April is Global Volunteer Month. All month lengthy, we’re recognizing a few of the methods Cisco workers give their time, abilities, and experience of their communities.
In 1991, the US established April as National Volunteer Month. Today, that scope has expanded, and it’s acknowledged as Global Volunteer Month. Since Cisco’s founding 40 years in the past, giving again to our communities has been part of our custom.
Giving again as a behavior is a part of what it means to work at Cisco at present. It’s an essential side of our tradition and supported by quite a lot of packages. Simply put, our workers love to assist their communities and Cisco helps their efforts.
Employees Volunteer, Cisco Donates
Our industry-leading Matching Gifts Program matches eligible worker money and inventory donations dollar-for-dollar as much as $10,000 annually—nevertheless it’s not simply financial donations which might be eligible for matches. Through this system, workers may also get their volunteer time matched with a $10-per-hour donation from Cisco to the group the place they gave their time.
In FY24, workers gave 720,000 hours in volunteer time and used the Matching Gifts Program to get their eligible hours matched with a donation from Cisco.
For instance, in Kraków, workers not too long ago partnered with Hearty Foundation, an area group that helps youngsters’s training and social welfare. Cisco workers organized a collection of workshops for college students centered on cyber safety, programming, and different important digital abilities. They additionally developed a full-day Future STEM Heroes occasion designed to ignite an curiosity in science and expertise. Altogether, workers volunteered 36 hours of their time to assist college students leading to a Cisco donation of $3,600 to the muse.
In London, our Meraki Gives EMEA chapter organized a digital volunteering occasion with the Psychiatry Research Trust. Employees from across the globe attended and discovered in regards to the group’s groundbreaking analysis, in addition to the significance of each resilience in our communities and the worth of decreasing psychological well being stigma.
“Cisco’s $10 match per volunteer hour added a special dimension to our partnership with the Trust,” stated Meraki Gives Global Co-lead Racha Tfaili. “By getting their time matched with donations, employees not only learned about the important work this group is doing, they also raised more than $3,500 to keep this critical research going.”
Always-On Opportunities
Our always-on Community Impact Portal is a digital instrument that allows workers each to prepare volunteer occasions for others to affix and to enroll in volunteering. Volunteering might be in-person, digital, or team-based. Our workers volunteer for the whole lot from native meals kitchens to worldwide help organizations to digital camps that assist youngsters find out about expertise.
“In FY24, our customer engineering team had 100% participation in volunteering” says Customer Delivery Leader Monica Huerta Castillo. “Cisco’s Community Impact Portal helped us identify volunteer opportunities. We’ve done everything from virtual volunteering to on-site activities to going out to volunteer on projects in the field. We do it because it’s part of who we are. We also find that our team culture—which includes our values of trust, humility, empathy, and curiosity—is strengthened when we volunteer together. If we can impact the world as a team, imagine what we can do inside Cisco!”
In 2025, we’re making it simpler for workers to search out and be part of volunteer occasions via our new companywide quarterly Global Week of Giving. Started organically by one in all our enterprise items, we acknowledged the facility of a centered week that brings our workers collectively. That’s why we’re increasing this system to be obtainable to all workers. We associate with group teams in focus areas equivalent to training, sustainability, meals safety, and poverty.
Paid Time Off for Volunteering
Another manner we assist worker volunteerism is thru our Time2Give profit, which offers every worker as much as 10 days of paid day off per yr to volunteer. Some workers have taken a two-week block to journey on worldwide volunteer missions. Others unfold their outing with common volunteering in faculties. Still others have used their time to provide specialised abilities to nonprofits equivalent to coding and professional bono authorized work.
Stella Au, an government assistant in New York, traveled to Vietnam the place she was joined by six Cisco colleagues from Australia. Together, they used their Time2Give advantages to assist construct a house for 2 sisters in Thai Binh. “I traded my laptop for shovel and trowel and got my hands dirty—mixing cement, cutting steel wires, and laying bricks,” stated Au. “One of the new homeowners burst into tears overwhelmed with joy that she no longer has to run to a neighbor’s house every time it rains. That’s when it really hit me: this was more than just a house—we were building security, hope, and a brighter future. Cisco’s Time2Give made it possible for me to do this.”
It All Adds Up
In FY16, we set a aim to have 80% of workers give again to their communities a minimum of as soon as within the yr by 2020. We achieved this milestone and have sustained it annually since.
One of the methods we did this was by recognizing that giving again takes numerous totally different kinds. Organized volunteer efforts have worth, however so can doing one thing good for a neighbor in want. That’s why workers may also contribute to our 80% aim via Cisco Citizen, a program that acknowledges volunteer efforts not lined by different packages.
In FY24, we as soon as once more hit our 80% aim with 70,000 Cisco workers world wide appearing in service of individuals, planet, and society.
“I feel very fortunate to work for a company that cares for not only employees’ wellbeing, but also our communities and environment,” stated Digital Marketing Manager Vivien Chia, who can also be the APJC Lead for Cisco’s Green Team Network. “In my opinion, giving back has the power to unite people to come together to make greater impacts. Even more significant and meaningful impacts can be made when there is support from businesses. Through the Matching Gifts Program, Time2Give, and the Cisco Citizen volunteer tracking program, we can raise more awareness and expedite urgent change.”
Making a Collective Impact
Our collective actions have contributed to constructing a tradition the place serving communities in want has turn into a part of our DNA. Engaging at scale allows us to donate extra to nonprofits, reply to extra crises, enhance volunteering assist, and do extra good for the world.
During Global Volunteer Month, we acknowledge and have fun all of the methods our workers make a optimistic influence.
To be taught extra in regards to the influence Cisco workers are making, try our “What We Accomplished” eBook about how we now have supported our workers’ giving again efforts and reworked our collective contributions within the course of.
Share: