In the salesforce.com ecosphere, the only time you will see Appirio, Bluewolf and Clear Task listed on the same page (let alone a blog post!) is when a potential customer is evaluating each of them as a services provider. Each company has their unique brand, personalities, delivery methodologies and culture, but the one thing they have in common is their ability to put aside their competitive feelings and work together for the benefit of others. Consultants, after all, are in the business of helping people, right? Liz Kao, Director of Knowledge Operations at Bluewolf, had the slightly crazy idea that Bluewolf, Clear Task and Appirio could put aside their competitive differences and advantages for one day to work together at Dreamforce ‘12 for the benefit of national non-profit, Playworks. After a few phone calls and emails with Andrew O’Driscoll and team at Clear Task, and Geraldine Gray and Kim Arden at Appirio, an idea started to take shape.

Dreamforce is one of the biggest events in the cloud computing industry and this year Bluewolf, Clear Task and Appirio are delighted to announce they are working together in the Salesforce Foundation Zone in support of Playworks and the principles supported by this national non-profit organization. The Salesforce Foundation is based on a simple idea: leverage salesforce.com's people, technology and resources to build collective knowledge and enable action to improve communities throughout the world. Salesforce.com calls this integrated philanthropic approach the 1/1/1 model and it provides people, technology and resources to organizations which results in a sustainable business model, driven by a social change mission, with community engagement for social good at its core vision.

The Salesforce Foundation and Marc Benioff’s 1/1/1 philosophy has inspired many other tech companies, like Google, to adopt an integrated philanthropy model. It has also inspired cloud consultancies like Appirio,  Bluewolf and Clear Task to emphasize the importance of giving back into their corporate cultures. Each has created a system that mobilizes their employees to make a measurable impact on the communities where they work and live. For example, at Clear Task employees volunteer 1% of their time to non-profit organizations, employees additionally provide in-kind Salesforce consulting help specifically to local education institutions using Salesforce, (see www.cleartask.com/ndv), and Clear Task donates some of its profit to charitable causes both through employee matching and direct donations. Last year Clear Task donated money to build a well in Africa through charity: water. Meanwhile Appirio’s Silver Lining program organizes a  single community day of service each year where client work stops and employees gather together to work towards a common goal and are also given a further day each year to work with their favorite local non-profit. In addition to an employee matching program, Bluewolf educates, empowers and inspires youth nationwide through year-round volunteering, fundraising, mentoring, and charity events that include hands-on technology support, scholarships and grants.

The motley crew of service providers stand by the overarching mission of Playworks to improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and positive, safe, and meaningful play. Playworks places coaches in schools to teach children the benefits of teamwork and collaboration, conflict resolution, and sportsmanship, through improved physical activity during recess and throughout the school day. These efforts result in improved concentration and learning, and lowered disciplinary incidents for children once they’re back in the classroom. They currently operate their direct service program in more than 300 schools in 23 US cities, and serve more than 130,000 elementary school students every day.

This Thursday, September 20th, between 12pm-4pm in the Foundation Zone, Bluewolf, Clear Task and Appirio will be combining their philanthropic superpowers to support Playworks. Working on Howard Street, outside in the (hopefully) sunny San Francisco weather, Clear Task, Appirio and Bluewolf senior management will be in the Foundation Zone. They will be writing responses to kids’ essays on leadership, signing Playworks’ anti-bullying poster, and (most importantly) taking part in playground games that reinforce the principles of teamwork, sportsmanship, positive play, collaboration, and most importantly, fun. After all, aren’t those values that any consulting firm seeks and should reinforce in its employees? We certainly think so! It’ll be a fun event where everyone will have the chance to act like the kids they are at heart, while working collaboratively to reinforce the common values that each of our consulting companies strive to uphold within our cultures. See you there!

Salesforce and Playworks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXUoezKOwTQ