April is World Volunteer Month. All month lengthy, we’re recognizing a number of the methods Cisco staff give their time, abilities, and experience of their communities.
Cisco and the Cisco Basis’s distinctive strategy to supporting nonprofit organizations typically begins with funding, but it surely not often ends there. Our goal is all the time to convey the perfect of all that Cisco has to supply to the organizations we assist—and the abilities, time, and experience of our persons are our proudest providing of all.
For a few years, our social funding sector managers have offered consulting and advisory assist to the organizations they choose for funding, emphasizing the distinctive energy of technique, know-how, 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 skilled technologists inside Cisco.
“Bringing every little thing Cisco has to the desk to help our nonprofit accomplice organizations is a key component of our social affect investing framework. Our engaged staff are an unimaginable useful resource to assist enhance our nonprofit companions’ affect around the globe.”
—Charu Adesnik, Govt Director of the Cisco Basis and Director of Cisco Social Influence Investments
An additional layer of assist for Cisco nonprofit accomplice organizations
Generally known as Tech for Social Good, this revolutionary 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 deal with 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. Additionally 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 government sponsor. Kirtee works at Cisco as a Buyer Expertise Product Supervisor, whereas Sandeep serves as government vice chairman of Cisco’s CX Product Administration group.
“The Tech for Social Good Program leverages Cisco’s technological experience to deal with important social and environmental challenges. By empowering tech professionals to collaborate with nonprofits and neighborhood organizations, we aren’t 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 government sponsor
Enabling a win—win state of affairs
Why would Cisco staff dedicate their time to tech consulting with nonprofits? In accordance with Taproot Basis, which connects nonprofits with volunteers who donate their skilled experience in assist of nonprofit missions, skills-based volunteering is a win for all concerned. Volunteers get to assist causes they’re obsessed with—and nonprofits achieve entry to the specialised sources wanted to realize their imaginative and prescient. Plus, it’s an awesome alternative for workers to make use of their skilled abilities (and study new ones); construct deeper networks and neighborhood; and discover private achievement. And Cisco’s worker base is deeply engaged. For the final 5 years, over 80% of our staff have volunteered, donated, or participated in different types of neighborhood affect. Our staff have all the time been genuinely obsessed with giving again—and particularly conscious of the ability of know-how to attach and uplift folks at unprecedented scale.
Abhishek Kumar, an engineering chief within the CX Engineering group, drives innovation round AI and Generative AI whereas main a crew 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 know-how adoption that might finest serve their distinctive missions.”
Gops Sukumar, a know-how chief and product innovator engaged on AI with a doctoral specialization in Generative AI, additionally loves serving to neighborhood organizations suppose via the perfect approaches to enhancing success by way of synthetic intelligence. “As a technologist, I wished to place my digital abilities and expertise in direction of fixing issues for humanity in my very own small however significant manner. By means of Tech for Social Good, I’ve helped organizations navigate complicated AI challenges, the place massive AI methods needed to be constructed, or else allied ecosystems needed to be developed.”
Learn on for 2 examples of what now we have achieved by combining our strategic grantmaking course of with high-skill volunteers inside Cisco who wish to share the perfect 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 assist their operations and programming. The Tech for Social Good program related the group with an skilled Cisco volunteer, to nice consequence. “Our volunteer was very, very useful,” mentioned Gary Chamberlain, EforAll’s Chief Know-how Officer. “She offered suggestions concerning the total strategy and a few very inventive solutions 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 staff participated in AnnieCannon’s Profession Week displays, offering info and inspiration. Suggestions from the individuals 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 trade leaders confronted setbacks and nonetheless constructed profitable careers.”
“I by no means thought of sure profession paths earlier than, however now I see how I can use my abilities in numerous methods!”
Actual Expertise, Actual Influence
We’re all the time proud to reply as “one Cisco” in assist of our social affect companions—reaching throughout applications and departments to supply all that we are able to in assist of a nonprofit’s well being, progress, and long-term success. By means of such collaborations, we are able to obtain exponential affect—collectively.
For extra info and to become involved:
To study extra concerning the affect Cisco staff are making, try our “What We Completed” eBook about how now we have supported our staff’ giving again efforts and remodeled our collective contributions within the course of.
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