Giving back to a nonprofit doesn’t always mean donating money or volunteering. We are grateful to the many companies who offer us in-kind product or service donations that help us run smoother internally, put on events or simply function better day-to-day. For the past couple of years, Atlassian has greatly supported United Way for Greater Austin in a very behind-the-scenes way in addition to volunteer projects, such as sponsoring a family during the holidays. Atlassian is a team collaboration software company that helps teams organize, discuss and complete shared work. Last year, Atlassian donated one of its products, Hipchat, to the UWATX office. Hipchat is a team chat service that allows our staff to share files, ask quick questions, video chat when we are working outside the office and—do not underestimate the importance of this—share gifs with each other. This was a HUGE upgrade for our staff, who formerly relied on either emails or poking our heads into each others offices to ask questions. Since the implementation of Hipchat, it has been much easier for UWATX staff to communicate quickly without interrupting each other and spend our time more productively. This year, Atlassian gave us an even bigger gift: Confluence. Confluence is an amazing team content and collaboration platform that provides an intranet for United Way for Greater Austin. We now have all of the information an employee could possibly want to know about UWATX all in one place. It helps us better manage projects, allows others to see what […]
Read MoreLocal Companies Sponsor Families For the Holidays
The holiday season is a favorite time of the year for many of us. It’s not the presents or bright lights or parties that make the season, but rather the warm feeling we get from remembering what is most important in life: gratitude, friendship, family, community, fellowship and feeling cared for. During the holiday season United Way for Greater Austin receives an outpouring of generosity from the community through volunteer efforts, donations and overall holiday joy. We too like to take part in that joy by partnering with companies to sponsor and thank the families who are featured in our marketing materials throughout the year. Thanks to the generosity of both NXP (formerly known as Freescale) and Atlassian, ten families were “adopted” this year for the holidays. Employees from NXP and Atlassian contributed their own personal dollars to purchase and wrap gifts for each family member. Gifts included toys from personal wish lists, clothing, shoes and household items, including TVs and iPads. Many of the families asked for simple necessities, such as baking dishes and coats for the kids. “At NXP, giving back is part of our DNA. We are proud to partner with the United Way to support making the holidays special for nine families in the greater Austin area. Our employees have really stepped up this year to support more families and try to make a difference in Austin.” –Rick Morales, NXP In addition, KPMG gave each family a holiday meal kit so that families could share a warm and […]
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