Explore Inclusive Philanthropy

Learning Objectives

After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:

Describe the approach to giving back and the philanthropy focus areas at Salesforce.
Identify inclusive philanthropy strategies to implement at your company.
Inspire others to use business as a platform for change.

Business as a Platform for Change

Giving back is built into our DNA at Salesforce. When the company was founded in 1999, we committed to giving back 1% of our time, equity, and product to our communities, pioneering the Pledge 1% model. Because of this model, our social impact has grown exponentially, alongside our business.

By operating as a platform for change, business can help create a world that serves all stakeholders, including employees, customers, partners, communities, and the environment.

Listen and Learn from Partners

At Salesforce, we listen to our nonprofit partners to understand their evolving needs and the unique ways that we can make an impact.

Inclusive philanthropy means working side by side with local communities and empowering those closest to the issues to guide the solutions.

Define Your Focus Areas

With so many pressing issues in the world, it can be challenging to decide where to focus your philanthropic efforts. When evaluating where to focus your giving back initiatives, consider:

Your company’s values
Causes your employees are passionate about
The greatest needs facing communities
How your company is positioned to deliver the most impact

At Salesforce, our core values are Trust, Customer Success, Innovation, Equality, and Sustainability. These values guide everything we do, including our key philanthropy focus areas: Education & Economic Opportunity and Climate & Community Resilience.

Education & Economic Opportunity

An equitable future begins with equal access to a high-quality education. Since 2012, we’ve invested in public schools to provide students with the resources and experiences they need to realize their potential. We are committed to supporting students’ academics along with their wellbeing and empowering our educators to lead.

We also support untapped talent (young people from underserved and underrepresented communities who may be unaware of or lack access to the career possibilities that exist for them) to build social capital, succeed in meaningful careers, and achieve economic prosperity.

Climate & Community Resilience

The climate crisis is an equality crisis. We invest in community-led solutions that help prevent and respond to the disproportionate impacts of climate change on vulnerable communities.

Our Ecosystem Restoration & Climate Justice Fund invests in nature-based solutions and adaptation measures that promote economic resilience among marginalized communities.

Empower Employee Impact

While core focus areas provide structure to giving back initiatives, it’s also important to empower employees to give back to other causes that they are most passionate about.

Through our Employee Impact program, Salesforce enables employees to drive both individual and collective impact, making a difference through their time, talent, and resources.

Children playing with bubbles

Fund Risk and Innovation

At Salesforce, we think of philanthropy as risk-tolerant capital. Unlike other forms of funding, philanthropy can provide flexible capital that allows impact leaders to take risks, test new solutions, and build capacity.

We aim to empower those closest to the issues by providing unrestricted funding. (Restricted funds are set aside for a specific purpose, while unrestricted funds can be used as the organization sees fit.)

Leverage All Parts of Your Business

The past few years have presented new challenges—a global pandemic, a reckoning with racial equality, severe natural disasters, and a war in Ukraine to name a few—which have required us to show up in new ways and develop a collaborative approach.

We know that to achieve our vision of a more equitable and sustainable world, it’s going to take everyone working together. Philanthropy is only one way to drive impact, so we leverage all parts of our business. We bring together task forces of experts across the business to address interconnected crises with an interconnected response.

Inclusive Philanthropy in Action

Strategies	Salesforce Examples
Listen and Learn from Partners	After hearing from our partners that the mental health crisis is one of the biggest challenges facing students and educators. In 2022, Salesforce donated $25 million to education, with a focus on teacher and student wellbeing.
Define Your Focus Areas	Staying true to the Salesforce values of Equality and Sustainability, our philanthropy initiatives focus on Education & Economic Opportunity and Community & Climate Resilience, as drivers to help build an inclusive and prosperous society.
Empower Employee Impact	Salesforce employees get 7 days of volunteer time off (VTO) each year, and we match employee donations to eligible nonprofits.
Fund Risk and Innovation	The Catalyst Fund provides unrestricted capital to empower leaders often overlooked by traditional philanthropy to build innovative solutions and supports organizations’ capacity to grow and scale.
Leverage All Parts of Your Business	The Racial Equality and Justice Task Force is working to effect systemic change through our People, Philanthropy, Purchasing, and Policy work.

Sum It Up

Inclusive philanthropy strategies can help build a more equitable and sustainable world. By focusing on community-led solutions and a collaborative approach to giving back, businesses can drive more impact.

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