SALESFORCE

When Marc Benioff founded Salesforce in 1999, he ensured that giving back to the community was fundamentally fixed into the company’s framework. It was not an afterthought or something extraneous, but rather it was at the core of their business model; Salesforce could only claim to be a successful company if the communities in which it operates are also thriving. 

 

And thus, the 1 + 1 + 1 model was born. 

 

1% of earnings + 1% of products + 1% of employee time would all be dedicated to charitable causes that better local communities. 

Salesforce makes it incredibly simple for employees to give back, offering six paid days a year to dedicate to volunteering and the opportunity to apply for grants or matching donations for the nonprofits they support.  

And Salesforce teams are taking full advantage, with no plans to slow down.  


80% of employees volunteer in some way (a rate three times that of most corporations). 
 

Here at Habitat Chicago, we get to see this firsthand. These numbers speak for themselves: 
 

2014

100 volunteer hours  --  $3,000 invested

 

2015

250 volunteer hours  --  $8,000 invested

 

2016

644 volunteer hours  --  $20,750 invested

 

2017

980 volunteer hours  --  $35,750 invested

 

2018

1,036 volunteer hours  --  $59,000 invested

 

2019

1,120 volunteer hours  --  $54,000 invested

 

2020

287 volunteer hours  --  $20,000 invested

What’s especially striking about this partnership is its people-power movement that starts from the ground up, time and time again. 

 

Our partnership kicked off in 2014 when one employee reached out to learn a little bit more about our local mission and ask how his small team could support. After their first team build, the group walked back into the office and talked about the experience. Word spread quickly and soon another team reached out… and then another… and another…

 

And now a Salesforce team is out to build nearly every month, a trend that is growing in full force. 

Even more impressive is how these teams always come ready to work. No matter the task at hand, they take it on with enthusiasm and conquer it with gusto. 

 

From the Engineering department to Salesforce Ignite to Customer Success to Financial Services, these teams represent what this mission means to all of us, that amazing thing happen when we say “YES” to building a better future for our neighbors. 

Knowing that we can count on Salesforce employees to show up week after week, month after month, allows us to better plan and look to the future with confidence. It allows us to continue to develop into the organization that Chicago deserves. 

 

And we think that deserves a huge…

 

THANKS!

 

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