Why I’m Obsessed with Creating More Salesforce-like Startups

Why does Startups Give Back focus on getting startups involved in their communities?

I get this question pretty often.

The answer is simple: because of Salesforce.

Let me explain.

The Salesforce affect

I’m a huge fan of Salesforce.

Not because they have a popular product. Not because they’re worth billions of dollars. Not even because their CEO wears shnazzy shoes at conferences.

I’m a fan because of what the company stands for from a philanthropic perspective. And the fact that they’ve changed the conversation around corporate philanthropy.

The best part about their story is that they didn’t wait until they were worth billions to start “caring” about the community around them. No. They started giving back, using the 1–1–1 model (pledge 1% of product, 1% of time, 1% of resources to nonprofits), extremely early in the company’s existence as Marc Benioff points out in his book Behind the Cloud.

As the company grew, so did their philanthropy efforts. And with the birth and success of their foundation, Salesforce is arguably the crown jewel and voice of the corporate philanthropy world.

When I created Startups Give Back in 2014, I intentionally focused on startups for a couple reason:

• I love the hustle, creativity, and status quo shattering nature of startups
• I fundamentally believe that if startups participate in philanthropic activities (volunteering time and skills for example) early on in the company’s existence, as the business scales, so will their philanthropy efforts a la Salesforce

The mantra in the startup community is “Change the world.” I bet you’ve heard this a time or two…or three.

Well, I believe in order to change the world, you have to start caring about it.

It’s time for companies of all sizes to be levers for impact.

Ultimately…

I imagine a world where corporate philanthropy isn’t seen as an after-thought.

Where companies encourage, not discourage, employees to get involved in their community.

And I eagerly await the day when philanthropy becomes part of everyone’s DNA in corporate America.

I may be waiting awhile for this to happen, but with Startups Give Back, we’re on a mission to make it a reality.

I’m curious…

Does your company encourage you to get involved in your community? Let me know in the comments.