How often do good ideas die on the vine because someone says that the idea "will never work" or "is too hard"? How often does the person with the idea wish he or she could simply find an example of where the idea DID work? It is even harder if the idea requires the investment of company resources.
What if the idea is to encourage the company to use its know-how and resources to make a positive community impact? To provide organizational structure to what is now a loose collection of ad-hoc activity? To make the company an even better place to work because it provides outlets for greater employee engagement with both customers and the greater community? What if the idea is to join the Pledge-1% movement?
In this case, the 'dreamer' would need to persuade management to commit one's company to donate 1% of employee time or/and product or/and profits or/and equity to non-profit causes of the company's choice. This is the essence of the "1% Pledge". And even though over 15,000 companies worldwide have taken the pledge, it is a HUGE decision at every non-member on whether it should take the Pledge.
The Pledge-1% organization recently created the Pledge-1% Community to help the 'dreamer' inside countless companies find a community of like-minded professionals that can help their dream of community impact through their company to become a reality. We at SeaFreight Labs have been helping to launch the community over the past months.
It was a great honor when SeaFreight Labs was featured as the "Community Member of the Month" for December 2021. We participated in the early-adopter phase of the community launch because I am passionate about encouraging companies in the logistics industry to join Flexport and SeaFreight Labs in making the 1% Pledge an integral part of their culture (read more about Flexport's commitments at my prior blogs HERE and HERE).
Joining the movement will only cost a company a very small part of whatever the company decides to commit. In my case, we pledged 1% of product and are donating professional time to help global nonprofits like Habitat for Humanity and World Vision innovate better.
At the time of writing this blog, it appears that the impact of these donations will FAR exceed the cost to my company to provide the services. I will write about this in future blogs.
What a great outcome from what felt like a small decision back in 2020 when we made the Pledge. I hope that the Pledge-1% Community can help your company take a forward step that will help your company make an impact beyond just its P&L statement!