A Word From Doug – It’s the Giving (Back) Season – December 2018
As the business year comes to a close, I’ve been reflecting on how we performed on our goals and objectives for 2018. We’ve grown our customer base, expanded our team, and moved (again) into a larger building. But most satisfying to me is meeting our 2018 goal to become more active and impactful in Oregon’s not-for-profit community.
In less than a year, we added an impressive set of new Oregon non-profits as customers including the Portland Opera, the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board, the American Legion Auxiliary of Oregon, Portland’5 Centers for the Arts, and Special Olympics of Oregon. We also added multiple non-profit business associations such as the Northwest Public Power Association and the Oregon Society of CPAs.
We partnered with other charitable organizations to volunteer our employees’ time and energy to positively impact our hometown including SOLVE Oregon, the Forest Park Conservancy, and Extra Life (supporting Doernbecher Children’s Hospital).
We also engaged with Creating IT Futures, the non-profit arm of industry association CompTIA. This impressive national organization is dedicated to increasing employment opportunities in technology for under-represented populations such as women and people of color. Through Creating IT Futures, we developed our Technology Internship program and hired our first participant of many to come.
In 2018, we also created our Non-Profit Technology Grant program and awarded our first recipient, Zenger Farm. And, as I write this, we are actively engaging with other influential and impactful non-profit organizations about joining our community as customers and other partners.
So, as we accelerate toward the end of the year working to spend IT budgets, buy holiday gifts, visit with family and share in the season of giving, I hope you’ll give some thought to the organizations around us who give back year-round to make our community better. 2019 goal-setting is just around the corner, and you might be amazed at how much impact you and your organization can make in just twelve months if you put your mind to it.
I’m looking forward to an exciting 2019. See you in the new year!
doug, CEO
