Somewhere along the way — between the videos of customers trampling each other in pursuit of a blender and the collective incursion of e-commerce websites — the day that was meant to be a celebration of gratitude became the precursor to mass consumption.
But what if those efforts reverted in the other direction? Giving Tuesday began in 2012 as a day dedicated to generosity — as a hopeful corrective to restore order to the occasional ironies of the universe.
Work & Co is one of the many organizations striving to help with that corrective. The technology and design company has bolstered its charitable initiatives for the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving, collaborating with the online fundraising platform GoFundMe to make it easier for donors to find and support charities in their local communities.
“It’s an enormous privilege to work with a company that enables so much kindness in the world,” strategy lead Alice Lee said. “Our clients are dedicated to turning compassion into action and expanding access to broader networks of aid.”
In honor of this movement for generosity, Built In checked in with the Brooklyn-based company to learn how its team is giving back and making an impact on Giving Tuesday — and all year long.
What is your company doing this year to make a difference on Giving Tuesday?
This year, we’re creating impact in the best way we know how: by launching a digital product. Work & Co is partnering with our clients at GoFundMe to make it easier for people to find and support charities in their local community.
We collaborated closely with GoFundMe’s internal stakeholders and designers to create a new action page on the GoFundMe website. Users can now browse curated lists of charities and nonprofit organizations in their city, find the one that aligns with their passions and giving goals, and start a GoFundMe campaign on that charity’s behalf.
The goal is increased impact and more personal connections. First, by starting that campaign and rallying their personal networks to pool donations, people can multiply their impact exponentially beyond just making a single donation on their own. And second, they can make a tangible difference for those who live in their own communities.
The goal is increased impact and more personal connections.”
Why did you decide to contribute in this particular way?
After a few months of working together, Musa Tariq, GoFundMe’s CMO, approached us with an idea for an initiative that could pull double duty. The new action page would help charities raise more funds this Giving Tuesday than ever, and it would allow people to discover ways to support their local communities and the causes they care about. Our entire team was excited by the potential to make such a big impact and motivated by the notion of designing and launching a new experience in less than two months.
GoFundMe has been a perfect partner for us. They are highly aligned with our belief in the power of technology to help people and activate real change. Their internal teams have also been eager to relentlessly focus and collaborate with us extremely closely to bring new features to market, quickly and successfully.
GoFundMe is aligned with our belief in the power of technology to help people and activate real change.”
How else does your company give back to the local community throughout the year?
I am constantly inspired by the generosity and activism of my colleagues at Work & Co. We have a thriving community of people dedicated to making change across all of our company locations. From supporting NYC Chinatown as part of the Stop Asian Hate movement to rallying donations to protect the unhoused during record snowfall in Portland, Oregon, to mobilizing and phone banking in Atlanta during the recent runoff election, employees at our company are always on the ground somewhere trying to give back.
As a company, in addition to actively seeking out clients who share our values, Work & Co also has a fund that supports pro bono projects on an ongoing basis. In 2020, Work & Co committed to investing $1 million specifically toward nonprofits and startups focused on advancement in the Black community. Since then we’ve partnered with four incredible organizations: GiveBlck, Ameelio, Woke Vote, and the Diversity in Design Collaborative.
