used—people get so many surveys that never lead to any action that they will appreciate being part of something important. Getting clear answers also means avoiding jargon in your questions and using relatable phrases that can be understood by a very broad audience.

We keep them short. People whose opinions matter to you are likely pressed for time. After analyzing over 26,000 SurveyMonkey Audience surveys, we found the median number of questions per survey was just 12. Shorter surveys also have higher completion rates, which means you will get better data quality overall.

We leverage existing templates and new technologies. There are great templates for…well, everything. No need to reinvent the wheel! It’s also great to keep in mind tools like SurveyMonkey Genius which brings together AI, survey experts, and machine learning to develop survey intelligence based on the billions of questions and answers flowing through our platform. It automatically applies those insights to help you create your survey and does a lot of the work for you to help you ask better questions and get better response rates.

We keep mobile users in mind and test surveys for them. More and more respondents complete surveys using mobile devices. Keep images and video usage to a minimum to streamline your surveys for mobile and use the Preview/Test function to see how it will look on mobile devices.

We analyze and report back on the results. If your survey reveals an unhappy donor or volunteer, reach out to address the issue. If larger trends are discovered, then maybe a newsletter or email is the right channel to share it more broadly. It’s important to let respondents know that you hear and understand their feedback and are working on an action plan.

Companies and organizations with CSR programs in place can also take advantage of gathering insightful feedback and driving engagement through surveys. For example, survey data played a crucial role in the recent launch of SurveyMonkey for Good, our new corporate responsibility program with the mission to speak up for those without a voice to advance equality and make a positive impact on society. In order to best define the mission and pillars of this program, we sought to capture opinions of our key stakeholders to identify a mission that would resonate the most with them.

Holidays are a critical time of year for nonprofits as it is the last big push for annual contributions. Organizations that prioritize gathering actionable insights this #GivingTuesday will be in a position to foster greater communication with their communities and ultimately help a greater number of people and groups who need it most.

The Geopointe team is excited to participate in their first #GivingTuesday campaign this year! Giving back has always been one of the core values at Geopoine, initiated by CEO and founder, Scott Hemmeter. Geopointe started a $1 per lead scan donation program at Dreamforce 2017 and continued it in 2018. The company has also opened its doors to charities by offering a special discount to nonprofit organizations.

Geopointe is honored to partner with the Novato Unified School District (NUSD) located just south of the Geopointe sales office in Petaluma, California. Every December NUSD hosts an Annual Giving Tree Celebration to both foster community in the school and create a fun holiday celebration for their students and families. For a glimpse at some of their past events, please click here.

The Geopointe team learned of the event and their need for one of its main donation items, bicycles to be raffled off. Geopointe was excited for the opportunity to step in and donate the needed bicycles.

The idea was met with immense support and excitement from the Geopointe team, who were ready to step in and give when needed. Each employee was invited to made a donation, with a goal of purchasing four bicycles for the December 15th fundraising event. One week prior to the fundraising deadline, the team had already donated enough to purchase a total of six bikes plus helmets to go along with a couple of the kids bikes.

When asked about the #GivingTuesday campaign, Mark Baird, VP of Sales, said, “Our employees are not only some of the hardest working people you’ll ever meet, but they are always ready to help others when there is a need. While this is our first GivingTuesday campaign, we definitely plan to make it an annual opportunity for our team to give back.”

 

Powered by Pledge 1%

With the help of Pledge 1%, the driving force behind philanthropy in the Salesforce ecosystem, Geopointe is able to continue to find new ways to give back. Pledge 1% partners with companies to help them give back through various channels: equity, time, product and/or profit to any charity of their choosing. Thanks to the assistance and resources provided by Pledge 1% to boost the visibility of our efforts, Geopointe is given the opportunity to reach an even broader audience.

Since the inception of WICC in 1996, with the help of the entire insurance industry and its supporters, over $10 million has been raised in support of cancer research and education. Fundraising has been achieved through a variety of WICC functions, sponsored events and the purchase of branded products.

