It’s one of the most renowned corporate philanthropy initiatives among brands in the Silicon Valley. But now, call intelligence specialist ResponseTap is among the first tech companies to spearhead the charitable 111 program in the UK.
The Manchester-headquartered business has pledged 1% of employee time and will give away 1% of their product to charity every year. Its founders have also committed to donating 1% of their equity to charities of their choosing once they exit the business.
The first organisation to benefit from a share of the £75,000 product donation is Shelter. With ResponseTap’s technology in place, the team have been able to develop a deeper insight into the journey of those they are trying to help and the online and offline touchpoints they’ve connected with before calling for much-needed advice. This helps tailor future activities and heightens the effectiveness of the help the charity give, which can often be the difference between someone keeping their home and loosing it. The donation will also save the charity money, giving them more budget to spend on other activities.
Elsewhere, the 1% donation of time will allow employees to each pledge 2.5 days, per year, to a charity of their choice. With over 80 employees this equates to over a year of time on a £50k salary. The time can be used to volunteer for a local community initiative, for instance, or could alternatively involve the delivery of pro bono support for charities that could benefit from staff skill-sets, like marketing or data science projects.
Commenting on what has been a long-standing desire to ‘give something back’, ResponseTap’s co-founder Ross Fobian explains: “We genuinely believe it’s important to exist for reasons beyond commercial gain, so every year we support a nominated charity. Last year, for instance, our team volunteered in a local children’s hospice and donated £500 of presents at Christmas time. Corporate philanthropy is in our DNA. But a company of our size can do better than a couple of thousand pounds per annum.
“We were particularly drawn to the 111 model because it allows us to help lots of different charities, rather than a single organisation each year which may not be close to all our employees’ hearts. This is a fantastic way to increase the support we provide, whilst keeping it personal.”
Set up as a formal division within the business, the 111 scheme has its own sales and marketing strategy, project leads and management objectives. “Having the 111 Scheme built into the core of the business is what makes this so powerful – helping the community is no longer a side thought, but a strategic goal that we track and report upon”.
“To put this into perspective, we have donated approximately £5,000 to various charities over the last few years, but with the integrated 111 scheme we are set to donate £125,000 worth of product and time over the next 12 months alone. This is a huge difference!”
The product donations have already been rolled out to charities within ResponseTap’s existing client base, but more are urged to come forward for their share of support.
“If we can save a charity £5,000 per year in call intelligence services, for example, that’s £5,000 the organisation can invest elsewhere in the delivery of meaningful services or campaign marketing,” explains Ross. “And that’s before we think about how they’ll benefit from the donation of time or cash.”
The 111 initiative is currently being championed in the UK via Pledge 1%.