How Cisco volunteers multiply impact for nonprofits
April is Global Volunteer Month. All month long, we’re recognizing some of the ways Cisco employees give their time, skills, and expertise in their communities.
Cisco and the Cisco Foundation’s distinctive approach to supporting nonprofit organizations often begins with funding, but it rarely ends there. Our aim is always to bring the best of all that Cisco has to offer to the organizations we support—and the skills, time, and expertise of our people are our proudest offering of all.
For many years, our social investment sector managers have provided consulting and advisory support to the organizations they select for funding, emphasizing the unique power of strategy, technology, and data to facilitate operational success and scaling. Now, a new skill-based volunteering program is deepening our consultative contribution to our social impact partners by matching them with expert technologists within Cisco.
“Bringing everything Cisco has to the table to assist our nonprofit partner organizations is a key element of our social impact investing framework. Our engaged employees are an incredible resource to help increase our nonprofit partners’ impact around the world.”
—Charu Adesnik, Executive Director of the Cisco Foundation and Director of Cisco Social Impact Investments
An extra layer of support for Cisco nonprofit partner organizations
Known as Tech for Social Good, this innovative program empowers Cisco employee volunteers to harness their professional skills and knowledge to assist grantee organizations that have already been vetted and selected as especially high-potential by Cisco’s Social Impact Investment and Cisco Foundation teams.
Working collaboratively with each organization to address pressing social and environmental challenges, our volunteers help our grantees with consulting and strategic advice around digitization, data architecture, data science, AI, operational efficiency, and more. They also provide tech career mentorship to individuals who use the services of Cisco’s nonprofit partners.
Kirtee Yadav leads the Tech for Social Good program, with Sandeep Milar serving as executive sponsor. Kirtee works at Cisco as a Customer Experience Product Manager, while Sandeep serves as executive vice president of Cisco’s CX Product Management organization.
“The Tech for Social Good Program leverages Cisco’s technological expertise to address critical social and environmental challenges. By empowering tech professionals to collaborate with nonprofits and community organizations, we are not only driving innovation but also fostering a more inclusive future for all.”
—Sandeep Milar, SVP of Cisco’s CX Product Management organization and Tech for Social Good executive sponsor
Enabling a win—win situation
Why would Cisco employees dedicate their time to tech consulting with nonprofits? According to Taproot Foundation, which connects nonprofits with volunteers who donate their professional expertise in support of nonprofit missions, skills-based volunteering is a win for all involved. Volunteers get to support causes they are passionate about—and nonprofits gain access to the specialized resources needed to achieve their vision. Plus, it’s a great opportunity for employees to use their professional skills (and learn new ones); build deeper networks and community; and find personal fulfillment. And Cisco’s employee base is deeply engaged. For the last five years, over 80% of our employees have volunteered, donated, or participated in other forms of community impact. Our employees have always been genuinely passionate about giving back—and especially aware of the power of technology to connect and uplift people at unprecedented scale.
Abhishek Kumar, an engineering leader in the CX Engineering organization, drives innovation around AI and Generative AI while leading a team of data scientists. He notes, “I’m honored to contribute to the Tech for Social Good program. My advisory role focused on empowering organizations to navigate the AI landscape effectively, enabling them to make informed decisions about technology adoption that would best serve their unique missions.”
Gops Sukumar, a technology leader and product innovator working on AI with a doctoral specialization in Generative AI, also loves helping community organizations think through the best approaches to enhancing success via artificial intelligence. “As a technologist, I wanted to put my digital skills and experience towards solving problems for humanity in my own small but meaningful way. Through Tech for Social Good, I’ve helped organizations navigate complex AI challenges, where large AI systems had to be built, or else allied ecosystems had to be developed.”
Read on for two examples of what we have achieved by combining our strategic grantmaking process with high-skill volunteers within Cisco who are looking to share the best of their professional skillsets with outstanding social impact organizations.
Entrepreneurship for All
Accelerating economic and social impact in communities nationwide by opening more pathways to entrepreneurship, EforAll is investigating how AI can support their operations and programming. The Tech for Social Good program connected the organization with an expert Cisco volunteer, to great result. “Our volunteer was very, very helpful,” said Gary Chamberlain, EforAll’s Chief Technology Officer. “She provided feedback about the overall approach and some very creative suggestions for improving it, avoiding bias, and steering the results toward our entrepreneurs’ needs.”
AnnieCannons
AnnieCannons trains, prepares, and connects individuals who have experienced human trafficking to sustainable careers in tech. Recently, six Cisco and Splunk employees participated in AnnieCannon’s Career Week presentations, providing information and inspiration. Feedback from the participants was universally positive:
“Hearing the guest speakers’ journeys gave me a fresh perspective on career growth and adaptability.”
“It was so reassuring to hear that even industry leaders faced setbacks and still built successful careers.”
“I never considered certain career paths before, but now I see how I can use my skills in different ways!”
Real Skills, Real Impact
We are always proud to respond as “one Cisco” in support of our social impact partners—reaching across programs and departments to offer all that we can in support of a nonprofit’s health, growth, and long-term success. Through such collaborations, we can achieve exponential impact—together.
For more information and to get involved:
To learn more about the impact Cisco employees are making, check out our “What We Accomplished” eBook about how we have supported our employees’ giving back efforts and transformed our collective contributions in the process.
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