This month, Lob.org hosted its very first company-wide Impact Week: Claws for the Cause. The goal of the event was to give all employees an opportunity t o have a positive social impact while at work. We virtually volunteered, learned and gave back in our core focus areas: Civic Action, Racial Justice, and Sustainability. Since the launch of Lob.org this past April, a key part of our approach has been to mobilize our people in addition to our product. The true test for us was to successfully host this week virtually. Spoiler alert: it can 100% be done!
While we are looking forward to safely volunteering in person in the future, we found creative ways to engage with organizations remotely:
On Tuesday, we built Kynd Kits for Casa de Paz that will support immigrants and asylum-seekers who were recently released from detention centers. Since we were focusing on Civic Action on this day, this was a great way to show up for our community.
On Wednesday, we completed a Reentry Simulation with the Next Chapter team. The Reentry Simulation simulates the struggles and challenges faced by individuals who are transitioning from incarceration back into society. According to the California Innocence Project, more than 65 percent of those released from California’s prison system return within three years. The simulation was an important, emotional and eye-opening experience for our team.
On Thursday, our Partner Team shared more insight into our company’s sustainability commitments. From the beginning, it has been Lob’s commitment to minimize our footprint and seek out new, creative ways to deliver sustainable, eco-friendly initiatives to our customers. For every employee that attended, we donated to the National Forest Foundation to plant one tree. We planted 76 trees on top of our tree-planting partnership with Eden Reforestation Projects, where we plant two trees for every one used in the production of our mailpieces.
On Friday, we closed out the week with an Ideathon. The question was simple, yet left so much room for interpretation. How might we use our resources to have greater impact in our focus areas? Our teams came up with incredibly innovative ideas. Stay tuned to see some of these ideas put into action.
Fostering community and discussion, especially in this remote environment, is important to us. In addition to the actions above, we also posted a daily question in Slack for everyone to answer. At the end of the day, we did a raffle for those who participated and the winner received $100 to donate to an organization of their choice. Some of the organizations were: Black Girls Code, San Francisco Achievers, and the Edible Schoolyard Project.
So, the result of the five days?
- Over 50% of the company participated in some way during Impact Week
- Every department was represented
- 15 nonprofits were supported
- 38 Kynd kits were built and donated to individuals and families that were recently released from detention centers
- Over 180 hours were spent volunteering and learning in our core focus areas
- Over $2000 was donated to organizations our team cares about
Wow! We could not have done it without our incredible team and all of the organizations that shared their time with us. The Lob.org team believes giving back and educating ourselves is our responsibility given the immense privileges we have as tech employees. We are excited to continue this important work and increase our impact through future Claws for the Cause events!
If you are a nonprofit leveraging direct mail, or are interested in doing so for your important work, we offer donated and discounted products through our Lob for Good program and we’d love the opportunity to work with you. If there are other ways we can work together, email us at lob-org@lob.com.
