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This year’s Month of Service offered a range of unique volunteer experiences — from virtual volunteering and team-building events to skills-based activities that focused on enhancing education and helping create economic opportunity for those in need.
More than 300 volunteer ambassadors around the world made this month possible by coordinating volunteer activities and inspiring employee engagement.
There are thousands of high impact stories of volunteering from this year’s Month of Service. Following are just a few examples.
USA: First hack-a-thon for high school students
High school students at the hack-a-thon
In cooperation with the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), SAP employees in the San Francisco Bay Area hosted the first hack-a-thon. NFTE inspires young people from low-income communities to find their paths to success. They work closely with educators in high-need schools to re-engage students in learning, introduce them to business concepts, and open up their possibilities for the future.
The hack-a-thon comprised nearly 100 high school students and about 25 adults. There were SAP volunteers, computer science students from Stanford, and volunteers from other companies in Silicon Valley such as Google and Intuit. SAP worked with the media to help ensure coverage in the local news (video).
Canada: Design thinking in action
SAP Canada partnered with the North York Women’s Shelter and GIRLsmarts, both long-time CSR partners, to improve their programs with a design thinking workshop.
The workshop for the North York Women’s Shelter was geared toward finding new ways to engage youth in conversations on gender violence. SAP’s Sue Kennedy and Glen Moffat worked with a diverse group of participants to discuss a variety of issues around how to reach youth, how to break down the fear of talking about gender issues, understanding where violence comes from, and solutions to engage local communities as a first step.
Future plans include developing an app/site for students to use, working with community centers and leaders to create role models and spokespeople for positive gender relationships, and a “pay it forward” type concept where word-of-mouth and non-violence messages are spread via peers.
South Africa: Community days at the Science Centre
Children participating to scientific experiments
Every Sunday morning in October, SAP Africa volunteers supported the Cape Town Science Centre with interactive science workshops and presentations. Disadvantaged families also benefitted from career guidance activities in the industry for information and communication technologies. Around 2,800 participants from disadvantaged backgrounds attended these events. Of this group, 2,100 children enjoyed plays and activities sensitizing them to scientific issues. Combining fun and Science Technology Engineering and Math(STEM) helps create the workforce of the future.
India: More than 17,000 volunteering hours
Throughout the month of October, SAP Labs India employees transformed lives, through various voluntary and charitable acts, as part of the global month of service. More than 4,500 employees, constituting approximately 60% of the workforce, contributed more than 17,000 volunteering hours to effect positive change in the communities. The employees surpassed last year’s contribution by 33%. Through 40 projects across cities like Bangalore, Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata, SAP colleagues brought smiles and happiness to the lives of the underprivileged.
APJ’s representative project was the “NGO Day Forum” in Bangalore and Gurgaon. This was the first-ever initiative between NGO partners and employees in India to discuss the role stakeholders such as corporations can play in social innovation and investment.
Brazil: Run for a technology academy
SAP employees at the Esperansap run
Esperansap creates opportunities as an educational resource for unemployed professionals or low income members of society who are unable to afford the costs of a technology academy. The SAP Brazil team put on their shirts, shorts, and running shoes to complete the Instituto Esperansap run.
This annual event enables members of SAP and Esperansap supporters to come together to educate and strengthen the market. There were over 400 SAP representatives amongst the 15,000 participants.
They worked as a team, dedicating their passion and drive, to equip new SAP professionals for the technology market. This initiative of SAP and ASUG Brazil impacted 96 lives in only 28 hours. Given this success, there are plans to complete 40 academies by the end of 2013.
Venezuela: Scholarships for students
Founded in 1970, Universidad Metropolitana has educated innovative minds for the betterment of economic and social development in Venezuela. The country has demonstrated that advanced, real-time technology is not only in its sights but is also enabling it to improve the world.
SAP took the opportunity during its 2013 Innovation Summit in Venezuela to contribute to the scholarship program of Fundacion Academica “Jose Abdala” of Universidad Metropolitana. The donation will help provide scholarships to four students who show great promise in industry. The selection criteria are based upon applicant performance in science and technology. By helping develop talent in Venezuela, SAP is also increasing the talent pool from which it can hire. In the words of Raiza Morales, director of sales in SAP Venezuela: “It gives SAP and me great honor to support the careers of these youth and simultaneously motivate women to seek more opportunities in the areas of technology.”
Around the World Highlighted below are just a few of the many Month of Service activities held worldwide. Singapore: Support for the Children’s Cancer Foundation (CCF)In Singapore, volunteers at the Hair for Hope event raised SGD $150,000 in support of the CCF. In addition, employee photography enthusiasts and the SAP Business Women’s Network (BWN) initiated a fundraising project called “Photography for a Cause.” For a small fee, volunteer photographers help colleagues take professional-quality pictures for their career profiles. They raised a total of SGD $25,000 to support a CCF sponsored school. Austria: Annual Social Action Day A total of 64 volunteers worked for two days at Caritas. Here, a trampoline and a swing set were built. In addition, they landscaped a garden with a special view. Germany: Support for talented athletes More than 40 volunteers contributed their time and energy to the non-profit organization “Anpfiff ins Leben e.V.” The organization’s goal is to help talented young athletes who experience challenges at school, develop their personalities and achieve their career goals. SAP volunteers built a new soccer court, created a garden path, painted pictures, and renovated a mobile classroom. Co-CEO Bill McDermott and MEE President Michael Kleinemeier were onsite and helped at each of the workstations (video). France: Café Coaching with Mozaïk RH Mozaïk RH is the first non-profit employment agency in France specialized in placing highly qualified people who are unable to find employment due to their disadvantaged background. SAP organized three coaching sessions for 58 young people involving 32 SAP volunteers over three hours. Volunteers hosted workshops on job applications, networking, and presentation skills. |
