Black Friday. Cyber Monday. Amazon Prime Week. When it comes to dedicating our attention to consumption, American culture has it down. Chances are if you were to search today’s date on a digital calendar right now, a “National Something Day” would be listed — motivating you to indulge in an item that hadn’t even crossed your mind until a spectacle was built around it.
But what about days dedicated to selflessness and giving back? Could a moment centered around generosity possibly create as much hype as opening our wallets for personal gain?
Enter Giving Tuesday.
Established in 2012, Giving Tuesday was intended to coincide with the Tuesday after Thanksgiving for individuals to give back to their communities and strangers around the world. Today, more than 34.8 million people participate in the day of good while generating a whopping $2.47 billion through acts of kindness, according to GivingTuesday’s research. But giving back hasn’t just been left up to individuals. Never one to miss out on creating innovative change, the tech industry has naturally gotten involved on an annual basis — gradually incorporating charitable actions into company expectations as they go.
“Giving back to our local community and neighbors is a big part of our company culture,” said Tara Pease, people partner manager at Duda. “All employees are given paid volunteer days each year to volunteer their time to an organization that is meaningful to them.”
In honor of Giving Tuesday this year, Built In Colorado caught up with Pease to learn more about how Duda makes a local impact on the holiday, and how they’ve continued to incorporate those lessons into their everyday business.
What is your company doing this year to make an impact on Giving Tuesday?
This year our Colorado office has chosen to partner with Packs of Hope and participate in their “Fill a Pack, Fill a Need” drive. They help to support local children who have been uprooted from their homes and placed in foster care by providing them a backpack filled with essential items to take with them. Our office will work together to collect the needed items and then fill the backpacks together on Giving Tuesday.
Why did you decide to give to this particular cause or organization?
In 2020, there was an average of 10 children a day who entered into foster care and roughly 8,000 children placed in out-of-home foster care. Oftentimes these children are rushed out of their homes with nothing but the clothes they were wearing. This year — for both Giving Tuesday and our holiday drive — we want our giving to help make foster care transitions a little less stressful and to show these children that there are people supporting and rooting for them.
As a company, we volunteer each quarter at a local organization to help make a difference in the lives of our neighbors.”
How else does your company give back to the local community throughout the year?
Giving back to our local community and neighbors is a big part of our company culture. All employees are given paid volunteer days each year to volunteer their time to an organization that is meaningful to them.
As a company, we volunteer each quarter at a local organization to help make a difference in the lives of our neighbors. Our company also gives a quarterly donation of $2,500: Employees make recommendations and then we vote on the organization to receive our donation.
Last year for our holiday drive, we sponsored local families in need to ensure they had a special Christmas. Our employees donated money and Duda matched the funds in order to provide gifts for five different local families. This year we will be partnering with a local group to help give a special holiday season to youth who have aged out of the foster care system and are transitioning to life on their own — many times alone.
