Sometimes, perks go beyond personal benefits. Many organizations encourage their employees to give back to the community in many ways, from financial donations to volunteering time. These six companies are helping out this holiday season.
At Stack Overflow, giving back is something to get excited about.
“In what has become a yearly tradition at Stack Overflow, we set aside this time of year to make sure we are ‘giving back’ to effect positive change in the world,” said senior recruiter Karen Mascavage. “As a small gesture of thanks, we make sizable donations to charities that need our help.”
This year, the engineering and IT teams picked five tech charities to receive donations, giving back to open source projects that do so much to hold the digital world together.
Kinnek is giving back in multiple ways this holiday season. In November, the company had a sandwich-making workshop, building meals for the New York Common Pantry in Harlem. The company also participated in Winter Wishes with New York Cares, purchasing gifts from the wish lists of children, teens and seniors living in Brooklyn shelters.
“Kinnek employees really enjoy spending time rather than just donating to a cause,” said recruiting manager Nathalie Rodriguez. “Whether it was making sandwiches or wrapping gifts, we are able to use that time not only to make something for others less fortunate but we also are able to reflect by doing.”
For Main Street Hub, giving back is a year-round activity. Employees regularly volunteer throughout the year with a variety of organizations like animal shelters, soup kitchens, environment-focused groups and others. These charitable outings are organized through Main Street Hub Gives Back, the company’s initiative to give back.
“Main Street Hub Gives Back is a direct mirror of our core company values. You can see the parallels in volunteering at local organizations and serving local heroes. Plus, it says something about our employees that they so frequently volunteer to give back to those in need in their free time,” said Dana Schwendner, the NYC sales office manager. “Our team is so close-knit and cares so deeply for their cities and giving back that they really enjoy these events.”
For the third year in a row, CB Insights is donating to the Good+ Foundation, buying diapers, wipes, blankets and more for parents in need.
“CB Insights believes it's important to give back and donating to the Good+ Foundation in NYC was the right place when CB Insights started donating there in 2014,” said HR manager Menaka Chang.
The company also holds bake sales to benefit City Harvest.
“We have some great cooks at CB Insights so hosting a bake sale is a great and fun way to have the team show off their creative talents and help those in need,” Chang said. “The company will match the total amount donated by employees for the bake sale.”
ContextMedia’s giving team supports a number of initiatives, including a #GrowAndGive campaign for Zero Cancer.
“We usually have around 15 members of our team participate each year,” said communications lead Philip de Guzman. “Throughout November the team grows facial hair and fundraises, with all proceeds going to Zero Cancer.”
The fundraising effort builds on a partnership the healthtech firm had already established with the cancer-fighting organization.
“First, we are honored to support Zero Cancer in pursuit of their mission of ending prostate cancer. With nearly 2.9 million Americans living with the disease - roughly the population of the city of Chicago - the need for support is urgent, and these efforts go towards supporting patients, research, and driving advocacy & awareness,” de Guzman said. “Second, it's extremely entertaining seeing our team with mustaches and beards.”
Each year, DigitalOcean employees give back through donations, park restoration projects and holiday drives. This year, the company also partnered with RaisedBy.Us to make employee giving even easier. But that wasn’t the only charitable holiday initiative.
“Along with the enrollment donations being made to various causes, we also had in-office events going on such as a drive for foster children, creating hand-made holiday cards for children and a Formal Friday event which raised money for four local charities,” said recruiting coordinator Justin Curtis. “Everyone showed up in formal attire to hear a representative from each charity speak about their cause and all of the money raised from the raffle prizes and donations that night was split between each charity. Love is what fuels DO and we love any chance to make an impact in our community.”
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