If the past two years have shown us anything, it’s that, in spite of a lot of progress over time, the world still needs a lot of fixing. 

There are many opportunities to make a difference for the greater good, even if it’s small, it has an impact. For example, what if your hour of picking up trash, of mentoring an at-risk child, of serving food at a homeless shelter does matter? What if that tiny ripple is a part of a larger wave? 

At Ad Victoriam Solutions, we believe that it is. It’s one of the reasons we give every employee 40 hours of paid time-off to volunteer every year. It’s also why we have our own adopted highway and encourage our employees to get involved in their communities, to give back, regardless of cause or organization, to make their own ripple. 

We talked to some of our most dedicated volunteers to get their perspective and came up with four simple ways anybody can get involved and give back. We hope they will help you find some inspiration and your own calling to give back. 

1. Sign Up For Something

The simplest step is to sign up for something. From sites like VolunteerMatch and GivePulse, to company organized events through tools like Selflessly, signing up for a volunteer day has never been easier. If you’ve been on the bench for a while and are afraid to get back in the give-back game, sign up for something you know you can do. 

AdVic Tatiana Romanko, an alumnus from our Elevate program epitomized that sentiment when she told us that, “I noticed pretty quickly that AdVic had a culture of service and giving back. Soon after I started, I saw a call for volunteers at the Gasparilla Music Festival and signed up. And I had a blast!”    

And like Newton’s First Law of Motion taught us, an object in motion stays in motion. A simple Saturday volunteer shift led Romanko to continue that volunteerism throughout the year, adding, “That day reminded me how much I enjoy serving–I found myself signing up for volunteer events and raising my hand for company community initiatives like never before. This year, I set a goal to finish in the top three at the company for overall volunteer hours.” 

2. Volunteer Your Skills

For those that don’t know, AdVic specializes in Salesforce implementations, which include custom build-outs, integrations that often require custom code, and an incredibly meticulous loading of existing data. In layman’s terms, we have some really smart people with an incredibly rare skill set. 

As we move to the new normal of remote work, opportunities abound to give back virtually, especially for those with technical skills. 

AdVic’s own Grant Keller spearheaded our first career development program with Goodwill of North Georgia, which brought in AdVic employees as mentors and culminated with a one-day event where the students put their new knowledge into use, building out real Salesforce orgs for four deserving nonprofits. “This was an incredibly fulfilling way to give back”, Keller says, adding that “a virtual opportunity offered me and several other employees the chance to give back in a city I didn’t live in, but in a cause I truly believed in.” 

There are now a ton of virtual volunteer opportunities for those with technology (and beyond) skills. If commuting, work-life balance, or other time-related commitments are getting in the way of you giving back, think about volunteering virtually. (Pictured, below: Recent volunteer events for the AdVic Team.)

3. Join a Nonprofit Board

There are more than 1.5 million nonprofits in the United States, according to the National Center for Charitable Statistics. And almost every single one of them has a board of directors, usually consisting of 8-10 volunteers. Using some simple math (and a calculator), that’s 12,000,000-15,000,000 nonprofit board seats that need to be filled. 

While they require more commitment than a Saturday sign-up, few volunteer experiences offer the opportunity to give back, while also directing and driving the impact an organization makes. At AdVic, no one embodies this spirit like our Director of Corporate Culture & Strategic Impact, Nathan Stuck.

Stuck serves on four different nonprofit boards and chairs both Keep Athens Beautiful and B Local Georgia. He told us, “Serving on a board is incredibly rewarding. Not only do I get involved in community outreach events, but I also get to play a part in the overall strategy.” Through his work, Stuck has adopted clean-up highways, created awareness and fundraising programs, and helped nonprofits drive donations and scale their impact. 

His advice is simple: “Follow some of your favorite nonprofits. They all have boards and some of those seats turn over every year. When you see the announcement calling for board nominations, submit one. You’ll be blown away by the incredible change you can bring to your community by serving on a board.” 

