Salesforce.com, a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, is a shining example of effective philanthropy strategy. The Salesforce.com Foundation has existed since very early in the company’s life. At the inception of the foundation, the founders invented the 1:1:1 strategy: 1% of founding stock, 1% of employee time, and 1% of product would go to the foundation. In action, this meant staff was making grants and finding suitable volunteer opportunities for employees. This is typical. Give money, give time, feel good.
The 1:1:1 model had become legendary with Salesforce.com. People coming in to interview were citing it, stating that philanthropic commitment was one of the reasons they wanted to work there. And Salesforce.com was growing fast. On top of the growing employee base, Salesforce.com was also now matching employee donations. They needed more money to operate. Many non profits today have this same issue. And the solution is to find a way to bring in revenue. Here is where Salesforce.com Foundation struck gold.
The Salesforce.com Foundation became a reseller of the Salesforce product. Now, the foundation side would be managing all nonprofit product accounts, while before, the traditional teams managed these accounts, without much understanding of needs unique to nonprofits. Remember, 1% of product is donated. Nonprofits could get 10 free user licenses. They could then add on users and features at a considerably discounted rate. When the foundation took over this part of the business, they dramatically increased revenue AND provided better service to nonprofits. Everybody wins. They have since created significantly more revenue for the foundation allowing them to increase employee match, and incentivize paid volunteer days.
This is one great example of sound philanthropic strategy. Salesforce.com Foundation took what Salesforce did best, CRM product sales and management, and met a need for nonprofits at an accessible rate. The foundation is no longer a totally separate, additional function for Salesforce.com, it is part of the business and the culture. Not only did it grow sales exponentially (which they used then to fund the foundation), but it made employees even more excited about working there and created a sense of company commitment.
Philanthropy is much more streamlined when a company takes what it already knows and uses it to meet a need in the community. It takes the inherent conflict away from business vs. philanthropy and merges them. Employees are able to learn from new experiences with new people, employees have a sense of purpose and deeper connection to the company, a company is exposed in a new market, and a company could even expand products and services that meet needs and create new revenue streams. Salesforce.com saw the benefits. Do you?
