Sharing is caring at Silverline, and we believe we’re better together when we share our time, talent, and resources to give back to our communities near and far.
The purpose of our Silverline Cares philanthropic program is to support activities that enhance and serve the communities in which we live and work and the issues that impact quality of life. Through Silverline Cares, our employees participate individually and collectively to affect change across education, hunger, environmental activism, technology, and more.
Silverliners are passionate about serving their community and great causes in various ways, such as leading organizations, participating in service programs, doing hands-on volunteering, and contributing resources. Here we look back at what Silverline Cares accomplished in 2022 for our internal, local, and global communities and offer a peek at what the new year holds for continuing to give back.
Silverliners giving back by volunteering
Silverline believes in using the power of our time, skills, and connections to help make this world a better place. Silverline is a proud supporter of the Pledge 1% movement, started by Salesforce. Pledge 1% invites all entrepreneurs and their companies to commit important resources (product, time, and resources) to support integrating philanthropy into their business from an early stage. Silverline donates 1% of our time, product, and profit to various charity organizations.
Silverliners can donate up to 20 hours (1%) per calendar year of their time toward a 501c3 charitable organization as part of Silverline’s Volunteer Time Off Policy. These are some of the ways that Silverliners volunteered in 2022:
Great Cycle Challenge USA
The Great Cycle Challenge was started in 2015 and has grown to become one of the biggest cycling events in the United States. In seven years, riders from all 50 states have ridden a total of 25,647,476 miles and together raised $52,524,379 in support of research to develop better treatments and find a cure for childhood cancer.
“This September, I took part in the Great Cycle Challenge to fight kids’ cancer,” said Geoff Merrick, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Financial Services. “I teamed up with a few fellow Silverliners through my challenge to help support the Children’s Cancer Research Fund to allow them to continue their work to develop lifesaving treatments and find a cure for childhood cancer. We beat our $5k goal and raised $5,887.63!”
Toys for Tots
The mission of the Toys for Tots program is to collect new unwrapped toys and distribute those toys to less fortunate children at Christmas. Through the gift of a new toy, the organization helps bring the joy of Christmas and sends a message of hope to America’s less fortunate children.
“A few of us on the financial services team wanted to do an informal toy drive to collect Toys for Tots to drop off at their location near our NYC office,” said Rachel Brean, Account Executive, Financial Services. “We put out the call for help from Silverliners across the country, and we put together a big box of toys to donate. We received everything from Lite Brite to Slinkys and were so happy to be able to deliver these to help families in need during the holidays.”
Milwaukee Children’s Choir
The Milwaukee Children’s Choir (MCC) is a non-profit arts organization that provides exceptional choral music education and performance experiences that foster creativity, personal expression, and social growth. In addition to exposing choristers to advanced music and choral concepts, the choir also helps them develop life skills by providing a safe space to grow and mature as musicians, leaders, and advocates for themselves and others.
Joe Ciancaglini, Director, Program Manager, shared that his daughter joined MCC in 2016, and a few years later, he decided to join the Board of Directors. In 2020, Joe was elected President of the Board of Directors, where he leads the all-volunteer board in supporting MCC operations, talent/recruiting, fundraising, finance, and managing the paid administrative and artistic staff. He also helps administer scholarship funds for kids who want to sing but whose families may need more funds to afford MCC tuition and costs.
“When I took over the Board President role, we had just been hit with a major leadership shakeup, and then the COVID-19 pandemic landed on us hard,” said Ciancaglini. “Our ranks were dwindling, and we had to find creative ways to rehearse, perform, and grow with limited opportunities for in-person interactions. While we initially struggled with this, we were able to successfully continue our operations and grow our membership from 33 at our lowest point to a sustainable level of 120 singers this year.”
Wild Roots People’s Clinic
Wild Roots People’s Clinic provides donation-based herbalism services to those with financial challenges in Omaha, Nebraska, and its surrounding communities, regardless of age, sexual orientation, or race. These services include wellness appointments with professional and student herbalists, free information, guidance, herbal formulas, and community education programs.
The Silverline Academy is a three-month Silverline program for people looking to start a career in the Salesforce ecosystem. The Academy is based in Omaha, and seven students had the opportunity to work with Wild Roots on a pro-bono initiative that allowed Academy members to take their learnings and apply them within the context of a real-world project.
“Thank you Silverline for making it easy to pay it forward to our community! You’ve given Wild Roots and herbalism the tools we needed for compliance, organization, creativity, and growth. That’s a huge win for everyone!” said Ramona Tortorilla, Co-Founder of Wild Roots People’s Clinic.
Read more about how Silverline Academy helped transform the Wild Roots processes and systems here.
Silverline makes a charitable impact
During the fall of 2022, Silverline launched its Silverline World Tour, which united Silverliners across the globe to learn more about each other, have fun, and give back to their communities. These were the stops on the Silverline World Tour:
- Second Harvest Food Bank – Florida: The Silverline World Tour kicked off in Orlando, FL, where employees volunteered at Second Harvest Food Bank, a nonprofit organization with a mission to create hope and nourish lives through a powerful hunger relief network while multiplying the generosity of a caring community. The Silverline team packed 935 boxes, which is approximately 12,500 meals!
- Scott Mission – Toronto: Kits for a Cause is an organization that has packed over 327,000 care packages for over 300 charities across North America. The Toronto team created kits for Scott Mission, which provides essential resources to neighbors who are struggling.
- Astha Shakti – Bangalore: Silverline’s India team packed school kits for Astha Shakti, an organization that provides underprivileged children with opportunities for education, economic rehabilitation, social integration, and more.
- Ronald McDonald House – Cincinnati: Silverliners got together to clean and sanitize the facilities at Ronald McDonald House, which provides a home for critically ill children and their families while they receive life-saving medical care.
- Project Sunshine – New York City: The final tour stop of 2022 was in New York City, where Silverliners packed 800 kits for Project Sunshine, an organization that partners with medical facilities across the U.S. to meet the needs of pediatric patients.
Silverline Cares prioritizes giving back into 2023
Silverline Cares will continue its mission of giving back as we move into the new year. This year’s focus will be on providing a collaborative, social space for Silverline team members to discover, promote, and team up on Silverline Cares initiatives.
We are excited about our new partnership with Evertreen. Evertreen is an organization that helps businesses positively impact the environment by planting and maintaining forests around the world. Evertreen plants real trees to help offset Co2 and alleviate poverty. Silverliners can monitor the trees via satellite and track the number of trees planted in the Silverline forest, Co2 tons absorbed, and the working hours created for local farmers.
At Silverline, we pride ourselves on striving for an unparalleled employee experience. Silverline Cares aims to enrich that experience by allowing Silverliners to share in the effort of giving back and supporting our communities – now and into the future.
Follow Silverline on LinkedIn for the latest Silverline Cares updates and more.