After an inaugural volunteer week in 2019, and a two-year delay because of pandemic-related postponements, May the Fourth Volunteer With You week was back this year at Ad Victoriam Solutions (AdVic®). With three events at our headquarters just outside of Atlanta, and our remote employees participating in events across the country, our team came together to give back.

The Stats of Our Labor

Of AdVic’s 141 team members, 47 of our team members spent at least some portion of their week serving their local community. From the Mobbly Bayou in Florida to the beaches of Southern California, our team worked with 22 different organizations over the weeklong volunteer drive. Other highlights of the week included:

• 205 total hours of service
• Six bags of trash picked up along the road connecting our two offices in the Atlanta area
• 96 meal kits prepared, which included 768 meals for HOPE Atlanta,  an organization that feeds children in need. 

Nonprofits Benefit From AdVic’s Project Victory Team

The week also included another cohort of nonprofits working with our Project Victory team to unleash the power of Salesforce.org. With three teams of two AdVic consultants, these organizations are moving out of Google Sheets and manual data entry and updates and into a world of real-time reporting and actionable insights, empowering them to greater efficiency and a better ability to serve. This year’s recipients were: 

• Journeymen Triangle, a North Carolina nonprofit that pairs volunteer mentors with adolescent males to support their path to becoming men of integrity.
• Water4Mercy, a Florida-based nonprofit, works with villages in Tanzania to supply the technology and infrastructure needed to provide clean drinking water.
• B Local Georgia organizes a community of B Corp’s in Georgia. As B Corp momentum continues to grow, this project will help them expand their academic offerings to schools throughout the state. 

More Work to Do

As a B Corp, we take our commitment to serving our stakeholders very seriously, with a goal to donate 2% of revenue in the form of volunteer time (each employee gets 40 hours of paid time off to volunteer) and pro bono services. This year’s goal is 3,200 hours and in one week, we achieved 6.25% of that target. 

With a little more than seven full months to go in the year, there is still a lot of work to do, but we’re encouraged by our team’s efforts so far. Year-to-date, our team has served 936.5 hours and 50% of the team has used at least a portion of their Volunteer Time Off. We’re proud of our team for stepping up and excited that this week was once again possible after all that the previous two years threw at everyone. 

While we’ll continue to serve throughout the year, our impact team will now turn its focus to Giving November, where we’ll be volunteering and fundraising for our employees favorite charities, and providing additional pro bono consulting services to nonprofits. 

In closing, “May the Fourth Be With You” year-round and may it inspire you to be the change you want to see in the world. 

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.

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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.

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Recruiting and retention look a lot different in 2021 than they did twenty years ago. In addition to an increased focus on company purpose and  mission and the ability to work a flexible schedule from home (or anywhere), many employers are also offering an increasing amount of Volunteer Time Off (VTO). 

Since our founding in 2014, Ad Victoriam Solutions, a Salesforce Consulting Partner and certified B Corporation, has always strived to be different, including offering an entire 40 hours of annual VTO. However, we found, like most companies, that not everyone took advantage of this perk. In fact, in both 2019 and 2020, only around 25% of employees utilized any portion of their one week of paid volunteer time. Sure, we still achieved our Pledge 1% commitment to donate 1% of employee time back to the community, but we knew we could do better. 

As we spoke with employees, we found three contributing factors: the overwhelming lack of weekday volunteer opportunities, the business demands of the workweek, and the difficulty of finding an opportunity that included their biggest passion: technology. 

The Plan

We set a 2021 goal to double our employee volunteerism rate and we made some changes. For starters, employees could volunteer on the weekend and count it towards their work-week expectations–volunteering no longer had to be done during work hours to count. We also opened it up to non-traditional volunteering, like chaperoning field trips and helping out with little league practices, encouraging parents to spend more time outside of the office and with their children. 

In addition, we launched a training program with Goodwill of North Georgia that allowed our employees to volunteer their technical skills and expertise to teach Salesforce® to adults transitioning into tech careers. We also added an experiential component to the program, pairing employees with students to implement Salesforce’s nonprofit success pack for four deserving organizations. 

The Results

As of mid-November, we were on pace to see almost 60% of our staff use their paid VTO to give back to their communities. And that 1% target? Between the volunteer time (on pace for 1,600 hours) and our pro bono Salesforce work, we’re going to double our goal and donate 2% of revenue in the form of employee time. 

