Volunteer Blogs

Lockwood Donkey Sanctuary

Isabel Kelly — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 01:56:21 -0500

Summary

The Salesforce EMEA Education Team went en masse to The Lockwood Donkey Sanctuary to help with much needed maintenance.

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10th Dec 2008 Surrey UK

With the Christmas festivities only a few weeks away it made sense that the EMEA trainers should engage their foundation hours preparing a facility for a family carol service. It was even more apt that the facility should be a stable, in fact a donkey sanctuary...

Now it happened in those days, that a decree went out from on high (from Francesca Donaghy who set it up and then was poorly) that all the world (of trainers) should be involved and so Chris Rauch, Emma Gale, Eric Kelleher, Clive Hollingshead, Jon Oatham, Marc Kuster, Sebanstiano Costanzo, Shelly Holten, Amy Harbin, Alim Uddin and Brendan Peterson did make their way to Lockwood Donkey Centre for a day of contemplation, manual labour and the movement of manure (lots of manure). Fortunately there was room at the Inn, where much refreshment was made. The donkeys were much admired (as were the Llamas - don't ask) and the sheep.

Outbuildings were cleared, windows were set gleaming and lights strung from rafters. Holly, ferns and branches of other green type plants (look, we are not horticulturists) were used to decorate the tea rooms in a festive manner. But all looked in wonder to see Chris and Amy clear so much... fertilised ground.

A good time was had by all, the donkeys were royally entertained and the staff at the centre was very appreciative of our efforts. And the Alimcarol service went well.

Nota story: EDHEC Business College Lille and salesforce.com CRM course

Elena Rossi — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 09:24:19 -0500

Summary

EDHEC, one of the top 10 business schools in Europe, asked Salesforce.com staff to participate in delivering a course on CRM and Cloud computing. The course was 10 weeks long and Loïc Mosse and Robin Daniels successfully delivered a comprehensive program.

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Lille, 01December 2008

Jean-Pierre Dolait Marketing Instructor from EDHEC Business School told us about the last session of the CRM class of the ‘MSc in Marketing Management at EDHEC College', which took place in Lille, South of France. Nine teams of five students each presented their results of the case study using a CRM from salesforce.com. The presentations were of very good quality, four of them excellent.

Mr. Dolait: ‘After the class, many students came to tell me how much they appreciated the course and the hands-on experience with a "real world" CRM. It was also an enjoyable and great teaching experience for me. The students are grateful to salesforce.com for the prizes and in particular for the invitation to Europe Dreamforce in April 2009 for the best student of the class.'

This project wouldn't have happened without Loïc Mosse (AE EMEA) and Robin Daniels 's (Senior Manager, Product Marketing) dedication and passion to put the program together. Since February Loïc skilfully and enthusiastically lead the project and animated several classroom sessions. Robin Daniels ended the course in great style by giving an inspiring presentation about CRM future trends.

The project was also supported by Guillaume Lenoble (SE EMEA) who transferred the 20,000 data of the case into the CRM customer database and build the application and Isabelle Havre-Chillaud and Isabelle Berge from the EMEA Marketing team for all the material provided for the course.

Robin Daniel tell us his side of the story: ‘I delivered the last session, which was on The Future of CRM, allowing the students to put their heads in the cloud and think ahead. The class was really about how CRM can extend beyond just helping a business internally, to how you can interact with customers and combine CRM with social networking to create long-term customer loyalty‘

Some quotes from the class about the course and in particular the final presentation:

‘I am writing to thank you for giving us so wonderful presentation on Thursday and Friday. It was really inspiring, the example of Starbucks was so vivid, before I only thought CRM as boring data processing software, now I have a better understanding of CRM.' - Louise Ying Zhang

‘I would like to truly thank you for your very interesting presentation concerning CRM future trends. This inspiring presentation was the most suitable ending to the course Customer Equity that was a great new insight into the area of customer relationships. Thank you again very much.' - Konstantinos Koniaris

‘Thank you for your dedication to our CRM course here at EDHEC. I doubt the course would have been so colorful and interesting without salesforce.com's contributions. My colleagues and I really appreciated this one-of-a-kind experience! Thank you for your time and effort.'- Maria Jalasvirta

‘It was great taking part in the seminar today, I enjoyed it.'- Mayde Seeman

‘I'm one of mister JP Dolait's students and I just wanted to know that we really appreciate that you have taken your time to share a little bit of your knowledge with us.' - Alexandra Bejan

France community event: 2008 Madeleine Paris

Elena Rossi — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 08:19:50 -0500

Summary

From 20 Nov one of the most central areas of Paris saw a 4-day community event organized by le ‘Totem.org’ organization. The event aimed to celebrate all children’s rights. The first day was run entirely by salesforce volunteers.

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France community event: 2008 Madeleine Paris 2

Paris, 20 November 2008

'20 novembre 1989 a été adoptée la Convention des Droits de l'Enfant, bientôt 20 ans, et la question des droits de l'enfant est encore d'actualité. ‘‘Le Totem des Droits de l'Enfant'' constitue le symbole des dix droits fondamentaux de l'Enfant, sa mission est de promulguer la Convention des Droits de l'Enfant dans les lieux publics : mairie, écoles...'

25 volunteers from the newly acquired Instranet and Salesforce spent a day in the community running ‘2008 Madelaine Paris' event.

The event aimed to celebrate 20 years of the ‘Convention on the Rights of the Child' which is the first legally binding international instrument to incorporate the full range of human rights. In 1989, world leaders decided that children needed a special convention just for them because people under 18 years old often needed special care and protection that adults do not give them. As sad this might sound, this was a fundamental step to insure the world communities recognized that children have human rights too.

The Organization ‘Le Totem.org.' which organized the event, designed 10 totems displaying 10 basic principles regarding children's rights and used them to teach those principles to passers-by and school children. The totems were dotted around the square and Salesforce volunteers managed the whole event, from setting up the venue to communicate with the schools. Each class would go through a questionnaire for each totem and answer to questions which will teach them about their basic rights.

The feedback from the organization about the running of the day was very positive and the volunteers enjoyed spending the day in the community and getting to know the new team members.

Message in a bottle: multimedia project connecting Germany and Japan youths.

Elena Rossi — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 08:49:44 -0500

Summary

Every year the Waisenhaus Home in Munich organizes a cross-cultural multimedia project with another orphanage around the world. This year they chose an institution in Sapporo, Japan. Andreas Rösch acted as facilitator.

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Andreas RoschMunich, 04 November 2008 For their yearly cross-cultural multimedia project the educators in Waisenhaus always come up with fun and educational ways to get their kids to learn how to use new Medias together with getting to know other youths from different cultures.

Andreas Rösch (Sales Consulting EMEA) acted as facilitator in this project and told us a bit about this project:

‘Today I had a chance to moderate an intercultural multi-media project called ‘Message-in-a-bottle' connecting our orphanage in Munich and another one in Munich's partner city Sapporo, in Japan. These cities were chosen because of their involvement in the past with the Olympics games.

It was an awesome experience and a lot of fun for everyone! First of all the kids were blown away by the experience of communicating in real time with the other side of the world. In particular was the understanding of the time difference that came as a shock to them - in Germany was morning time but in Japan was already becoming evening!

They used video-cameras to see each other as well as chat-lines and instant messaging tools with several hands-on exercises. One exercise I really enjoyed it was about learning the life of William Adams, the first European Samurai and his three years journey in the 16th century. The kids enjoyed drawing Pirates flags and singing sailors songs together: too funny! At the end of the 7 hours session both teams baked Japanese pan cakes and exchanged culinary recipes. I love this Foundation work!'

Burnham Beeches

Isabel Kelly — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 07:12:28 -0500

Summary

Seven Salesforce employees revisit Burnham Beeches for our regular conservation exercise.

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13th November, Burnham Beeches UK

Burnham Beeches is a large City of London owned conservation area which is bizarrely situated 13 miles from The City of London in a Westerly direction. This 540 acreAmanda site was bought by enlightened Alderman of The City back in the 19th Century. They wished to buy a piece of land and protect it from development for it to be enjoyed by the citizens of London.