4. Pursue Your Passion

At AdVic, we want our team to choose a way to give back based on their passion.. From mentoring students to picking up trash, we encourage everyone to find their civic passion and pursue it. So, find your own passion and find a way to give back. 

Our best example comes from Marshall Hunt, our 2021 Volunteer of the Year. Marshall volunteered over 260 hours to his church and a youth camp at which he spent his 40 hours of VTO (volunteer time-off) chaperoning. “My church, and my faith, have given me more than I could have ever imagined. I live my life to pay back that debt and provide others with the same guidance and direction that I received,” Hunt remarked. 

Marshall’s advice is rather simple: “Whatever cause you’re passionate about, get involved and jump in feet first. It’s been the most rewarding experience of my life.”  

Take Action, Make Progress

No matter your passion, your skill set, or your available free time, find a way to get involved. Every hour of service adds up to the bigger change we need in this world. And it is our duty as citizens to give back, as Muhammad Ali famously remarked, “Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth.” 

You alone cannot fix it, but we all need to take action so we can make progress as a society. So open that browser, and search “Google opportunities near me,” and sign up. Heck, maybe we’ll see you there!

Volunteerism is just a small part of how AdVic – a Certified B Corporation – gives back to our communities and the world at-large. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us.

Related Resources:

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From a background that included waiting tables and grading papers, AdVic’s Chase Brammer took a leap of faith in his career path that has landed him in the Salesforce ecosystem. As you can imagine, it was not an easy path, but after putting in the hours in the Salesforce Pathfinder Training Program, and watching related YouTube videos, Chase gained the confidence and knowledge to conquer the Salesforce Platform Developer I  exam.

Chase’s journey into the tech world, while not a unique story, is a story of perseverance, which led him to his current position as a Salesforce Developer Analyst at AdVic.

In the first of a series of team member career path stories, here’s a look at how Chase and AdVic found each other…

Preparing for the Transition into the Technology of Salesforce

After losing previous role due to COVID-19, Chase realized that his situation did not align with his goals and aspirations. He explains, “I asked myself, ‘What can I do that I have not tried yet?’” He says his most valuable and transferable skills included customer service, troubleshooting, patience, empathy, and camaraderie.

After hearing about computer programming and how it aligned with his skills and personality, Chase took the first step and registered for a class at his local community college and watched a coding tutorial for C++. It was that experience that introduced him to the technology of Salesforce. 

Why Salesforce?

A professor recommended the Salesforce Pathfinder program to Chase. As he started doing his research about the program, he became more interested. He especially admired Salesforce for their openness to people of all industries and backgrounds. Chase says he now, “Enjoys being a part of such a helpful community.” 

The Journey to Becoming a Salesforce Developer Analyst

Chase describes his initial job search process as “brutal.” He says that the constant “thanks, but no thanks,” and being ghosted by recruiters took a toll on his image of self-worth. He became concerned about wasting his time and job availability. 

But Chase stayed the course and truly believed, “There will be enough jobs, and with continued practice I will be good enough.”

And good enough he was and more, as Chase recently secured his current position with AdVic. He’s proud to say he did it by:

• “Putting my best foot forward when speaking to recruiters and other Salesforce consultants.”
• “Seeking out mentorship.” 
• “Using LinkedIn to network.”

Chases’ Best Advice to Others in Career Transition

“In the midst of the transition, truly want it and be willing to do the work,” Chase advises others who might be mirroring his journey. “This is the equation to a successful career transition.”

He adds, “What does this mean? Be you, be honest, sharpen your skill set and use LinkedIn to network!”

Chase’s Long-Term Career Goal?

Now that Chase has a job in the Salesforce ecosystem with AdVic, he is exposed to different avenues that he can explore. He says he is still “deciding on a long-term career goal,” however he understands that in order to move up, he must fully grasp and master the role he is in now, and adds, “I’m confident that AdVic will help me achieve great success as a Salesforce Developer.”

