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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The summer of 2020 re-ignited an overdue conversation on the realities and effects of racial injustice in our country. We knew that we could not go back to business as usual when the protests, tweets, and news cycle died down. As part of Yelp’s commitment to doing better and laying the groundwork for change, we launched efforts to support
Black-led and Black-serving organizations to help drive meaningful progress.
To start, the Yelp Foundation donated $500,000 to the Equal Justice Initiative and NAACP Legal Defense Fund – two organizations whose work is uplifting and empowering Black communities across the country. To mobilize Yelp’s employees, the Yelp Foundation built on its employee matching program by raising the donation matching cap from $1,000 to $10,000 and double matching the employee donations made in the month of June to any of the following Black-led and Black-serving organizations:
- Black Futures Lab
- Center for Policing Equity
- Common Future
- Equal Justice Initiative
- Know Your Rights Camp
- NAACP Legal Defense Fund
- National Black Justice Coalition
- The Bail Project
- The Movement for Black Lives
We were impressed with the generosity of Yelp employees. They donated more than $335,000 to all the organizations listed above, and those donations were double-matched by the Yelp Foundation to bring the total contribution to more than $1.5 million. Since then, Yelp has continued to engage with these organizations by inviting them to participate in internal fireside chats with their employees to build awareness and share their work.
We’re proud that Yelp employee efforts will help build Black political power, improve Black communities, and lay the foundation for lasting change in our country.
