VA Partners has been a Pledge 1% member since 2016. Today is Giving Tuesday so I thought a blog on what VA Partners has done might help other growing companies. The VA Partners team donates 1% of our time towards non-profit and charitable causes. We have found that the program allows us to create a framework around our team giving efforts. We have identified 4 areas that we would like to focus our time.
Supporting Entrepreneurs
One of the main things we do as part of our Pledge 1% is to support entrepreneurs. This means providing education sessions to entrepreneurs around sales and marketing. In some cases we help to organize regional sales Peer2Peer events. Over the years we have helped with Communitech Sales Leaders P2P, Innovation Factory Sales P2P, Futurepreneur, Mars Discovery District, and many others.
Helping Local Organizations
We saw the value in supporting local organizations that help people where we live. The VA Partners team has donated time and food to the Daily Bread Food Bank. The whole VA Partners team spends half a day at the Daily Bread Food Bank major sorting facility. We have done a number of jobs over the years including sorting food, packing skids for food banks, and even working in the food bank at the facility. It is eye opening how many individuals and family use food banks in the GTA. It is also a great team building event.
Helping Internationally
One of the charities that I have a connection with is Farm Radio International. They use radio to help Africa’s small-scale farmers produce more food. I have helped organize a curling tournament in the past and have more recently helped with some corporate fund raising. This is a charity my grandfather George Atkins started in the 70’s.
Support Causes Team Members are Passionate About
We have given team members paid time to support causes they are passionate about. In the past this has been things like charity events and helping charities with marketing and fund raising.
If you would like to talk to me about how we rolled out our plan please contact me.
