Congratulations to Atlassian, who will be honored, along with Mary Prochnow and Mountain View Central Seventh-day Adventist Church, at our annual Hometown Heroes awards breakfast on Thursday, September 12 at the Computer History Museum. Click here for more information.
Since first connecting with CSA two years ago to inquire about group volunteer activities, Atlassian, a software enterprise company headquartered in Sydney, has made a big splash here at the agency. “I received a telephone call from an employee who wanted to test the waters with a one-time group activity experience,” says LaDrea Clark, CSA Volunteer Coordinator. “That experience quickly turned into a monthly group commitment supporting our Produce Mobile.”
“We are thrilled to help out at CSA,” says Mallory Burke, Head of US Employee Engagement for the Atlassian Foundation. “Having come from the nonprofit sector where I spent 12 years running volunteer programs for a homeless services organization in San Francisco, I was delighted to find CSA, which was then two blocks from our office. We now have a core group of employees who have latched on to CSA.”
Atlassian’s philosophy around giving is best summed up by Atlassian Co-Founder and Co-CEO Scott Farqhuar. “Back when Atlassian was a small company, we made a pledge to divert 1% of product, 1% of profit and 1% of employee time to charitable causes. We made that pledge publicly so our customers and staff would hold us accountable. And it worked.”
That philosophy means giving every employee 40 hours of paid time during the work day to volunteer each year, as well as funding employee-selected organizations focused on education and other charitable causes. “Our vision,” says Mallory, “is to have 70% of the company’s employees engaged in volunteering in the hopes that they become passionate about the community and the organizations they serve.”
At CSA, that translates into a hard-working group of rock star volunteers who take on tasks such as sorting and bagging produce, distributing food to clients and participating in the set-up and take-down of the Produce Mobile which entails unglamorous work such as hosing down crates and breaking down boxes.
The Atlassian philosophy has also led to philanthropic support for CSA from their employees and foundation grants. Earlier this summer, Atlassian employees showed their support for CSA’s CAN Challenge by donating 4,000 cans of foods – valued at $6,075 – that were used to build can sculptures for a team-building event attended by CSA representatives who judged the sculpture and cooking competitions.
“We are so excited and appreciative to be selected as a 2019 Hometown Hero,” says Mallory. “This is a special way to acknowledge people who believe in the power of what you’re doing for the community. I am grateful to accept this award on behalf of the Atlassian Mountain View employees who have made CSA their volunteer cause.”
