This story was submitted as part of the #Pledge1Gives GivingTuesday campaign, which celebrates the many ways our member companies are having an impact around the world.
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Classy is a social enterprise that helps nonprofits build meaningful relationships with their supporters through a suite of world-class online fundraising tools. Nonprofits of every size and cause—from human rights to disaster relief—use the Classy platform to raise money, engage their communities, and advance their missions. Today, Classy’s staff of 200 people serves more than 6,000 nonprofit organizations, including The Salvation Army, Oxfam America, and Team Rubicon.
Classy’s business model is uniquely designed to serve nonprofit organizations exclusively, and as a pending Certified B Corporation and Pledge 1% member, the technology company is built to power social impact. Classy recently formalized its stakeholder model and commitments to each of its primary stakeholder groups (customer, team, financial, and community). One of those investments was the creation of a new role overseeing sustainability and stakeholder impact.
This major focus soon led to the launch of a reimagined employee volunteering program. ClassyGives is an evergreen customer connection program that enables employees to engage with nonprofits in meaningful ways, not only increasing customer empathy, but also delivering value to Classy’s nonprofit customers. A few ClassyGives initiatives include:
- The ClassyGives Fundraising Competition, in which employees raise money for a Classy customer with the chance to visit and volunteer with the organization
- The ClassyGives Idea Jam, in which employees are paired with Classy customers to solve pressing business problems within a day’s time
- The ClassyGives Customer Day, in which several customers are invited to come and present their work and participate in employee-led workshops
To further engage employees with this program, Classy rebranded its historical volunteer-time-off (VTO) policy to Impact Hours, defined as time that Classy employees spend engaging with the nonprofit customer outside of their typical work responsibilities. This expanded policy now includes participation in nonpartisan voter engagement activities, signing or starting a social good or civic engagement petition, serving on a nonprofit board, or serving as an advisor for a nonprofit.
In addition, as part of its Pledge 1% commitment, Classy invests 1% of top-line revenue back to the nonprofit sector primarily through the Classy Awards, one of the largest impact awards programs in the country.
Classy has never been more proud and motivated to give back and help nonprofits and social enterprises change the world for the better. As the world’s problems grow more complex, Classy’s ability to support these efforts has never been more important.
