Alyssa Pietanza
St. John's University
Charles Wankel
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Matthew Chiappa has been an employee at Salesforce for a little over nine months. He was offered a position after graduating from the College of Staten Island and currently works as a software engineer on their web application, Social Studio. Salesforce stood out from the many companies he was interested in due to the fact that their particular focus is on local community affairs, as well as being a well-renowned company in his industry. Salesforce provides sincere recognition of the importance of volunteering in a community setting. Chiappa focused on the work associated with bettering the community around Salesforce.
Over the last 17 years, Salesforce.org has become a vital part of the Salesforce culture and has allowed the employees to engage in their communities and support the effectiveness of the social sector.
Salesforce.org is based on a simple idea: leverage its technology, people, and resources to improve communities throughout the world. This integrated philanthropic approach is called the 1-1-1 model. Since its founding, the company has given more than $128 million in grants, 1.6 million hours of community service, and provided product donations for more than 30,000 nonprofits and higher education institutions.
Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce, described his evolution from his days at Oracle, when he believed that he had to wait until he retired to be philanthropic, to his days at Salesforce, where he discovered he could simultaneously run a company and make a nearly full-on commitment to philanthropy.
The overall impact of Salesforce's innovation to help those in the community is to improve their brand and make the employees aware of issues that need to be addressed such as poverty, education, and diversity.
Besides raising the awareness of the company's social responsibility efforts, Salesforce instituted a program allowing employees to volunteer on a paid basis to benefit their local communities. This lets people better understand the company's goals.
Salesforce has partnered with various non-profit organizations in their local communities around the United States. They have provided help in many different cases and allowed their employees to dedicate time to volunteering. Chiappas said he feels the volunteer effort encouraged by the company not only helps the social community but empowers the employees, as well.
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