This morning, philanthropic effort Pledge 1% rang the Nasdaq bell to honor the public and private Pledge 1% companies as well as to highlight the siren call of yesterday’s Giving Tuesday event: giving back to the community.
Top Pledge 1% companies have already been responsible for over $500 million in new philanthropy, and that’s just from the biggest companies. Here’s a look at the measurable impact of several Pledge 1% companies, as well as an examination of why the philosophy behind the phenomenon is more important than ever.
How It Helps
Pledge 1%, an effort spearheaded by Atlassian, Rally, Salesforce and Tides, aims to convince individuals and companies alike to pledge one percent of their equity, product and employee time towards helping their communities.
And the impact of these pledges can be as varied as the companies who sign up for it.
“We are helping save children from being trafficked into slavery and prostitution,” Ken Krogue, President of InsideSales.com, said in a statement from Pledge 1%’s press release. “And that’s just one of our many programs. Our team works hard to make our shareholders money and drive the company to great success, but at the end of the day they also want to be part of something bigger. They want to do well and do good. Pledge 1% gave us a model to get started and a community of like-minded companies from which to learn. We are thrilled to see this movement spreading.”
DocuSign IMPACT, another Pledge 1% member, is taking its community support to U.S. veterans, as Executive Director Amy Skeeters-Behrens explained.
“One example of our work in this area is that we recently joined forces with Team Rubicon, a nonprofit mobilizing over 40,000 veterans and first responders,” said Skeeters-Behrens, “as well as DocuSign’s local developer community, to facilitate medical care for over 3,600 Syrian Refugees in a camp in Northern Greece. By leveraging DocuSign’s product, our internal talent, and our network, we were able to empower medical volunteers with the digital solution they needed to access and record important medical records, data, and releases.”
Why It’s More Than Just a Day
Amy Lesnick, Chief Executive at Pledge 1%, provided me a statement on the event and its meaning beyond just the holiday season.
“Pledge 1% was founded on #GivingTuesday three years ago as a way to encourage companies to give back every day of the year. We’ve since seen tremendous growth and impact, as companies are integrating our model into their business to have an impact on #GivingTuesday and throughout the year,” the CEO said.
As long as each new holiday season keeps revving up shopper’s appetites for gift-buying — Black Friday sales topped a stunning $5 billion this year — it’s paramount that we balance that enthusiasm for stocking up at the end of the year with an enthusiasm for giving to those less fortunate in our community through the rest of the year.
Read more about startups helping those in need on TechCo