The largely beech woodland has been regularly pollarded, with many trees now several hundred years old. Their age, and the amount of deadwood in and around them, means that the woodland is rich in wildlife. More than sixty of the species of Dougplants and animals here are either rare or under threat nationally. The area is protected as a National Nature Reserve, Site of Special Scientific Interest and a candidate Special Area of Conservation.

Salesforce regularly send groups of employees out to Burnham Beeches to do their bit for conserving the site. As well as the useful work undertaken, the day of hard work and fresh air makes a welcome break from computer screens and blackberrie.

Weekend with The Childrens Country Holiday Fund

Isabel Kelly — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 06:54:35 -0500

Summary

Four Salesforce employees give up their weekend to chaperone a group of disadvantaged kids on a weekend break they otherwise would never receive.

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October 24th-26th Hassocks, UK

One hundred twenty-five years ago, Baden-Powell was still in Malta and someone in Britain had an idea: Take inner-city children on a country holiday. Free them from the overwhelming traps of London by whisking them to the country to play games and breathe fresh air and participate in activities that their urban lives simply Kidsdid not offer. The children would get to be kids, even of only for a weekend at a time. Specifically these holidays were intended for children from underprivileged, abusive, or other wise difficult homes. The idea grew into the Children's Country Holiday Fund (CCFH). The CCFH is not nearly as well known as the Boy Scouts, but to this day they continues to humbly offer this same incalculable gift to children as the day they were founded.

Over this past weekend four salesforce.com employees Monty Hoeft, Joseph Brady, Wendy Newbold and Philip Kenley, agreed become the most recent additions to the CCFH's long list of victims (though, to be fair, they called us volunteers).

Now, before I go any further, I feel like I should share a general observation of mine. The perception of what every volunteer activity ‘will be', ‘is' and ‘was' usually adheres to one rough pattern. You hear about the activity and think it ‘will be' great. You show up on the day and you think it ‘is' a nightmare. It turns out to be far more difficult than you imagined. Your ears hurt from shouting children. You've run out of ways to ask nicely. You go to bed nights thinking, "I gave up my weekend so I could take eighteen of someone else's snivelly, hyperactive, ungrateful children on a glorified family vacation. What was I thinking???" And then the final phase, when the dust settles, you realize that the activity ‘was' simply beyond fantastic.

KidsOur weekend at the CCFH was no different. A weekend in the country? Free meals? Playing games? Abseiling and bungee? Sure, they did say we'd have to take care of kids, but they also said there would be a zip line! What could be better??? This, I thought, will volunteering in style.

However, as anyone who has ever known a child will attest to, the holiday was hard. We were supervising from dawn until late at night. We dealt with regular temper tantrums, constant shouting and enough raw energy to power Asia. We even had to intervene in a fist fight (actually that one was all Monty, but I felt his struggle). It was a tough group of kids, and for good reason, these kids have tough lives.

In exhausted desperation, after a few hard fought hours to get the kids into their beds on Saturday, I spoke with one of my fellow volunteers. He said he would never volunteer again. At the time he thought the CCFH offered a good but one time only volunteer opportunity. I silently agreed. But when we spoke on Monday morning, after just one night's rest and reflection, we both enthusiastically declared our desire to return. We started remembering the good moments; moments like learning to play touch rugby, reading six extra chapters of James and the Giant Peach, watching a ten year old overcome his fear of heights or another one overcome her fear of the water and how the constant struggle was heavily peppered with subtle moments of genuine relief and gratitude from children who otherwise don't have much opportunity for either. Somehow, like all of the most challenging volunteer activities, you look back and settle yourself right the line between having had an unforgettable Kidexperience and having had an invaluable one.

Plus, in the end, I did get to ride on a zip line. Which wasn't too bad either.

The other side of Thailand

Julie Trell — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:17:22 -0500

Summary

Salesforce.com Foundation brings 16 salesforce.com employees to volunteer in Northeast Thailand. Reflection by Sati Hillyer

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For most, Thailand is the perfect vacation destination. A land of golden temples, beautiful beaches, delicious food and bargain shopping; Thailand is truly a veritable oasis in an increasingly hectic world. My expectations were no different, but for my first trip to Thailand, I was fortunate enough to join the Salesforce.com Foundation on a volunteering adventure. With our 1:1:1 model, we at salesforce.com are very lucky to be given company time to volunteer and help the greater community.

