April is International Volunteer Month. All month lengthy, we’re recognizing among the methods Cisco workers give their time, abilities, and experience of their communities.
Cisco and the Cisco Basis’s distinctive method to supporting nonprofit organizations typically begins with funding, nevertheless it not often ends there. Our intention is all the time to carry one of the best of all that Cisco has to supply to the organizations we help—and the abilities, time, and experience of our individuals are our proudest providing of all.
For a few years, our social funding sector managers have supplied consulting and advisory help to the organizations they choose for funding, emphasizing the distinctive energy of technique, expertise, and knowledge to facilitate operational success and scaling. Now, a brand new skill-based volunteering program is deepening our consultative contribution to our social affect companions by matching them with professional technologists inside Cisco.
“Bringing all the pieces Cisco has to the desk to help our nonprofit associate organizations is a key aspect of our social affect investing framework. Our engaged workers are an unimaginable useful resource to assist enhance our nonprofit companions’ affect world wide.”
—Charu Adesnik, Government Director of the Cisco Basis and Director of Cisco Social Influence Investments
An additional layer of help for Cisco nonprofit associate organizations
Generally known as Tech for Social Good, this progressive program empowers Cisco worker volunteers to harness their skilled abilities and information to help grantee organizations which have already been vetted and chosen as particularly high-potential by Cisco’s Social Influence Funding and Cisco Basis groups.
Working collaboratively with every group to handle urgent social and environmental challenges, our volunteers assist our grantees with consulting and strategic recommendation round digitization, knowledge structure, knowledge science, AI, operational effectivity, and extra. In addition they present tech profession mentorship to people who use the providers of Cisco’s nonprofit companions.
Kirtee Yadav leads the Tech for Social Good program, with Sandeep Milar serving as govt sponsor. Kirtee works at Cisco as a Buyer Expertise Product Supervisor, whereas Sandeep serves as govt vice chairman of Cisco’s CX Product Administration group.
“The Tech for Social Good Program leverages Cisco’s technological experience to handle important social and environmental challenges. By empowering tech professionals to collaborate with nonprofits and neighborhood organizations, we’re not solely driving innovation but additionally fostering a extra inclusive future for all.”
—Sandeep Milar, SVP of Cisco’s CX Product Administration group and Tech for Social Good govt sponsor
Enabling a win—win state of affairs
Why would Cisco workers dedicate their time to tech consulting with nonprofits? In keeping with Taproot Basis, which connects nonprofits with volunteers who donate their skilled experience in help of nonprofit missions, skills-based volunteering is a win for all concerned. Volunteers get to help causes they’re keen about—and nonprofits acquire entry to the specialised sources wanted to attain their imaginative and prescient. Plus, it’s an awesome alternative for workers to make use of their skilled abilities (and be taught new ones); construct deeper networks and neighborhood; and discover private success. And Cisco’s worker base is deeply engaged. For the final 5 years, over 80% of our workers have volunteered, donated, or participated in different types of neighborhood affect. Our workers have all the time been genuinely keen about giving again—and particularly conscious of the ability of expertise to attach and uplift individuals at unprecedented scale.
Abhishek Kumar, an engineering chief within the CX Engineering group, drives innovation round AI and Generative AI whereas main a group of knowledge scientists. He notes, “I’m honored to contribute to the Tech for Social Good program. My advisory position centered on empowering organizations to navigate the AI panorama successfully, enabling them to make knowledgeable choices about expertise adoption that will finest serve their distinctive missions.”
Gops Sukumar, a expertise chief and product innovator engaged on AI with a doctoral specialization in Generative AI, additionally loves serving to neighborhood organizations suppose by way of one of the best approaches to enhancing success by way of synthetic intelligence. “As a technologist, I wished to place my digital abilities and expertise in the direction of fixing issues for humanity in my very own small however significant means. Via Tech for Social Good, I’ve helped organizations navigate complicated AI challenges, the place giant AI techniques needed to be constructed, or else allied ecosystems needed to be developed.”
Learn on for 2 examples of what we’ve got achieved by combining our strategic grantmaking course of with high-skill volunteers inside Cisco who want to share one of the best of their skilled skillsets with excellent social affect organizations.
Entrepreneurship for All
Accelerating financial and social affect in communities nationwide by opening extra pathways to entrepreneurship, EforAll is investigating how AI can help their operations and programming. The Tech for Social Good program related the group with an professional Cisco volunteer, to nice outcome. “Our volunteer was very, very useful,” stated Gary Chamberlain, EforAll’s Chief Expertise Officer. “She supplied suggestions in regards to the total method and a few very artistic ideas for enhancing it, avoiding bias, and steering the outcomes towards our entrepreneurs’ wants.”
AnnieCannons
AnnieCannons trains, prepares, and connects people who’ve skilled human trafficking to sustainable careers in tech. Just lately, six Cisco and Splunk workers participated in AnnieCannon’s Profession Week shows, offering data and inspiration. Suggestions from the members was universally optimistic:
“Listening to the visitor audio system’ journeys gave me a recent perspective on profession progress and flexibility.”
“It was so reassuring to listen to that even business leaders confronted setbacks and nonetheless constructed profitable careers.”
“I by no means thought-about sure profession paths earlier than, however now I see how I can use my abilities in several methods!”
Actual Abilities, Actual Influence
We’re all the time proud to reply as “one Cisco” in help of our social affect companions—reaching throughout packages and departments to supply all that we are able to in help of a nonprofit’s well being, progress, and long-term success. Via such collaborations, we are able to obtain exponential affect—collectively.
For extra data and to get entangled:
To be taught extra in regards to the affect Cisco workers are making, try our “What We Achieved” eBook about how we’ve got supported our workers’ giving again efforts and reworked our collective contributions within the course of.
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