CALGARY, Alberta, Oct. 20, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Benevity, Inc., the leading provider of global corporate purpose software, today announced that it has partnered with Give Blck, a new digital platform that raises visibility for Black-founded nonprofits across America. Through this relationship, Benevity is empowering its client community and their people to discover and support organizations focused on a range of issues impacting the Black community and benefiting society as a whole.
Give Blck was co-founded by two Black female entrepreneurs and leaders in the philanthropy space: Christina Lewis, founder and president of All Star Code, and Stephanie Ellis-Smith, owner of philanthropic advisory firm Phila Engaged Giving. Dr. David Setiadi, an entrepreneur and CTO of @Point of Care, is also a founder. Officially launched on September 24, 2020 with Benevity and Microsoft as partners, Give Blck helps donors easily identify Black-founded nonprofits in order to drive more dollars to underfunded causes that are helping to solve racial disparities.
From Oct. 18 to Nov. 7, Benevity is featuring six Give Blck Cause Categories on the main causes page of its employee engagement solution, Spark, so that users can learn about a range of Black-founded causes focused on Foundations and Giving Circles, Leadership, Tech Inclusion, Black Women and Girls, Black Boys and Black Male Achievements, and Healthy Black Lives and Mental Health. Benevity has also created campaign resource kits for corporate clients who are interested in promoting awareness of Black nonprofits, and in sustaining the momentum on racial equity and justice ignited by the Black Lives Matter movement earlier this year.
"Achieving racial equality is everyone's responsibility. Give Blck exists to equip institutions and people with effective tools to not only connect with Black nonprofits, but also find specific Black organizations aligned with their passions. We're proud that through our partnership with Benevity, we have the potential to enable 18 million employees within Benevity’s client network to give to Black-founded nonprofits who are doing critical work to support Black lives, leadership and communities," said Christina Lewis, Founder of All Star Code and Co-Founder of Give Blck.
“It’s incumbent on all of us to help address racial injustice and inequity in this country,” said Karen Bergin, Senior Director Employee Engagement for Microsoft Philanthropies. “Give Blck is a new organization that will help build awareness, capacity and leadership of Black-founded nonprofits. Give Blck will also provide a much-needed database that makes it easy for companies and individuals to find and donate to Black-founded nonprofits that align with their causes and interests. Microsoft is committed to acting with intention to help drive real change and we’re proud to provide financial and technical support for Give Blck’s important work.”
According to a June 16 article in Harvard Business Review, “achieving racial equity in the workplace will be one of the most important issues that companies will tackle in the coming decade,” and Barrons reports that 64 percent of Business Roundtable CEOs released statements supporting action to end racial injustice.
“There was a 15-fold increase in contributions through our platform to racial justice causes in the month of June alone, and Black Lives Matter is the #1 searched term on the Benevity platform in 2020 to date,” said Bryan de Lottinville, Benevity Founder and CEO. “In our twelve-year history, we’ve never witnessed such a groundswell of support for any single cause area, which speaks volumes about the urgency companies and their people are feeling around these issues. But being a part of real, systemic change requires much more than just a single action or transaction at a moment in time. We must commit ourselves to supporting Black causes and communities experientially not just when they are in the headlines, but as a year round investment in improving the fabric of our society.”
Benevity’s exclusive partnership with Give Blck is part of the company’s overall commitment to furthering equity and inclusion both internally and throughout its client community. For more information about how companies and their people can take action to support racial justice and equity, check out Benevity’s recent webinar on the topic.
About Benevity
Benevity, a certified B Corporation, is the leader in global corporate purpose software, providing the only integrated suite of community investment and employee, customer and nonprofit engagement solutions. A finalist in Fast Company’s 2020 World Changing Ideas Awards, many iconic brands rely on Benevity’s cloud solutions to power their purpose in ways that better attract, retain and engage today’s diverse workforce, embed social action into their customer experiences and positively impact their communities. With software that is available in 20 languages, Benevity has processed more than 5 billion dollars in donations and 32 million hours of volunteering time, 210,000 positive actions and awarded one million grants to 251,000 nonprofits worldwide.
About Give Blck
Co-founded by Christina Lewis, Stephanie Ellis-Smith and David Setiadi, Give Blck is a movement and website dedicated to increasing funding for Black organizations, to ensure “Giving Black” will not be a fleeting moment. There are roughly 200 organizations currently listed on the site. For additional details visit giveblck.org and @giveblck.
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