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This year, we took GitHub Gives, our company-wide giving campaign, to new heights and wanted to share our learnings to provide best practices in programming a successful hybrid giving campaign for employees.
The Social Impact team at GitHub works to empower developers, nonprofits, and the greater social sector to drive positive and lasting contributions to the world with GitHub products, our brand, and our employees. Each year, we host GitHub Gives, a month-long campaign to inspire employees to give back to their communities to help drive this positive and lasting change. This year, we took GitHub Gives to new heights and wanted to share our learnings to provide best practices in programming a successful hybrid‐giving campaign for employees.
GitHub Gives traditionally has been an end-of-year campaign in December; this year, we moved the month of giving to October. Why? We typically have high engagement in the first two weeks of December; however, the last two weeks of the month are challenging as many employees are out of the office. So, looking to have four full weeks of programming and opportunities for employees to engage, we chose October (this year) to host the campaign.
In the spirit of friendly competition, we introduced thematic fundraising raffles and a participation award. Employees were encouraged to participate in a light touch activity such as recycling or hiking in the outdoors, snap a photo, and donate to their favorite charity to be entered to win a prize. Watching these photos light up Slack channels and issues ignited discussion and excitement for the respective themes.
The first Social Impact Giving Award was also up for grabs for the GitHub team with the highest participation rate. Weekly progress reports were distributed to leadership to encourage donating and/or volunteering to claim the prize. We also offered updated metrics to Employee Champions, advocates of Social Impact programming, to ignite a grassroots approach to enlist colleagues to take part. Congratulations to GitHub Finance, the winners of the award!
Our communications were streamlined, including cohesive campaign branding and messaging that began before our kickoff event on October 1. From in-office TV reminders to leadership shout-outs, branded Zoom backgrounds, and calendar reminders, we aimed to have several touch points for employees to remember to take part and activate their company match through our online giving tool. Instead of aligning to a numeric goal, we focused on impact-driven storytelling and precise directions on how to take part.
Dawn Beatty, GitHub Chief Human Resources Officer, and Shelley McKinley, GitHub Chief Legal Officer, show off the GitHub Gives branded Zoom background during a virtual employee event.
Overall, we grew our participation by 10% year over year! Moving the campaign from December to October allowed for an increase in programming and a longer period to spread messages on the importance of impact. In addition, a multi-faceted approach from leadership and Employee Champions guided employees to understand how we can make a collective difference.
To broaden the causes we support, we consulted employees, GitHub Communities of Belonging, and data from previous GitHub Gives to understand what types of nonprofits we should partner with. We found that educational causes and causes directly related to employees were among the top concerning support and general interest.
An educator from Wildlife Encounters holds an armadillo up to the camera in this screenshot from a virtual event.
Hosting a virtual kickoff event has traditionally been successful each year—a fun tradition you would want to attend! This year we were joined by The Seeing Eye, a nonprofit whose mission is to enhance the independence, dignity, and self-confidence of people who are blind through the use of specially trained Seeing Eye® dogs. We heard from Miranda Meade, Senior Associate, Donor Relations, who spoke about training a puppy to match the dog with a blind person while fundraising to name three special dogs—hello, Mona, Octo, and Hubot!
The whole GitHub team was incredible to work with–I am blown away by their generosity. Not only did GitHub offer incredible support towards the mission of The Seeing Eye®, but I had fun presenting virtually for their GitHub Gives campaign!
- Miranda Meade, Senior Associate, Donor Relations, The Seeing Eye
We hosted Hack the Hood, a Bay Area organization that provides youth and communities of color with tech skill-building programs and career navigation support that are grounded in justice and ensure economic mobility, at our San Francisco office for an in-person event. We ‘took over’ the weekly happy hour by including a presentation from the organization on how they’re making an impact in the community. Themed beverages and snacks were provided, as well as donation and volunteer reminders for employees to connect with this local nonprofit. Here’s what Terrence Riley, Executive Director of Hack the Hood, had to say about partnering with us:
As the new Executive Director of Hack the Hood it has been great to see how supported we are from partners like GitHub. By being a part of Github Gives and having the opportunity to share our work in front of the GitHub community, we are able to connect our learners and our work with the companies they aspire to work at and create. Together we are able to impact ourselves and our community.
- Terrence Riley, Executive Director, Hack the Hood
The executive director of Hack the Hood presents during a happy hour at GitHub HQ in San Francisco.
We’re looking forward to taking our learnings from GitHub Gives and applying them to our upcoming Volunteer Month in April 2023. We strive to make the most significant impact we can as a company, and with even more employees involved, the more reach we can have to make a difference to those who need it most.