In April 2014, WICC launched a new website designed and delivered by AppCentrica. The new site is based on a WordPress platform with third-party plug-ins providing critical functionality for Event Management, Payment Gateway Services and a Shopping Cart.  The new website provides an easy-to-use and secure environment to:

• update the website content, tailoring it to suit each provincial chapter,


• manage events, including registration, payments and participant email messaging


• receive and administer online donations, and


• sell merchandise

Alexis Heatherington, Executive Administrator for WICC Ontario, commented, “The AppCentrica team were very easy to work with; they were professional, responsive and patient. They understood our needs and delivered a tailored solution that fit our budget. We’re so much more efficient now and can manage multiple events simultaneously with no issues.”

When AppCentrica was brought in to assist, the creation of a new website had been underway for almost two years, but getting all the different components and functionality working together had been a real challenge. Our team worked with the WICC staff to outline the scope and requirements quickly and then execute. Within three months the site was complete, including new functionality that allows each provincial chapter to be more self-sufficient in managing their content and mail lists. In addition, the site became bilingual, allowing the Quebec WICC Chapter to use it as its main communication channel. This website was delivered free of charge.

Rhonda English, a VP for CAA and the WICC Board Chair of Communications, was enthusiastic about the project, “It seemed to happen overnight! AppCentrica was able to give us technical and creative options, provide expert advice and then, depending on our direction, deliver a product in a very short timeframe. We’re thrilled with the result and the impact it’s having on our ability to achieve our organization’s mission.”

As the years passed by, the site needed some upgrades. AppCentrica revamped the website early 2018 to ensure it stayed up-to-date with current technologies. AppCentrica is committed to Pledge 1% and has donated all the time and resources spent back to WICC. AppCentrica plans to continue our support to WICC and their website.

Have you heard of the butterfly effect? This phenomenon suggests a butterfly fluttering in Rio de Janeiro could change the weather in Chicago. What if we applied that theory to the effects of volunteering? Imagine that something you do for others in your community could affect change in the world.

The founders of KMS Technology, CEO Vu Lam and President Josh Lieberman, began with a mission in 2009 to help companies improve their software development and testing. Making a difference for their clients led them to wonder how they could make a difference in their community.

You may wonder why a successful business would want to focus on giving their time to others? Lieberman believes “our society can grow if we give people the opportunity.” Everyone has the ability to learn, but not everyone is given the chance. “I have the skills and resources to give back to help others grow, which in turn is good for the world.”

Volunteering is not just lip service at KMS. To make sure volunteering became a part of the company’s DNA, KMS partnered with the Pledge 1% movement. This campaign was started by Salesforce, Atlassian, and Rally in 2014 and has become a global effort. “We really respect these companies and the culture they built, and we want to emulate that,” said Lieberman. “Volunteering has always been a big part of my life and I wanted to make sure our company and our employees have values that align. When your team shares the same values as you, the company can paddle in the same direction and move forward together.”

When KMS helps the community, they’re not just lending a helping hand. They’re encouraging community involvement with their employees. Since joining Pledge 1%, employees are more engaged, motivated and proud to work at KMS. Giving back to the community can align with your values and passions. Lieberman points out that “we have several people who volunteer with their neighbors, religious establishments, shelters, wherever their passions lie.”

KMS is in a unique position to give. Headquartered in a fast-growing tech city like Atlanta, there are many opportunities to “offer specific skills to advance others,” said Lieberman. “It’s why we’ve partnered with great nonprofits like Per Scholas and 48in48.”

Most recently, KMS volunteered at the 48in48 event in Atlanta to assist with building 48 websites for 48 local nonprofits in 48 hours. Using their testing expertise, KMS was specially recognized by the event coordinators. “Thanks to the team of volunteers from KMS Technology, our volunteers for 48in48 Atlanta have been able to develop websites of quality with attention to detail for their nonprofit organizations,” said Jenny Bradley, City Project Manager Chair.

Whether you work for a technology company or other industries, there are many ways to get involved with your community. Although no one is obligated to volunteer, it’s certainly in everyone’s best interests. “I believe volunteering and giving back can be better for your business, your employees and the community around you,” said Lieberman.

In general, it seems like people only give during the holidays when they feel the spirit of giving. KMS is different. Volunteering year-round is something they are proud to accomplish. Whether you help at food kitchens, read to children at the library, or plant trees, there is always something that can be done throughout the year. Flap your wings, butterfly, and be the change the world needs to become a better place for us all.

Check out KMS Gives for more information.

When Viv started earlier this year, its management team knew the company’s disruptive technology and customer-focused energy savings platform would help the company begin to break into a largely established industry. Beyond that, the company’s CEO knew her passion for helping underprivileged communities around the world could be more than a feel-good mission. It could be part of a holistic and sustainable business strategy. That’s why Viv committed, from Day 1, to help communities thrive. Through their One At A Time initiatives, the company contributes a minimum of 1% of all revenue toward projects that provide access to energy, water, health, education, sustainability and economic development to make life better for children and families around the world. 

“There is tremendous need all over the world, and today’s business leaders are poised, more than most, to step up to the challenge and be catalysts for change,” said Viv CEO Cami Boehme. “We believe that giving often leads to getting – in meaningful and long-lasting ways. Building on that, we empower business leaders, entrepreneurs and individuals alike to join us in our life-changing journeys to expand the efforts of non-profits worldwide through hands-on service and cultural immersion.”

In October 2018, Viv completed its first global One At A Time service trip in Guatemala. The project was a joint effort with Guatemalan-based non-profit Long Way Home, an organization that is educating the next generation to overcome poverty through innovative solutions to local challenges. Two dozen Viv Life Consultants spent a week in the community of Xiquin Sanahi, working inside homes to build clean cookstoves for 36 families who previously cooked over open fires with little to no ventilation.

Designed to improve respiratory health for families that have previously lacked the resources, this project helped people in the region transition to cleaner burning stoves. Traditional methods of cooking, including open fires and inefficient cookstoves, cause a variety of harmful impacts. Clean cookstoves can reduce illness related to smoke inhalation, lessen pollution and reduce negative environmental impact. They also burn lower and slower, reducing the cost of firewood and improving economic conditions for hard-working families.

Viv Life Consultants spent a week in the community of Xiquin Sanahi, working inside homes to build clean cookstoves for 36 families.

The best part of incorporating this type of giving strategy into your business? You get far more than you give. Viv has found that while the people they serve are certainly empowered by the change and service they bring, the more meaningful change for their business happens with those who attend a service journey. Whether a company is looking to attract, engage or retain key talent, incentivize growth, demonstrate its values to customers or a number of other powerful business drivers, Viv believes its One At A Time service journeys can help businesses achieve these and many other goals.

CEO Cami Boehme works alongside two Viv Life Consultants to install a clean cookstove for a family of 13.

“As we strive to help communities like Xiquin Sanahi thrive, one project and family at a time, each of us grow as people,” said Hannah Wells, Director of Impact and Engagement for Viv. “We’re brought closer together as we experience how billions of people are living without the very things we take for granted every day like clean air, water and adequate sanitation.”

Viv’s products offer convenience, savings and peace of mind, and an entrepreneurial opportunity with heart. The company’s Better Life Platform offers savings and simplicity on energy, healthcare, travel and home security for consumers. And Viv’s Life Consultants can pursue a dynamic side gig offering products and services that change lives.

“We give people a way to live their life better – our customers, our consultants and our communities,” Boehme said. “Every time our customer base grows, our capacity to give grows, and together with our customers and consultants, we are committed to helping make life better for millions around the world.”

The company has two additional One At A Time initiatives in Guatemala and the Dominican Republic scheduled for March and June 2019. Be part of one of their next One At A Time journeys.

Coleman Insights is a media research company that specializes in building strong brands and developing great content for radio stations and media brands around the world.

Coleman Insights President Warren Kurtzman learned about the Pledge 1% initiative while attending Dreamforce in San Francisco, and began thinking about how he could implement it within the DNA of his organization. In early 2018, he shared with the team that Coleman Insights would pledge 1% of its profits, 1% of product services, and 1% of employee time to charitable causes.

The first order of business was the formation of a Coleman Insights Pledge 1% committee. The mission of this employee-led committee is to find and learn more about organizations in the company’s local community of Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. Once per month, the committee invites a non-profit organization to present its mission and needs to the group. These presentations inspire employees to volunteer and donate. At the end of the year, the committee will decide which organization will be the recipient of a financial gift from Coleman Insights.  Organizations that have presented in 2018 include The Justice Theatre Project, Lung Transplant Foundation, Donate Life NC, and the Exchange Family Center of Durham.

To help us keep track of our volunteer goal, we have implemented a visual aid: an empty fish tank that we drop ping pong balls into. One ping pong ball represents 1 hour of volunteer work. Our goal is to fill the fish tank to the top with ping pong balls.  Coleman Insights employees have been filling up the fish tank with volunteer hours served at a large number of charitable organizations within the Research Triangle area.

Team members raised money by playing in the Exchange Family Center’s Pinwheels Mini-Golf tournament.  The Exchange Family Center makes children’s lives better by strengthening their families, teachers, and communities through proven counseling, coaching, and training.

Team members regularly volunteer at the Urban Ministries of Wake County food pantry to help restock shelves and bring in donations. Coleman Insights maintains an ongoing food drive for employees to donate food to the food pantry.  Since 1981, Urban Ministries of Wake County has responded to our neighbors in crisis by providing basic needs – food, medicine and shelter.

Coleman Insights Vice President of Business Operations Eileen Genna worked the registration table for the Lung Transplant Foundation golf tournament. The Lung Transplant Foundation’s mission is to provide confidential, compassionate, one-on-one support for lung transplant recipients and their caregivers at all stages of transplantation and is headquartered in Durham, North Carolina.

Team Coleman also volunteered with the Raleigh Department of Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Resources to clean up and mulch Nash Square in downtown Raleigh.

For Thanksgiving this year, team member Jennifer Donnelly helped to organize donations for Southport Business Parks Adopt-a-Turkey campaign. This campaign collects Thanksgiving Dinner fixins to benefit the families of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Triangle so they could have Thanksgiving dinner.

Kurtzman has also been very passionate about spreading the word of Pledge 1 %, and sent an email to all clients encouraging them to make the pledge. We’re looking forward to another exciting year proudly participating in Pledge 1%!

We’re wrapping-up our first year as participants in Pledge 1%, and we’re amazed to see  how transformational this pledge has been for our team. Our company, Debug Pest Control is just as the name would suggest: a pest control company. People don’t really expect a pest control company to be socially engaged or visibly active in their communities. But we changed that expectation this year; we definitely raised the bar, and people have noticed.

This year, we made a year-long commitment to one of our core values: We Care. Pledge 1% gave us the framework to make that commitment possible. As a team, Debug employees participated in food drives, walks and runs to benefit various causes, but our largest and most enduring project has been our Pollinator Garden.

As pest control professionals, we see first-hand the plight of honeybees. For years, we have done our best to educate our consumers about saving bees. Whenever we encounter honeybees in a residence or business, we do everything we can to save the bees and relocate them to an area farm where they can thrive. This year, though, we wanted to showcase our commitment to helping pollinators and other beneficial insects.

We adopted a busy traffic rotary in the center of town and selected plants specific to pollinators. Our team prepped the soil, planted, spread mulch, weeded, and watered this space all summer. We created signage to educate passers-by about our garden and its important mission.

We think we’re a good example of how a small company can make a big impression on their community.

Debug Pest Control was acknowledged for our commitment to caring in Providence Business News. 

Our State’s Highway Department contacted us about using our Pollinator Garden as the model for all adopted traffic islands throughout the State.

You can read more about our commitment to saving honeybees here.

See here for more photos of the Debug Team in action.