BURBANK, Calif — July 10, 2017 — Optimizely, which describes itself as the world’s leading experimentation platform, used Causecast to achieve a tripling in the average employee contribution to its annual giving campaign and a sevenfold increase in funds raised, a new case study reveals.
The case study, titled “How Do You Build a Culture of Giving Back?” reveals how Optimizely used the Causecast online volunteer and giving platform and services platform for:
– Impact Week volunteer opportunities ranging from cleaning up a park to serving meals at a soup kitchen to a hackathon, serving 15 different nonprofits
– Multiple ways for employees to donate, such as payroll deductions and recurring donations
– An end-of-year holiday giving campaign
– Engaging international employees, featuring specific nonprofits suggested by community leaders in each region
Optimizely is a mid-stage start-up, founded in 2009, with over 400 employees worldwide. Named by the San Francisco Business Times from 2014-2016 as one of the “Best Places To Work In The Bay Area,” the company offers multiple options for employees to donate to nonprofits and volunteer on work time.
Senior Program Manager John Leonard points out that while the company itself isn’t in a position yet to give much money to charity, it does have incredible employees who care and want to give back with their time and skills. “We want to make it easy and compelling for them to do so,” he said.
“We’re excited to be at the cutting edge of business, technology, and social impact,” says Ryan Scott, Founder & CEO of Causecast. “At Causecast, we believe that technology can support meaningful, scalable social impact programs. It’s thrilling to see Optimizely experiencing the benefits of these efforts.”
Over time, Optimizely unrolled three different campaigns, each one building upon the next. Leonard knew that the Optimizely employees were extremely busy, but the Causecast platform made it easy for employees to volunteer and give back.
Leonard ensured that the giving effort offered something for everyone, with international organizations and local nonprofits alike. As a result, the effort served as a great tool for connecting far-flung offices together for a common cause. Optimizely more than doubled employee participation over the prior year and accomplished this with no company match. Half of the employee donors chose payroll deduction, while 25% made recurring contributions. All of this with 83% of Optimizely’s employees being Millennials who are relatively new to philanthropy.
Optimizely found that successful events built on each other, and as time went on, more employees participated in each event.
“When they see so many of their peers volunteering and talking about it, when senior executives are volunteering and endorsing the experience, it feeds on itself,” Leonard said. “The more people volunteer, the more it becomes second nature. It becomes an expectation.”
For further details on what drove the success of Optimizely’s employee giving and volunteering program, read the full case study on the Causecast website.
About Causecast
Causecast powers the world’s most innovative workplace giving, volunteering and social impact programs. Combining fun, smart, easy-to-use technology solutions with unparalleled customer service, we help leading brands attract, retain and inspire employees and customers, while driving change through meaningful cause engagement. Causecast offers a simple, streamlined experience that helps companies maximize their community investments sooner: our clients get up and running faster, save time on administrative tasks, and realize significant gains in employee participation rates over other methodologies. Causecast customers report an increase of 29% more donors, 34% more volunteers, and 47% more donations in the first year of partnership.
About Optimizely
Optimizely is the world’s leading experimentation platform, enabling businesses to deliver continuous experimentation and personalization across websites, mobile apps and connected devices. Optimizely enables businesses to experiment deeply into their technology stack and broadly across the entire customer experience. The platform’s ease of use and speed of deployment empower organizations to create and run bold experiments that help them make data-driven decisions and grow faster. To date, marketers, developers and product managers have delivered over 700 billion experiences tailored to the needs of their customers. Recognized by the San Francisco Business Times in 2014 – 2016 as one of the “Best Places To Work In The Bay Area,” Optimizely values its employees and offers great benefits including unlimited time off, healthcare coverage, gym memberships and 17 weeks of paid parental leave. Wealthfront also named Optimizely as one of “100 Career Launching Technology Companies.” Headquartered in San Francisco, Optimizely also has offices in Amsterdam, Cologne, London and New York City.