Ready to define your career as a Salesforce Analyst? Ad Victoriam Solutions is looking for college graduates (or students in their last semester) with a passion for technology and an eagerness to continuously learn more and expand their skill set. The Salesforce Analyst is an entry-level position perfect for someone who is eager to learn and advance quickly in the Salesforce field. Don’t worry if you’re not fluent in Salesforce, we’ll help you get there! Details about our Elevate Program here. 

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From the customers we do business with to the suppliers we purchase from, and the benefits we offer, our status as a Certified B Corp serves as a mission lock for ensuring our purpose continues to guide us as we grow.

Measuring Our Mission’s Impact

At the end of 2018, we published our first Annual Impact Report (download it here). This was an end of year recap of the internal B Corp-driven KPIs we had set for ourselves. Fun things were included, too. Things like new female and/or underrepresented minority-owned vendors, and our volunteers of the year. The report also included our performance on everything from volunteer and pro bono hours to our diversity efforts in our workforce and hiring initiatives.

Our Inclusive Economy Challenge

As we were preparing to publish that first Impact Report, we were also completing our first year as a B Corp. We were now eligible to participate in B Lab’s (the non-profit that certifies B Corps) Inclusive Economy Challenge.

The IEC, as it is known, is designed to motivate companies to make further improvements in their pursuit of EDI (equality, diversity, and inclusion). Participating B Corps must set and accomplish at least three improvement goals in the EDI portion of the assessment. And our focus was clear, improve on our inclusive recruitment and hiring process, specifically by addressing two pressing needs we recognized in the challenge:

• The company actively recruits through organizations or services that are designed for individuals from underrepresented populations.
• The company conducts an analysis of job description language and job requirements to confirm or improve diversity, equity, and inclusion

AdVic Debuts the ‘Elevate’ Program

At the beginning of 2019, AdVic launched our new Elevate program. The first class of our new program was designed to teach all things Salesforce and consulting skills. It was comprised of three freshly minted graduates from the University of Georgia. After this experience, however, one thing was obvious, we didn’t attract any females. Of the resumes we collected, 47 of 55 were male. Of our first round interviews, 14 of 16 were male. We knew we could do better than that.

When we performed the post-mortem of our first undergraduate recruitment program, we knew we could do better. The IEC gave us the perfect opportunity to pilot solutions for recruiting a more diverse candidate pool. Using the two goals mentioned above, we honed in. AdVic reached out to Women in Technology’s UGA chapter to speak to them about careers in technology as a female, wife, and mom. We also rewrote our job posting to be more female-friendly. Research shows that “men apply for a job when they meet only 60 percent of the qualifications.” However, “women apply only if they meet 100 percent of them.”

‘Elevate’ Produces Positive Results

So far, the results of our Elevate program have been astounding. Our final round two interviews were made up of seven males and seven females. We extended offers to two females and three males and hired our first female member of Elevate. Since then, we have extended offers to our third and fourth Elevate class, made up of four females and three males.

It makes us proud to announce that we have successfully completed our first Inclusive Economy Challenge. We didn’t just check a box, we walked the walk. 2019 saw two females promoted to AdVic VP’s, and two females promoted to management positions. That represented 40 percent of internal promotions this year.

The Mission Continues

While we’re pleased with our progress, we know we can still have a lot to do – our mission continues. We have an ambitious goal to have a workforce that is 50 percent female and 30 percent URM (Unrepresented Minority) by 2025 and we have work to do. If we have learned one thing since becoming a B Corp, it is that the work is never done. There are always improvements to be made and areas to improve on, but it doesn’t stop us from taking a minute to celebrate our successful 2019 and completion of our first Inclusive Economy Challenge.

If you would like to learn more about how your company can become a Certified B Corp, AdVic’s recent three-part blog series has all the information you need to succeed: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3. You may also find this recent AdVic B Corp/Corporate Social Responsibility webinar helpful, too.

If you have any questions, we invite you to contact us here.

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