The Power of Giving, Multiplied: #GivingTuesday at Cisco

This blog post was guest-written by Shannon Lappin Davies, Communications Manager, Cisco Community Relations.

Once again, the spirit of the giving season is upon us. The first Tuesday after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday is now celebrated globally as #GivingTuesday. This is truly a special day for doing good and helping nonprofits around the world through the power of social media, technology, and collaboration.

#GivingTuesday continues this tradition in its sixth year, and at Cisco, we believe that through the power of teams, technology and collaboration, we can multiply our impact to benefit the causes our employees care about.

As part of our Be the Bridge: Annual Giving Campaign, we are launching a 1-day Twitter challenge to recognize and highlight the exemplary work of nearly 20 nonprofit partners in communities around the world.

Both our employees and social media teams will be able to follow along on social channels and proactively “be the bridge” in recognition of the causes of their choice. While we traditionally highlight Be the Bridge during the holiday season, we celebrate a culture of inclusiveness year-round at Cisco, where employees can choose to participate in our giving and matching gifts program to support the causes they care about.

Our Be the Bridge campaign is just one reminder of the many year-round opportunities to give back, and it’s a key component of our Moments that Matter—when all Cisco employees can truly make a difference.

Moving from East to West, we are beginning the #GivingTuesday Twitter challenge in China and ending the day in the U.S; sending Tweets acknowledging donations from employees around the world throughout the day.

For every retweet of the original country-level tweet we post on the @CiscoCitizen handle, we’ll donate an additional US$1 to identified organizations, up to US$10,000 (aggregate total contribution for all participating organizations). The #GivingTuesday retweet challenge closes at 5:00 p.m. local time in all markets.

Below are the nonprofits our global Cisco Citizen Network volunteers have selected in the areas where Cisco has a presence and employee base. These selections were made based on past donation trends and a desire to highlight the excellent work happening in these worldwide communities:

International Locations | Organization | Handle
| |
Belgium | Greenlight for Girls | @Green4girls
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Chile | Corporacion Red de Alimentos | @RedAlimentos
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Canada | TakingIT | @takingitglobal
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Colombia | Colombianitos | @colombianitos
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China | Shanghai United Foundation |
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France | Action Contre la Faim | @ACF_France
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India | Akshaya Patra | @AkshayaPatra
| |
Israel | Leket Israel | @leketisrael
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Italy | Action Aid Italy | @ActionAidItalia
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Mexico | Habitat for Humanity Mexico | @HabitatMexico
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Netherlands | Habitat for Humanity Netherlands | @HabitatNL
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Portugal | Re-Food | @re_food
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Poland | Polish Humanitarian Action | @PAH_org
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Spain | Fundacion Capacis | @FCapacis
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Switzerland | Save the Children Switzerland | @STC_Schweiz
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United Kingdom | Trussell Trust | @TrussellTrust
| |
U.S. Locations | Organization | Handle
| |
Atlanta, Georgia | Atlanta Community Food Bank | @ACFB
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Austin, Texas | Caritas of Austin | @caritasofaustin
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RTP, North Carolina | Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina | @FoodBankCENC
| |
San Jose, California | Family Giving Tree | @FGTweets

Now through the end of December—and for that matter, year-round—we hope to inspire thousands of employees globally to support their causes of choice through donations and matching funds in our Be the Bridge Campaign.

Join us today on #GivingTuesday to help spread the word. Let your social networks see how you are “being the bridge.” We encourage you to share your stories on social media using the hashtags #WeAreCisco and #BetheBridge.

If you’re a Cisco employee and want to make your own Moments That Matter, visit our internal Be the Bridge community and see how you can continue to make a meaningful impact locally and globally.

Whenever and however employees choose to give, Be the Bridge celebrates our culture of giving at Cisco!