More than 25 companies join Pledge 1% in the U.K., dedicating 1% of employee time, equity, product or profit to improve communities around the world

U.K. companies, including NewVoiceMedia, Qubit and Sage, commit to making the community a key stakeholder in their businesses London

 

February 5, 2015 – Pledge 1%, a corporate philanthropy movement founded by Atlassian, Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado, Rally for Impact and Salesforce.org, today announced the launch of Pledge 1% in the U.K. More than 25 U.K. companies have pledged 1% of employee time, equity, product or profit, making the community a key stakeholder in their businesses. The launch took place at St James’s Palace and was attended by the Duke of York and a number of companies supporting the pledge, including high-growth companies NewVoiceMedia, Qubit and Sage.

 

Comments on the news:

  • “Salesforce.org is dedicated to changing the way companies think about corporate philanthropy,” said Charlotte Finn, vice president EMEA, Salesforce.org. “We are excited that more than 25 U.K. companies are joining us in giving their resources back to the community. Pledge 1% is a great example of the power that business has to effect positive change.”
  • “By participating in Pledge 1%, you will be acting as an accelerant for a number of different people and a number of different streams of activity. The most significant one will be acting as an accelerant to your own entrepreneurial business,” said HRH The Duke of York.
  • “The real power of Pledge 1% is that it inspires companies to incorporate philanthropy into their business model from day one,” said Scott Farquhar, co-CEO and co-founder, Atlassian. “As a result, giving back becomes a core part of their culture and driver of success, not just another box to tick off. Having already launched the Pledge 1% movement in the U.S., Australia, and Canada, we’re excited that the movement is now taking hold in the U.K.”
  • “Pledge 1% has been a rocketship since we launched in the U.S last year,” said Ryan Martens, founder, Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado and Rally for Impact. “We’ve found that companies are truly ready to give back and drive incredible impact in their communities—we have a goal of securing 1,000 new pledges this year.”
  • “We are proud to join the Pledge 1% movement in the U.K.,” said Jonathan Gale, CEO, NewVoiceMedia. “We believe giving back is a key component of being a great company and our employees are excited to be part of a movement that enables us to share our success and become a force for good in the world.”
  • “We are delighted to be one of the first U.K. companies to support the Pledge 1% movement,” said Graham Cooke, co-founder and CEO, Qubit. “Donating equity, time, and product fits with our goal of being a socially responsible company. We’re fully committed to fulfilling our pledge, and as we grow, giving back more and more to the local and global community we’re part of.”

 

Pledge 1% Comes to the U.K.

With 608,100 new business started in the U.K. in 2015, an increase of 4.6% year-over-year, the potential power for U.K. companies to create a lasting impact continues to grow. Companies that have joined Pledge 1% U.K. at launch include NewVoiceMedia, Qubit, Sage Group Plc, Idio, CloudShift Group, GoSquared and Adaptavist. Pledge 1% plans to secure 50 new U.K. pledges in its first year and 1,000 new pledges globally in 2016. Pledge 1% has also partnered with leading venture capital firms including Bessemer Ventures, Blackbird Ventures, Foundry Group, Obvious Ventures, Salesforce Ventures and SV Angel and ecosystem influencers including B Lab, Techstars and Startupbootcamp to include Pledge 1% as a key part of the startup process. 50% of the companies in the Salesforce Ventures U.K. portfolio have taken the pledge. In addition, Pledge 1% is partnering with Founders Pledge, a UK-based charity, to provide companies a turnkey option to process equity and further access to like-minded peers who are establishing giving as a core value from the beginning.

 

Building Philanthropy into the Next Generation of Companies

Companies today are fighting a war for top talent, especially among millennial employees. Corporate leaders are realizing that to better engage employees and attract and retain top talent, giving back needs to be at the centre of a company’s culture. In fact, companies that integrate corporate citizenship into their businesses have 2.3 times the employee retention and an increase of 29% in new hire commitment than companies that do not, showing the true business value that philanthropy can bring to an organization. According to Deloitte’s 2015 Millennial Survey, six out of ten millennial employees say that a “sense of purpose” is part of the reason that they chose to work for their current employers.

In addition to increased recruiting, retention and employee engagement, philanthropy and corporate responsibility efforts can also affect the bottom line. According to Nielsen, 55% of global online consumers are willing to spend more on products from companies that are committed to positive social and environmental impact.

Pledge 1% provides the tools and best practices to empower companies to dedicate 1 percent of employee time, equity, product or profit to improve communities around the world — making it easy for companies of all sizes to incorporate philanthropy into their business models. To learn more about how your company can take the pledge, visit www.pledge1percent.org.

 

About Pledge 1%

Pledge 1% is an effort spearheaded by Atlassian, Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado, Rally for Impact, Salesforce.org and Tides to accelerate their shared vision around integrating philanthropy into businesses around the world. Pledge 1% encourages and challenges individuals and companies to pledge 1% of equity, product and employee time for their communities, because pledging a small portion of future success can have a huge impact on tomorrow. Pledge 1% offers companies turnkey tools and best practices, making it accessible for any company to incorporate philanthropy into their business model. To learn more or to take the pledge, please visit www.pledge1percent.org.

 

About Salesforce.org

Salesforce.org is based on a simple idea: leverage Salesforce’s technology, people and resources to improve communities around the world. We call this integrated philanthropic approach the 1-1-1 model. Since 1999, Salesforce technology has powered more than 27,000 nonprofit and education institutions; we’ve provided more than $100 million in grants; and our employees have logged more than 1.1 million volunteer hours throughout the world. For more information on Salesforce.org, please visit www.salesforce.org.

Salesforce, Salesforce1 and others are among the trademarks of salesforce.com, inc.

 

Sources:

  1. Centre for Entrepreneurs, 2016: http://centreforentrepreneurs.org/how-entrepreneurial-was-the-uk-in-2015/
  2. Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship: State of Corporate Citizenship, 2013: http://www.researchgate.net/publication/276918559_The_State_of_Corporate_Citizenship_2014
  3. Knopp, Brian. “Maximizing the Effectiveness of Corporate Volunteer Programs” (webinar). CEB. July, 2014.
  4. Deloitte: The Deloitte Millennial Survey, 2015: http://www.deloitte.com/MillennialSurvey 
  5. Nielsen: Nielsen Global Corporate Responsibility Report, 2014: http://www.nielsen.com/content/dam/nielsenglobal/apac/docs/reports/2014/Nielsen-Global-Corporate-Soc...