So, as we begin to lay out our plans to eclipse our 2021 results in 2022, we’re confident – in hindsight- that increasing our flexibility as a company really did drive overall team volunteerism. And all it took was small changes to attain those significant results… an impactful reminder of the importance of listening to our employees. 

Questions about our company-wide volunteer efforts? Reach AdVic here.

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By now, we’ve all set up our virtual offices, stocked our fridge and pantry. We’re all also doing our small part to social distance and limit the spread of the coronavirus. With over a week of isolation in the books for most of us, we’re adjusting to our new normal. And if you’re like us, this has meant a little less 24/7 news watching and a little more searching for the good in the world. That is something that has inspired and reassured us that positivity abounds around us.

So, with nowhere to go and nothing to do, why not be a part of the positivity? Making a difference might not be as easy as it was two or three weeks ago, but it is still possible. Here are three creative ways to get involved and support your community in times of need.

1. Volunteer In Person, at a Distance

Yes, you can still volunteer in person. Healthy, symptom-free volunteers are still needed across the country. Food banks, soup kitchens, and homeless shelters still have needy citizens to feed. And with schools closed and students who relied on free school lunches needing our help, along with a growing number of our most vulnerable members of society now needing assistance, this demand will continue to grow. Many non-profits still need volunteers to sort and distribute donations. With heightened sanitation measures and social distancing in place, you can show up and make sure everyone has food on their plate.

And if your health or living arrangements prevent you from wanting to go into public at all, consider some financial support for these organizations. While delayed, Amazon is still delivering. And if you’re homeschooling right now, what a great lesson to add to the curriculum. Sit down with your kids and fill up your Amazon cart together. Then have it delivered to your local shelter or food bank.

Lastly, if you’re in the Atlanta area, we recommend sending your man and woman power (or financial contributions) to Action Ministries and Hands On Atlanta.

2. Virtual Volunteering

For some industries, work has stopped completely. But much like the food banks and shelters that we discussed above, other nonprofits still have pressing needs. And when we come out of this, they will still be the folks on the front line addressing some of our world’s most pressing needs. And you can help many of them without leaving your shiny, new remote office.

Take a look at fellow B Corp CATCHAFIRE, who offers non-profit organizations the opportunity to list their project needs and then matches them with volunteers that have the skills to tackle those needs. On the first page of opportunities alone, we saw projects that ranged from providing Excel training to helping a non-profit develop their elevator pitch. Find a project that matches your skillset and sign up. You can also check out some creative ideas from Tom Moran, CEO of Teadora, for ways to volunteer from a distance.

3. When the Dust Settles, Support the Companies & Non-Profits that Stepped Up

In addition to the need to step up now to support local businesses by ordering takeout, buying gift cards, or even ordering locally made holiday presents a bit earlier than expected, we should use this crisis to show love and appreciation to the companies and employers that are stepping up for their communities and their team. In the B Corp world, we have a slogan: Vote Every Day. So, when the dust settles, we recommend that you vote for the companies that are making a difference in your community, like some of the examples listed below.

Locally, in the Atlanta, GA, area, we have seen the amazing folks at GoodrCo partner up with State Farm and the Atlanta Hawks. They have each sponsored pop-up grocery stores to ensure everyone has food on their plate. And recently, Atlanta-based Spanx went even further, providing funding for Goodr to be able to offer grocery delivery to families in need.

And throughout the country, companies are stepping up. Baltimore-based Under Armour donated over $1m to Feeding America. In Sioux Falls, SD, local restaurateur Mark Fonder has been using his facilities and supplies to feed hungry school children. Republic Restoratives Distillery and Compass Coffee, both out of Washington, D.C., have begun using their facilities to ramp up production of hand sanitizer. A CEO in Virginia is even foregoing his salary and providing each of his employees an extra $500 per paycheck to support his employees.

In these challenging times, there are always incredible beams of light to guide our path. All of us at Ad Victoriam hope this has given you some inspiration to be your own guiding light. Volunteer in person if you can. Volunteer remotely if you can. Celebrate and support those who are leading your community efforts. And most importantly, spread positivity! If you would like to reach out to us to discuss our B Corporation commitment and initiatives, click here.

Related B Corporation Articles from Ad Victoriam Solutions:

B Corp Reflections Two Years In
We’re a B Corp! Now What?
The Gold Standard of CSR

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The post Opportunity Knocks: Making a Difference is Still Possible appeared first on Ad Victoriam Solutions.