Ripple Effect of Kindness: Building Bonds, Boosting Business Through Giving

This post was authored by Katie Ferguson, leader of Cisco Canada’s Small and Medium-Sized Business (SMB) organization. She is responsible for—and passionate about—helping Canadian SMB organizations unlock digital excellence to power their purpose.

Maya Angelou once said, “I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.” The Canadian SMB team and some of our partners recently experienced this quote first-hand.

In June 2024, my team, in partnership with Kelly Carter, Virtual Sales Leader at Cisco Meraki Canada, and the Meraki team, held our first Canadian SMB Partner Summit in Toronto, hosting more than 50 of our key partners. With our small and medium business customers in mind, we organized an event to provide product updates, create connections, and share our purpose—to power an inclusive future for all—with attendees. The Summit was a success, achieving our objectives and driving strong first-quarter business growth.

Just as impactful as our business results was the camaraderie and trust we fostered through the volunteer activity integrated into the event. In partnership with Kits for a Cause, an organization that connects people who want to make an impact with charitable organizations seeking support, we were connected with Dixon Hall. Dixon Hall is a nonprofit serving Downtown East Toronto’s most vulnerable and at-risk residents. Through this connection, we supported their Alzheimer’s Day Program by packing 192 kits for their program participants.

This was the first time we hosted an SMB Partner Summit in Canada, and Kelly and I knew that a critical component to its success would be building a sense of connection with our partners. We felt that incorporating a charitable component would help us achieve this goal, and used the opportunity to delve deeper into our purpose, communicating what it means to us, as a company and as individuals, to support our communities. It was a powerful moment for the attendees, and you could sense our shared humanity as we stood shoulder-to-shoulder packing the kits.

Creating a ripple effect

We anticipated that the Summit giveback opportunity would be a meaningful experience. We received wonderful feedback from attendees, with several stating that the volunteer element was a highlight of the day that personally resonated with them. What inspired us most was the ripple effect it caused. As a result of their participation in the SMB Partner Summit, several of our partners decided to incorporate a volunteer element into their upcoming events. In particular, leaders at Insight collaborated with Kits for a Cause to support a nonprofit near and dear to them.

Bringing joy to children

When Elise Coppola, Insight’s Senior Partner Manager for Cisco attended the SMB Partner Summit, she was inspired and thought about incorporating a giveback activity during their upcoming Insight Cisco GO campaign, which brings together the Insight and Cisco account teams for in-person strategic account planning sessions in Montreal and Mississauga. “As I was building kits at the Cisco SMB Summit, I had the sense that I was contributing to something greater than myself,” she said. “I wanted to replicate that same feeling and sense of purpose for teammates at upcoming Insight engagements.”

Elise chose to support an organization that helps children in need, and their families. “Childhood should be a time of delight and wonder,” Elise says. “We wanted our giveback to try to bring joy to children who are going through challenging situations.”

Partners in business and in making a difference

It’s truly amazing what can be achieved when companies and employees come together to support common causes. Collectively, attendees of the Cisco SMB Partner Summit and Insight’s Cisco GO Day events created more than 300 kits for two worthy charities. And the benefits reached far beyond the nonprofits that received the kits. Through these events, we supported our communities and strengthened the bonds between employees across Cisco and Insight, one kit at a time.

Judith Breen, VP of Partner Alliances and Portfolio Solutions at Insight Canada attended the Cisco GO Day in Montreal and said this: “Our partnership with Cisco goes beyond just business collaborations; it’s about building a strong foundation of trust, shared values, and a mutual commitment to making a difference. It’s initiatives like the Insight and Cisco giveback event that demonstrate and solidify our alignment and inspire us to continue working together towards a common goal of creating a better world for all.”

Moments and partnerships like these demonstrate how giving can strengthen bonds, personally and organizationally. These acts of kindness—and the support we get from leadership across our organizations to make them happen—make me proud to be a Cisco employee and to partner with companies that also invest in the communities they serve. And Maya Angelou wasn’t wrong—my soul does feel liberated.

Interested in incorporating a giveback opportunity to your event? Contact us and learn more about Partnering for Purpose. 

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