Cloud Companies Making Giving Back as Easy as Their Technology
Throughout my life, I have always tried to find time to give back to the community. Since I have dedicated my career to efficiency, it always bothered me that most of the charities I donated my time to were inefficient. There always seemed to be wasted time on processes and procedures that could have been spent on actually making a difference. In the last month, however, I got to participate in two really forward-thinking organizations and how they made giving back easy and efficient.
Dreamforce '10 - Stop Hunger Now
Most people involved with Salesforce.com know about Marc Benioff's 1/1/1 corporate philanthropy model and how Salesforce.com is very focused on giving back to the community. For the newbies, Salesforce.com gives 1% of their product, 1% of their time, and 1% of their equity to qualified 501(c)3 organizations and NGOs with their own foundation. As part of their corporate DNA, they dedicate a large portion of Dreamforce to promoting and evangelizing philanthropy. This year the Dreamforce '10 organizers brought charitable activities into the conference by placing stations inside the Moscone Center. One of the stations to donate time was Stop Hunger Now, an international hunger relief organization that coordinates the distribution of food and other life-saving aid around the world. In the limited time I participated, I was able to make about 40 meals to be distributed to needy people around the world. It was an amazing experience and took all of one minute to learn what I needed to do and get going. In just twenty minutes, I felt I made a difference.
Google Chrome for a Cause Extension
Google launched an extension last week to help raise money and awareness in addition to promoting their browser. Last week, for each tab you opened in Google Chrome a donation would be made to a charity. At the end of the day, you could allocate which charities you wanted your "tabbed" donation to fund. Google raised over one million dollars in this effort and promoted charities around the world. Making a difference with a click of a mouse, what a great concept.
Future of Philanthropy
Both Salesforce.com and Google have set a standard as to how all companies could run their philanthropic efforts. Could you imagine what could be done for causes if all companies adopted these models? I hope exisiting organizations take notice of how these programs made it so easy for people to participate and promote. I know everything can't be as simple as clicking a mouse but if organizations spent some time on how to make their process simple, I think it would go a long way.
Happy Holidays!
