When Marc Benioff, Chairman and CEO of Salesforce, incorporated his company in 1999, he knew he wanted to place philanthropy at the heart of his company culture. He knew that in addition to building what would later become a billion dollar business, he also wanted to create social impact through philanthropy. Thus, Salesforce Foundation was born right alongside Salesforce. This laid the groundwork for a strategy that would later become known as the 1-1-1- philanthropic model.
This model, or spin-off initiative, was co-founded in 2014 by Marc Benioff along with two other companies, Atlassian, and Rally. The concept was to promote integrating philanthropy into the beginning stages of setting up a business rather than at a later stage or post IPO. To create a new normal whereby social impact was integrated into the core DNA of every company. The founders wanted early-stage corporate giving to become just as natural as making any other wise, strategic corporate decision. By leveraging technology, people and resources, this program was designed to make a difference in communities throughout the world. And it has. And it continues to make an impact. It is a movement.
Meet the 1% Model:
“The business of business is improving the state of the world.”
-Marc Benioff, Chairman and CEO, Salesforce
As a result of the 1% Model, Salesforce has provided more than $260 million in grants, 3.8 million volunteer hours, and more than 40,000 product donations to nonprofits and educational institutions.
Suzanne DiBianca, now Chief Impact Officer and EVP of Corporate Relations at Salesforce, was co-founder and president of the Salesforce Foundation and Salesforce.org when the program was pioneered.
Photo credit: Forbes. Suzanne DiBianca at Dreamforce 2018
“I joined 18 years ago. The company was about 60 people. I was actually hired to run the Foundation. So Marc Benioff had a very unique vision of creating a new kind of company, that took community service and baked it in very early on. He really was sort of trying to create a new model of business from the very beginning. In the early days, we had no money and very little product. So, in the beginning, we were really focused on our employees and the volunteer part of it. And looking back, it was the right place to start, it really became part of the hearts and minds of the people who worked there.” (The Power of Purpose: How Salesforce and the Pledge 1% Model is Inspiring Silicon Valley To Do Good” Afdhel Aziz, April 18, 2019, Forbes)
And the Pledge 1% Impact Award goes to…
Each year at the Forbes Cloud 100 Awards, Salesforce Ventures awards the Pledge 1% Impact Award to a company that demonstrates “an authentic, outstanding commitment to social impact.” (Matt Garratt, Managing Partner, Salesforce Ventures) The 2020 Pledge 1% Impact Award went to Canva who, since its beginnings, established its core values as being a force for good. “In this day and age, companies have a much greater responsibility than the old mantra, to do their able. We have an incredible opportunity, and in fact, an incredible responsibility to create a world that is better for everyone who lives here. I would love to see every business, every VC, every journalist impact every single person to step up and take heed of their power to help make this world better for everyone who lives here.” said Melanie Perkins, co-founder and CEO of Canva.
Sanmita is pleased to participate in this program and will pledge 1% time, 1% product, or 1% resources to the cause. At Sanmita, we love working with nonprofit organizations nationally. There is something very special and gratifying about helping society’s helpers. We are also a Salesforce certified partner. So, participating in this 1% pledge is not only the right thing to do but it really is only natural. We encourage every entrepreneur to do the same.
Sanmita is an award-winning agency specializing in strategy, design and technology services. To find out how we can help your entity’s marketing communications, strategies, and technologies, reach out to Sanmita for a complimentary consultation.
Want more? Sign up to get our newsletter delivered to your inbox the first Thursday of every month. Receive links to the latest web-related news and blog articles, best practices, and thought-leadership commentary.