How Salesforce Partners Strive for Collective Impact

A global study from Salesforce partner Accenture found that 62% of consumers want companies to take a stand on current and relevant social and cultural issues around shared values such as sustainability and equality. Those issues in particular are so essential that they form two of our five core values here at Salesforce and inform everything we do.

I have worked in tech my entire career, primarily in an engineering-dominant culture where if something doesn’t get measured, it doesn’t get done. I’m a firm believer in setting goals, establishing a baseline, and measuring progress over time. When I accepted the role of Ecosystem Equality Director, I was determined to draw from my past successes by instituting metrics around our ecosystem equality activities and to learn from the incredible and impactful work of our Salesforce ecosystem partners.

In my daily conversations with founders and CEOs, I am inspired to hear their shared commitment to equality and sustainability and the unique ways they use their businesses as a platform for change, at a company level as well as individual employees. These stories deserve to be heard, so we created the Partner Collective Impact initiative to measure and celebrate the exponential impact we can have together.

“There is a connection between Salesforce’s equality, sustainability, workforce development and philanthropic efforts and those of our partners and customers. Everyone is trying to solve so many of the same big world issues and none of us can go it alone. So the best way is for us to keep going, together,” said Salesforce’s EVP and Chief Equality Officer Lori Castillo Martinez. The Partner Collective Impact initiative amplifies stories of doing well and doing good, while measuring our progress and learning from one another to accelerate meaningful change for our planet and everyone on it.

What are the Pillars of Impact?

The Partner Collective Impact initiative focuses on quantifying and celebrating four important areas of impact:

• Equality — Promoting the representation and participation of all individuals 
• Environmental Sustainability — Driving meaningful climate action, from cleaning up parks to reaching net zero
• Workforce Development — Creating and supporting career pathways for all
• Philanthropy — Giving services back to the community that fall outside of equality, workforce development, or environmental sustainability.

Partners participating in the initiative agree to report metrics such as number of volunteer hours, dollars donated, and sustainability actions while highlighting the important causes and nonprofit organizations they support. Participants also can receive a Salesforce-funded Impact Grant to a charity of the recipient’s choosing.

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Collective impact in action

Many of our partners that have committed to the Partner Collective Impact initiative are also  Partner Innovation Award winners. These outstanding partners provide cutting-edge customer solutions as well as being platforms for change.

Formstack is a workplace productivity platform that empowers anyone to digitize what matters, automate workflows, and fix processes—all without code. They also help companies automate processes to maximize their Salesforce investment while continually expanding a 360-degree view of their customers. Formstack partnered with One Tree Planted to create Formstack Forests, a program with a mission to plant at least 15,000 trees in 2022. 

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BlueSky is an award-winning cloud technology and professional services company with services that include the full set of cloud disciplines required to drive digital transformation, including the full Salesforce suite. BlueSky is using technology to change the narrative around unemployment in South Africa, partnering with Tribe Impact Consulting to create a computer training program and introduction to Salesforce for young adults with intellectual disabilities. 

Venizum provides translation management and localization intelligence. Their app Verbis helps clients instantly translate written communication in over 190 languages and dialects directly in Salesforce. With Verbis, Australian nonprofit Settlement Services International can deliver content, education, and support on a multilingual level to refugees arriving in Australia. This breaks language barriers and shortens the integration process by supporting refugees in their own language.

How you can take action today

These are just a few of the hundreds of partners and customers that are doing good and doing well. You can start on the right path to making a difference, as a business or individual.

• Salesforce Talent Alliance connects employers to Salesforce candidates and brings new talent into the ecosystem, emphasizing building a diverse workforce that reflects society around the globe.
• Salesforce Team Earth is a group of businesses taking action to build a better, more equitable, and sustainable future.
• Pledge 1% is an easy way to leverage a portion of your future success to support nonprofits in your community.
• 1t.org aims to mobilize, connect, and empower the global reforestation community to conserve, restore, and grow one trillion trees by 2030.

Take the pledge

If you are a Salesforce partner, join Formstack, BlueSky, Venizum, and over 300 other organizations by taking the pledge and sharing your commitment to driving positive impact within your community. Once you take the pledge, you’ll be able to download a toolkit with tips for success to help guide your company and individual efforts. 

By working together and tapping into our collective power, we can do well and do good, making an even bigger impact on our businesses, our communities, and the planet.