It all began late September 2008 when I came across an Intranet posting that caught my eye. I was sold when I noticed the trip started right after Dreamforce. I think we can all agree a little break after Dreamforce does the body good.

The Foundation was planning to visit an under-developed school and village in Nakhon Ratchasima Province (a.k.a. Khorat), Thailand. Due to the harsh climates and hostile landscape, the people there (mostly farmers) are constantly suffering from poor harvest and droughts. The average annual household income is known to be the lowest in the country, inevitably resulting in poor quality of life and limited educational opportunities. Fun fact - Khorat was thevenue of the 2007 Southeast Asian Games.

All the volunteers planned to meet Sunday night (11/9) in Bangkok for dinner at Cabbages and Condoms. In an effort to promote health education in the rural villages of Thailand, the Population and Community Development Assosiation [PDA] has developed this restaurant as a social enterprise and is just one of their many programs that brings awareness to family planning and AIDS education in the region. PDA has recruited and trained respected members of local urban and rural neighbourhoods to distribute and provide information on affordable contraceptives directly to their communities. The relevant theme of this restaurant was only the beginning of our roles as "young salesforce doctors" and one of the missions of educating youth on good health. The restaurant provides condoms at the end of the meal, as opposed to the traditional candy or mint. I was delighted to see so much culture and diversity present from our team representing the San Francisco, Singapore and Australia offices.This trip not only allowed me to get to know Thailand more, but also some ofthe amazing people who work in our company.

Monday

The morning came quickly with all the excitement. I enjoyed my last American breakfast, loaded up the vans and headed off to meet our Thailand Volunteering Partners. The plan was to visit the Pariyat Pisarn School with the Education for Development Foundation (EDF). EDF has been awarding scholarships to students in this school through various partners (including salesforce.com). This was our first chance to visit the school, students and families of this area.

Upon arrival, the entire village gave us the warmest welcome including freshly-made leis, live music, melodious singing, cultural dancing and abundant blessings.

We were led to one of the school's open halls, where we enjoyed a welcome speech from the principal and were introduced to the teachers and staff. They began the Bai Sri Ceremony to receive white string bracelets tied on each of us by all the adults in the village. It's a token to bring us good luck and happiness.

We moved into our respective homes and got ready for dinner. The homes in the village were actually nicer than what I expected. I had seen pictures with wooden floors and thatched roofs on stilts. These homes were more modern, but still lacked some of the things we take for granted like flushable toilets or running hot water. Nevertheless, we were happy to have a place to sleep even if it did require a mosquito net for protection.

Tuesday

After a very quick bath from a bucket of water, we headed back to the school to take part in an age-old tradition, feeding the monks. Most Buddhist monks rely on the people in the surrounding villages to provide food in exchange for blessings and good fortune. Our surrogate family prepared baskets of rice and noodles, so we could take part in this tradition with the students and teachers.

We began the school day with the students, who stood in multiple single-file lines, singing their national anthem (I remember doing the same thing, but reciting the Pledge of Allegiance). After a few Muay Thai boxing moves to get the energy up, we were off to the classrooms to learn some famous English songs.

The plan was to teach the students some basic English through popular songs. We went for the obvious pick, "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" - this actually worked both ways, because we later learned the Thai translation. And in a relatively short time, we got the whole class room on their feet singing and gesturing, "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, Knees and Toes..."

Our next task was to paint the outside walls of their bathroom. They looked like they hadn't been touched in years, so it was our jobs to spice them up. With a few ideas in mind, we got to work. I must say, the finished product was quite impressive. Extra Kudos to Joyce Teo for her artistic styling that really brought the images to life.


Before	After

After a tasty Thai lunch, we trekked out through the village to visit some of the students who had received scholarships to learn more about their home and environment. Many of the families in this village make a living through farming and silk weaving. We were fortunate to visit the home of woman who was making silk right before our eyes. They breed the silk worms in their shed and when the cocoons are ready, they boil them and extract the silk from an ingenious machine. And the best part, they don't really let anything go to waste, after they get the silk from the cocoon, they enjoy consuming the silk worms as a protein-packed snack. (I passed at this part. I'm not really fear factor material).

