New Year’s Resolutions: Pledge 1%

As January rolls on and we collectively ease our way into 2019, fresh, blank calendars beckon from the walls, their unmarred dates a beacon to our optimism. 365 un-filled days encouraging introspection, and evaluation, and the opportunity for self-improvement.

The typically intangible march of time is made corporeal by the observance of the New Year. That cooperative, worldwide acknowledgement of our shared temporal experience encourages us both to reflect on the past and to turn toward the future with our eyes, and hearts, and minds searching for potential. That New Year’s Resolutions arose organically in such circumstances is no surprise. It’s also not surprising how often they’re abandoned, forgotten, as we move away from that manufactured annual border and resign our lives once again to the turbid swirls of time’s expanse. Like boats on an ocean of hours, and days, and weeks — as we lose sight of the lighthouses and landmarks of the holidays, and the coastline of last year melts into the endless blue horizon, it’s easy to lose our heading. To drift at the mercy of the currents, hoping our goals still lay off our bows, but with no way to be sure.

Without a plan, a map to keep the crossing deliberate, it’s too easy to be blown off course and find ourselves approaching the coast of the coming year several thousand miles from where we’d hoped.

And so we make resolutions. Our yearly goals, the destination plotted across the sea. Our resolutions themselves, the map we’ll follow to ensure we stay on course. Our daily actions, activities, and efforts , the tools we use to measure the accuracy of our journey’s progress.

It’s not an easy thing, but every year individuals navigate their way to success. From quitting smoking, to eating healthier, to finally working up the courage to cancel that gym membership — the manifestations are as varied as their creators. But can companies benefit from that same self-imposed course correction? Can your organization use a New Year’s Resolution to help you arrive at the port of your goals in 2020?

Absolutely! (And thanks for sticking around through that wordy intro.)

In today’s post we’ll run through one of the most impactful ways companies all over the world are resolving to improve their culture, their influence, and the quality of their communities: The Pledge 1% program!

The Movement

Pledge 1% built an entire movement out of corporate philanthropy. Organizations large and small have long had the desire to “do more good”, to improve their communities, and to use their power, position, and privilege to make meaningful change. But, for most orgs, an annual charity donation is about as far as that goal gets. And a one-time donation, especially to a large national or global cause, lacks the kind of real, tangible, benefit that can really inspire your workforce.

The Pledge 1% campaign allows companies to take those ideals and translate them into action that has a real, visible impact. Supporting the causes you and your team care about, inspiring employees to embrace their own involvement, and producing positive results that you can be proud of. Pledge 1% isn’t a cause to support, it’s a road map to support the causes you care about most.

How it Works

The Pledge 1% system is actually super simple. Companies pledge to contribute 1% of their equity, time, product, and/or profit to the causes and programs they support.

Resource donations like equity or profits can help charitable organizations increase their outreach, operate in more areas, or improve their services. Time donations, like company volunteer days, allow companies to get involved, bake ‘doing good’ into their culture, and boost the morale of their employees and the communities they serve. Product donations allow companies to directly translate their production into community good. Whether you’re a manufacturer donating items, or a service provider donating your time, advice, and expertise — it’s inspiring to do the work you do every day for deserving causes that might otherwise not be able to afford your assistance.

You choose the causes, organizations, and opportunities to help. You determine which avenue of giving will maximize your impact. Pledge 1% is a platform to empower organizations and improve the world, not a checklist of charitable gestures.

How We Pledge 1%

At MK Partners, we’re proud participants in the Pledge 1% movement and, for us, that commitment takes various forms. Every year, we aim to achieve 1% contributions in several of the pledge categories.

Time

We donate 1% of our time through monthly employee volunteer days. Emptying the office for an afternoon to head down to Brentwood and help pack “essentials” bags for the deserving and underserved, or helping sort and screen donated products for a food drive downtown.

In a 40 hour work week, 1% is only 24 minutes of commitment. Over the course of a month, it’s only 108 minutes, just under 2 hours. That means you can easily fulfill a 1% commitment with an afternoon’s-worth of volunteering, just once a month! It is important to note that those volunteer events should be on work days (you’re donating your 1% of your company time, not your staff’s free time) and paid (again, you’re donating the time and efforts of your team, not taking time and money out of their pockets to give it to a cause in the name of your company).

All it takes to hit your pledge time goal then is 1 full volunteer day per quarter! Doing a monthly event, like we do, allows your employees some flexibility on which day/s they’ll participate, allows you to mix-up the events to benefit a few different staff-favorite causes, and ensures you’ll hit the 1% mark with some room to spare, even if you have to leave a few people to staff the office on event day.

Product

As a consulting firm, our product is ourselves. We’ve helped over 1,100 companies, organizations, and agencies implement and perfect their Salesforce orgs. We have over 2200 successful projects under our belt and, as such, have unique insight into and experience with a huge variety of org-needs.

As part of our Pledge 1% commitment to product, we offer over 1% of our services to non-profit and charitable organizations for free. From rolling out volunteer portals to make event management easier, to automating fundraiser efforts so staff can spend more time working one-on-one with beneficiaries and donors, Salesforce is a remarkably powerful and configurable platform that we’re happy to help maximize for the causes close to our hearts.

Profit

Lastly, we’re proud to contribute (a bit more) than 1% of our profits to various charitable organizations, both locally and globally.

It’s a great opportunity to let the team nominate causes they’re passionate about and help spread the benefits of the company’s success. While volunteer opportunities tend to focus on more immediate, local causes — donating a percentage of profits allows us to increase the positive impact our efforts have on a wider scale geographically and increases team morale as everyone gets to have a voice in the organization’s decisions on profit distribution.

It’s also probably the easiest way to Pledge 1% as you could meet your goals without really planning volunteer days, organizing product deliveries, etc… but the more involvement you can get from within, the more of an impact your giving will have on your company culture as well.

How to Pledge Yourself

So how can you and your company get started? It’s actually super simple!

All you have to do is decide which one of the four pledge types you’ll commit to (or any combination of them) and then fill out the online form at Pledge 1%!

They’ll send you resources to help you hit your targets, and they have handy guides for all sorts and sizes of organization, from Fortune 500 powerhouses to sole-proprietors changing the world from their home offices and everyone in between!

If you’re not quite ready to commit yet, you can sign up here for more information about the movement and how to determine which kind of commitment is right for you and your organization.

We hope you’ll join MK Partners and the other 5000+ companies who have committed to Pledge 1% — we know you’ll be happy you did.