Pledge 1% Community

Alicia_Schmidt · Saturday

Announce Your Pledge

How to tell your story — internally, publicly, and consistently.

📍 Where you are

You have your pledge type, your mission, and your nonprofit partner. The foundation is set. Now it’s time to make it public by sharing with your team, your customers, and your community. This module gives you everything you need to announce with confidence and credibility.

Taking the pledge is a commitment. Announcing it is what makes it real. You don’t need a fully built program to announce. Tell the story of where you’re going, not just where you are.

Pledge 1% provides templates for press releases, social posts, and job descriptions. Don’t spend time writing from scratch when the scaffolding already exists.

Internal First

Channel	What to Share
All-hands / team meeting	CEO presents: what it is, which pledge types, what it means for employees, what comes next.
Company-wide email	Follow up with a written version: mission, pledge type(s), nonprofit partner(s), how to get involved.
Slack / intranet	Create a #giving-back or #pledge1percent channel. Post the announcement and keep it updated.
Employee handbook	Add a one-paragraph description of your commitment — VTO policy, giving program, impact mission.

🤖 AI DRAFT PROMPT

Draft our internal pledge announcement email

Paste your company details below to generate a CEO all-staff email announcing the Pledge 1% commitment.

Copy this prompt into your preferred AI assistant (like Claude or Gemini), then fill in the [brackets]:

Write an internal all-staff email from our CEO announcing that our company has joined Pledge 1%.

Company name: [name].
What we're pledging: [e.g., 16 hours of paid volunteer time per employee per year + 1% of annual profit].
Our impact focus area: [e.g., youth education / climate / workforce development].
Our nonprofit partner(s): [names, or 'TBD -- employees will vote'].
What employees get: [e.g., 16 hours of paid VTO, company donation match, group volunteer days].
First activity planned: [e.g., group volunteer day on [date]].
How to get involved: [e.g., join #giving-back on Slack].

Tone: warm, genuine, founder-voice -- not corporate. Under 250 words. Include a subject line.

Going Public — External Channels

Channel	What to Post	Tips
LinkedIn (company page)	Announce the pledge, name your cause and nonprofit partner, explain why it matters. Tag @Pledge1Percent.	CEO should repost or comment. Tag the nonprofit. Use the Pledge 1% badge.
LinkedIn (CEO personal)	A personal post from the founder — the ‘why’ behind the pledge. More human, more reach.	First-person tone. Share a specific reason this cause matters personally.
Website / About page	Add your Pledge 1% badge and one sentence about your commitment.	Visible on homepage or About page — not buried.
Careers page	“We give 1% of [revenue/time/product] to [cause].” One line. Candidates read this.	Consistent with your impact mission. Update as the program grows.
Press release	Use the Pledge 1% sample template. Include CEO quote and nonprofit partner quote. Include Pledge membership in your boilerplate PR language.	Send to local business press and industry trade publications.

🤖 AI DRAFT PROMPT

Draft our LinkedIn pledge announcement post

Use this to generate a LinkedIn post for your company page or CEO personal profile announcing your Pledge 1% commitment.

Copy this prompt into your preferred AI assistant (like Claude or Gemini), then fill in the [brackets]:

Write a LinkedIn post announcing that [Company Name] has joined Pledge 1%.

Post is for: [company page / CEO's personal LinkedIn -- choose one].
What we're pledging: [e.g., 1% of employee time and 1% of annual revenue].
Our cause area: [e.g., closing the digital divide / environmental resilience / youth workforce development].
Our nonprofit partner(s): [names, or 'organizations TBD'].
One specific reason this matters to us: [e.g., our founder grew up in a community without digital access].
Call to action: [e.g., encourage other founders to join / invite employees to get involved].

Tone: genuine, founder-led, human. Not a press release. Under 200 words. Include 3-4 relevant hashtags at the end, including #Pledge1Percent.

🤖 AI DRAFT PROMPT

Draft our press release

Generate a press release following the Pledge 1% format, ready to send to local business media or trade publications.

Copy this prompt into your preferred AI assistant (like Claude or Gemini), then fill in the [brackets]:

Write a press release announcing that [Company Name] has officially joined the Pledge 1% movement.

Company details: [name, location, industry, what you do, number of employees, founding year].
Pledge commitment: [e.g., 1% of employee time and 1% of annual revenue].
Cause area(s) and nonprofit partner(s): [details].
CEO name and quote: [either provide a quote, or ask AI to draft one in the voice of a founder who cares deeply about this cause].
Nonprofit partner name and contact quote: [provide quote, or draft placeholder].
Any relevant milestones: [e.g., first volunteer event planned for X date].

Format: standard press release with headline, dateline, body (3-4 paragraphs), boilerplate, and contact info. Tone: professional but warm. Avoid overused phrases like 'excited to announce' and 'proud to partner'.

🎉 PLEDGE 1% BADGE — USE IT EVERYWHERE

Download your official Pledge 1% badge from pledge1percent.org/display-the-pledge-1-logo. Place it on: your website footer, your LinkedIn banner, your email signatures (executive team), your pitch deck, and your job postings. This is the lowest-effort, highest-visibility action you can take.

How Pledge 1% Can Help You Celebrate This Moment

Joining Pledge 1% is a milestone worth marking, and we want to help you share it. Here’s how we can amplify your announcement:

Share your announcement with us. Once you’ve posted, send us your announcement and we’ll share it with our network of thousands of purpose-driven companies, investors, and supporters. Email: [email protected].

Tell your story on video. Our “Why We Pledge” series features members sharing the personal reasons behind their commitment. Learn more and submit your video here.

Get featured on the Pledge 1% blog. We regularly feature member companies and the impact they’re creating. Email [email protected] to be considered.

Messaging Principles

✓ DO

Be specific: name the pledge type, cause, and nonprofit
Be honest: ‘We’re beginning with time this year’
Show the why: connect the pledge to your founders’ or company’s values
Invite employees and customers to participate
Update annually: share progress and year-end numbers

✗ DON’T

Be vague: ‘We care about giving back’ says nothing
Overstate: don’t claim a full program before it exists
Make it purely performative with no follow-through plans
Make it a top-down announcement with no call to action
Go silent after the launch post — follow-through is the story

Ongoing Communications Cadence

When	What	Where
At launch	Pledge announcement + nonprofit introduction	LinkedIn, all-hands, press release
First 60 days	First volunteer day or donation story	Slack, intranet, employee newsletter, LinkedIn
Quarterly	Hours volunteered, dollars donated, 1 employee story	All-hands, internal newsletter
Campaign dates	Earth Day, GivingTuesday, Women’s History Month recaps	LinkedIn, social

💡 PRO TIP

GivingTuesday (first Tuesday after Thanksgiving in the US) is the single best moment to share your annual giving total publicly. It’s a great day to share your latest impact report.

🎉 Congratulations! Your Foundation for Impact Is Set.
Framework
☐	Framework understood
Executive Sponsor
☐	Executive sponsor identified and aligned
☐	CEO committed to at least one visible public action at launch
Mission
☐	Impact mission statement written and approved
☐	Mission posted (wiki, intranet, handbook, Slack)
Partners
☐	1–2 nonprofit/NGO partners chosen and onboarded
Announce
☐	Internal announcement posted
☐	LinkedIn, blog or PR announcement posted
☐	Pledge 1% badge added to website
☐	Careers page updated with one-line pledge statement
☐	Quarterly communications cadence on the calendar

The groundwork is set — now it’s time to fulfil your pledge.

Next: Explore Employee Volunteering, Donations, and Product →