Salesforce Celebrates Pro Bono Week

Every year, thousands of people volunteer their professional expertise in marketing, legal services, HR, strategy and IT to support nonprofits. To recognize these volunteers making a positive impact on their local communities, companies and nonprofits around the world celebrate Pro Bono Week from October 21 – October 25.

Salesforce is celebrating Pro Bono Week by shining a spotlight on employees and partners who volunteer their Salesforce skills throughout the year, and connecting nonprofits and higher education institutions with Salesforce professionals to maximize their Salesforce implementation and transform their organization.

Last year, Salesforce employees logged 90,000+ pro bono volunteer hours, providing much-needed tech, legal, marketing and other expertise to the causes they love. This year, we’re on track to contribute 100,000 pro bono VTO hours in a single year for the first time ever. To help reach this goal, Salesforce is encouraging employees to find ways to volunteer their Salesforce skills through a new trail on pro bono volunteering and the launch of Impact Labs, a collaborative new program designed to co-create technology solutions on the Salesforce platform addressing the toughest social issues facing us today.

Salesforce.org is also offering free events and resources to nonprofit and education customers to help organizations connect with volunteers with Salesforce expertise. As part of Pro Bono week, Salesforce.org launched the Kiva Challenge, donating $1 for every person that completes the new Volunteer your Salesforce Services trail up to $10,000 to Kiva, a nonprofit organization that facilitates crowdfunded microloans to underserved communities. Through Kiva’s work, students can pay for tuition, women can start businesses, farmers are able to invest in equipment and families can afford needed emergency care. To date, Kiva has raised $1.3 billion in loan capital for communities around the world.

Pro Bono Week provides an opportunity to raise awareness around this work, and encourage impactful and meaningful volunteering year-round.

“Every time I get out of the office and help a nonprofit, it gives me the perspective of the greater mission we’re on as a company,” said Co-Founder and CTO of Salesforce, Parker Harris. “I am reminded of how valuable our skills are to nonprofits — at times, they are unable to access the technology and other expertise they need to do the most good, so our charge to give back through pro bono work is crucial.”

For more on Salesforce.org Impact Labs, check out this blog post.