Wednesday

Wednesday was a very important day in Thailand - Loy Krathong. Held on the 12^th full moon of the Thai calendar year (typically November for us), Loy Krathong appears to be a celebration of the River Goddess through the form of a festival of lights. Loy means "to float"and Krathong is a raft made from a decorated banana tree trunk. A candle and incense are placed on this raft and floated down the river to signify letting go of negative feelings, so you can start the New Year fresh.

We spent the morning with all the students creating all sorts of Krathongs that would later be cast down the river by many people from the villages. A few of the talented adults assisted the Salesforce team to complete our Krathong. I thought it looked great, but you should check out some of the others created by the villagers.

After honing my skills in arts and crafts, it was a quick lunch and back to painting. This time we focused on the walls surrounding the main halls. Again, I was so impressed by what the volunteers and students were able to achieve.

After some painting, we all cleaned up and prepared for the Loy Krathong festival that would happen later that night. Two things (in addition to floating the Krathong) that typically occur at the festival are fireworks and a beauty pageant. We were invited earlier to have a female representative from the team represent Salesforce, and the winner was...Lindsay Krebs! She was such a great sport and totally fit in, except for the fact that she was about a foot taller than the other contestants.

She didn't come in 1^st(probably a good idea, considering the other contestants had spent most of the year preparing for this night), but received a much deserved honorable reward.

Thursday

By the time Thursday arrived, you could already sense the trip had gone too fast. The theme for Thursday was Health Awareness. After a quick breakfast, all the students, volunteers and teachers marched around the village carrying various signs promoting healthy living to all those around. Two of my favorites: "Good Health is not for Sale" and the more direct, "Drink Milk, not Beer."

We concluded the Health Fair with one more important task that we should all be practicing- the importance of good dental hygiene. We went through some brushing "best practices" and provided new toothbrushes and toothpaste to all the students. We even gave them these interesting chewable tablets you can use to identify whereall the plaque resides on your teeth. Not the most appealing thing to see right before lunch.

We spent the afternoon back in the classroom helping the students read and write some simple English sentences. They were all given notebooks to practice what they learned. Those notebooks books quickly turned into a "yearbook," where each student came to the volunteers requesting a little message before we left. I soon came to realize the volunteer with the longest line of students was the one who had the most Sponge Bob SquarePants stickers (I still don't understand the fascination of that show).

Thursday night was our final night, so the school decided to take the stage from the Loy Krathong festival and set it up in the school. Various acts went on stage showcasing a variety of cultures throughout the night. We heard some speeches from the principal, Troy Westley and Julie Trell. We got to experience a very cool culture of New Zealand culture, the Haka, by Gareth Baker. We heard some stellar live jamming from Mike Burnside and others from the village. A group of us jumped on stage to show the people of Thailand some famous dances like the Hokey Pokey and Macarena. Julie said one little girl learned the Macarena after 2 minutes -nice job! J And then we danced until the elephants came home.

Friday

Friday morning was our last morning at the village. With all of our gear packed, we headed to the school for the closing ceremony. The village had been so kind during the whole trip and the students left a lasting impression. It was sad saying goodbye. Aftera number of closing remarks, we provided our home-stay families with various gifts (i.e. home supplies, chocolates, personal gifts). A woman from the village, and mother of one of the 12 scholars, created hand-made silk pillows for all of us as parting gifts. With along drive back ahead of us, we said our final goodbyes and loaded up the vans.

This trip to Thailand was one of my favorite experiences. Traveling to another country is always a pleasure, but it's not often we get to experience the world from another's perspective. For me, the combination of travelling the beaten trail and being able to help those who don't have the things we often take for granted was so rewarding. I only hope I was able to give them what they gave me. Regardless of what they did or did not have, the students, teachers and villagers were always smiling.For this reason, I now understand why they call Thailand The Land of a Thousand Smiles. I encourage everyone to really try and take advantage of your time to volunteer. Whether it's in your local town or across the globe, all volunteer work is so humbling and a responsibility we should remember as we continue to grow.

I appreciate your time,and recommend visiting my photo album for more pictures from the trip.

Kap Kun Kap! (Thank you!)

