Connecting employees across the world while preserving tradition

Thanks to everyone who gave me feedback on my first blog posting.  It's clear there are many people out there who share my belief in giving back.  I hope you'll all join me in carrying the message to anyone else who will listen.

I promised, when I launched this blog, to talk about how Blackbaud gives back and serves as a catalyst for our 2,100 employees to follow suit.  Blackbaud has a number of different offices, including Charleston; Cambridge; Indianapolis; Denver; San Diego; Glasgow, Scotland; London; and Sydney, Australia.  Plus, we have more than 200 employees who work out of their homes. 

Given that we are headquartered in Charleston, many of our philanthropic traditions began in and around the Lowcountry of South Carolina.  As we grew and became a part of other communities around the world, local traditions developed in each one.  One of the key elements of my job is to provide a corporate umbrella that reaches across all our operations while also preserving these local initiatives.  We do that, in part, through an effort we call Team Blackbaud.

Here some's history...  More than a dozen years ago in Charleston, a group of employees started an informal group that encouraged grassroots volunteerism.  The employees picked what they were interested in and encouraged their friends and co-workers to get involved.  Team Blackbaud has done terrific work for a variety of nonprofits and helped countless employees find outlets for their passion to serve.  The only problem -- well, lets say challenge -- is that the programs were only offered in Charleston.

So turned the challenge into an opportunity and launched Team Blackbaud operations in all our locations.  Each group's charge is to lead grassroots volunteer initiatives for employees in that area.  The decision about what to do and how is up to them and allows each location to preserve valued traditions while responding to needs that might be unique within that community. 

When we established all these teams, we recognized that it was important to bring them together to form a corporate volunteerism infrastructure.  So we asked the chair of each local group to serve on Team Blackbaud Global.  And we tapped one of our 200 remote employees to join us and represent all those people who relate to the company in a very different way.  Team Blackbaud Global helps to advise our Corporate Philanthropy function and ensure that our employees' perspectives -- from all over the place -- are represented when we make a decision or launch a corporate program.

So far, so good.  We're learning as we go.  And best of all, through this volunteerism framework we have, we are seeing what I call "philanthropy champions" step up and serve as leaders across the company.  Team Blackbaud is helping individual people feel empowered to make a difference. 

Thanks to all my colleagues who do so much to give back.  I'm proud to work with you.