4 Reasons Why Your Company Should Join Pledge 1%

“Companies can do more than just make money, they can serve others.”

– Marc Benioff. Chariman and CEO, Salesforce

This is the philosophy that launched the Pledge 1% movement in the US in 2014, with the aim of encouraging businesses to make a commitment to integrated philanthropy. Pledge 1% empowers companies to donate 1% of product, 1% of equity, 1% of profit, or 1% of employee time to improve communities around the world.

Pracedo made a commitment to the 1-1-1 model back in April 2015. At the time, the Pledge 1% movement was running strong in the US, but had yet to make a major appearance in the UK and Europe.

But in the last year, the folks at Pledge 1% have swiftly brought the movement over the pond and it’s gaining momentum every day. There are over 20 companies participating in the UK launch this week.

We found that committing to this movement was actually quite easy, and was already a natural fit with our core values. Pledge 1% gave us a structure and a community. We highly encourage you to take the pledge within your own company and join this group of like-minded change makers.

Why pledge?

Beyond it simply being the “right thing to do,” a smart business recognizes the benefit of community involvement for several reasons:

1) It’s a business issue

We have reached the tipping point where an organisation’s culture is just as important to the bottom line as its output. In a time of ultimate transparency and an empowered workforce, fostering a culture that is both desired and supported by members is essential.

In a study published by in 2015, Deloitte found that “more than twice as many employees are motivated by work passion than career ambition, indicating a need for leadership to focus on making the work environment compelling and enjoyable for everyone.”

To support this finding, Great Place to Work has conducted several studies, which show that when companies invest heavily in culture they see stronger financial performance, lower turnover, greater retention, higher customer satisfaction, and increased innovation.

So the logical question to ask is “what culture do my employees want?”

2) Your employees want to make a difference

Gone (or at least rapidly fading) are the days when a person worked at a company solely for a paycheck. Increasingly in the past years employees have been evaluating their work environments in more subjective terms: How will this benefit my long-term career and life goals, what environmental policies does the company practice, what values do I share with my employer, can I make a difference, does the company “give back” in any way?

In a report conducted by Net Impact and Rutgers in 2012, it is clear that work-related values are changing with each new generation.

The newer members of the workforce, recent graduates and Millennials, are more likely than older generations to value leisure over work, and find it very important or essential to have a job that they feel can make a difference.

3) Your consumers and clients want it

In 2013, Cone Communications/Echo Global researched the affects of CSR on branding. The study found that the majority (91%) of respondents are very/somewhat likely to switch brands associated to a good cause.

4) Everyone else is doing it

This isn’t usually a good reason for taking on a business strategy, except in the case of giving back. If a company doesn’t have some level of community involvement it’s behind the times.

Tech giants like Salesforce and Google saw this trend coming early on (or perhaps set the standard by which we evaluate our future places of employ). Employees enjoy perks like free food and drinks, showers on-site, napping pods, longer paternity and maternity leaves, etc. But these companies also have initiatives that speak to employees’ higher ethos. Most major companies have some element of community involvement or giving.

• Salesforce (along with partners) founded the Pledge 1% movement and the Salesforce Foundation gives free licences to non-profits all over the world
• Google gives grants to non-profits and encourages employees to volunteer together
• Deloitte has unlimited paid time off for volunteering, as well as a company-wide Impact Day
• Coca Cola awards millions each year in fellowships to high school students through the Coca Cola Scholars Foundation

But it’s not just big corporations that are doing this. Business of all sizes recognise the importance of giving back. You can take a look at the hundreds of businesses and organisations who have already taken the pledge.

The brilliance of the Pledge 1% movement is that you don’t have to be a large company to give back. A small business can give 1% and still have a significant impact on the community without negatively impacting its bottom line.

How we’ve pledge:

The Pledge 1% movement allows you to pick and choose the combination that fits best for your business or organisation.

At Pracedo, we’ve pledged to give 1% company product, 1% company time, and 1% company profit back to the social sector.

1% Company Product

As a consultancy, we offer pro bono Salesforce and Pardot implementation and configuration to non-profits who would not otherwise have the budget for such services. We also host free training workshops for our non-profits partners after they have spent time working within their Salesforce orgs.

In 2015 Pracedo gave over 7% of available billable hours to pro-bono projects for non-profits, equivalent to over £50,000.

1% Company Time

Because we are a consultancy, our time is our product. To meet this part of the pledge, each of our employees can take up to three days volunteering with a charity of their choice. These three days are paid time off in addition to their existing vacation time.

1% Company Profit

At the end of each fiscal year, Pracedo has committed to giving at least 1% of profits to a local charity.

About Pledge 1%

Pledge 1% is an effort spearheaded by Atlassian, Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado, Rally for Impact, Salesforce.org and Tides to accelerate their shared vision around integrating philanthropy into businesses around the world.

Pledge 1% encourages and challenges individuals and companies to pledge 1% of equity, product and employee time for their communities, because pledging a small portion of future success can have a huge impact on tomorrow.

Pledge 1% offers companies turnkey tools and best practices, making it accessible for any company to incorporate philanthropy into their business model. To learn more or to take the pledge, please visit www.pledge1percent.org.