Sati

Success in the City - 4th Annual Dreamforce Volunteer Project

Julie Trell — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 21:22:23 -0500

Summary

A successful volunteer event with over 120 customers, partners, employees, and community members spend the day in the rain at Daniel Webster Elementary school

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November 11, 2008 San Francisco, CA

On Saturday, November 1st, over a hundred salesforce.com customers, partners, and employees came out in the rain to volunteer at Daniel Webster Elementary school. Due to major budget cuts this school is in desperate need to brighten up the building to make for a more inviting and conducive place for learning. Volunteers picked up their paint brushes and transformed the classrooms, the cafeteria, and the school office into a bright and colorful learning environment. Some volunteers including our sponsoring partner Astadia, along with other Power of Us partners including as VerticalResponse and Exponent Partners,ventured out in the rain to help remove some concrete, plant new trees, and some California native plants in front of the school. While other volunteers spent their time building over 20 planter boxes and benches for Daniel Webster and other local elementary schools. Even the youth had a special project creating colorful mosaic stepping stones for the local schools. Notable volunteers including Jim Steele, Chief Customer office and President of International Operations and former San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos spent the entire day giving their skills and enthusiasm to improve the school and connect with others on the same mission.

Jim SteeleThis was an amazing collaboration community project between salesforce.com, Astaida, Rebuilding Together SF, the Potrero Residents Education Fund, Plant SF, Friends of the Urban Forest, and the Depart of Public Works, and many other community members. Thank you all for getting involved and making a significant impact on Daniel Webster Elementary!

More photos and video to follow soon.....

「世界を変えるビジネス」がダイヤモンド社より出版されました

Rendo — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 02:41:38 -0400

Summary

The Japanese version of "The Business of changing the World" is now available!

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米セールスフォース・ドットコム社会長兼CEOのマーク・ベニオフの著書「The Business of Changing the World」の日本語版「世界を変えるビジネス」が、2008年9月ダイヤモンド社より発売されました。

なぜ企業が世界をより良い場所に変えることができるのか、なぜ行動を起こすべきなのか、どのように実行していくのかを、世界の20人のビジネスリーダーが自身の経験を踏まえながら明らかにしています。主要書店にてお求めください。

The Business of Changing The World, by Marc Benioff, Chairman and CEO of salesforce.com and Carlye Adler, has been published in Japanese. This book demonstrates the profound interdependency between businesses and the communities in which they operate. It reveals how every company can incorporate philanthropy into its business model and make a difference in the community. Believing that all businesses can and should help to make the world a better place, Benioff gathered together twenty outstanding business leaders to discuss how their companies and organizations have implemented an integrated approach to philanthropy. They each provide detailed strategies on how to successfully take the core resources of a company (people, product, and equity) and put them to work in the community.

Salesforce.com Sales Executives Help Carve Halloween

Julie Trell — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 21:43:08 -0400

Summary

Several Salesforce.com account executives spend an afternoon working 1 on 1 with a young person from Mid-Peninsula Boys and Girls Club in San Mateo.

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Dear Salesforce.com Volunteers,

What a pleasure it was to have the opportunity to host such a wonderful group of volunteers and to share with you the Mid-Peninsula Boys & Girls Club's mission and programs.

Our partnership with Salesforce.com is a valuable one. On behalf of the Board of Directors, Club Staff, and especially our members, I want to thank you for your help in strengthening our relationship with the communities we serve. It is your generosity, as Salesforce.com employees, that ensures our organization can continue being "The Positive Place for Kids".

As a reminder to all, these are a few of the many ways you can help our Club and your community:

Evening Enrichment Program: matches adult volunteers with one club member in need of academic assistance. The commitment is only one-night per week (M-Th, 6:15p - 7:15p) at our San Mateo Clubhouse.

Giving Tree Program: is our Holiday-gift drive. During the Holidays, the MPBGC hosts three (3) parties that are open to the whole community. At the end of this Holiday Celebration, each child who attends receives a gift. (Salesforce.com was one of our outstanding, major donors for the 2007 Giving Tree Program.)

Donate: You can make a difference in the lives of our members by donating to our Club. Log on to our secure website at: www.midpenbgc.org

Check out the employees and kids in action.

Mark P. Washbush

Development Director

Mid-Peninsula Boys & Girls Club