At Avanade, our Corporate Citizenship mission is to “Enable young people and their communities to do more through the power of our people and digital innovation.” The year 2018 was a whirlwind one for Corporate Citizenship, as we put our mission into action in ways that magnified the #humanimpact Avanade people have in their communities and throughout the world.

Partnering with Junior Achievement to coach and mentor young people

In 2018, Avanade supercharged our partnership with Junior Achievement, building on strong relationships we already had with JA Europe. This year we named JA our premier partner, aligning our commitments to make a genuine impact in the lives of young people around the world. Avanade CEO Adam Warby was named Chair of the Board for JA Europe and the entire global Avanade organization stepped up to become Junior Achievement’s Global Technology Partner, allowing us to use our deep expertise and global network of technology experts to fuel JA’s own digital transformation.

Our work with JA is making a difference. In December, Rodrigo De Queiroz Caserta, a member of our Corporate Citizenship Council representing Avanade’s Growth Markets area, shared that in its year of partnering with JA Avanade Brazil had mentored 85 girls through Junior Achievement in 2018 and is aiming to help another 200 in 2019. The Brazil team’s goal mirrors our Avanade global goal to have a meaningful number of our people involved with Junior Achievement in 2019 to ensure we make a genuine human impact.

Encouraging women in technology through the Avanade STEM Scholarship program

As we begin 2019, 58 young women are receiving Avanade STEM Scholarships, as part of Avanade’s commitment to encourage women to pursue careers in technology. In 2018 the first recipients of our 15 for 15 scholarship program graduated, and three of our Cal Poly Pomona alumnae began careers with Avanade, soon to be joined by one more. Other scholars have started out on promising careers with other prestigious companies, and several others have decided to pursuing master’s degrees.

With the University of Washington Bothell, Canada Waterloo and Faculdade Impacta and Universidade Católica in Brazil joining the program in 2019, we are set for another momentous year.

Building for tomorrow: Technology for Social Good

In 2018 I was particularly thrilled to be involved in the launch of our progressive new Technology for Social Good business venture, in which Avanade is partnering with Microsoft to use Microsoft technologies to power global non-profit organizations.

Avanade, Microsoft and other companies became founding members of the NetHope Center for the Digital Non-profit (CDN) to drive the organization’s social innovation agenda. In a Microsoft blog post, Justin Spelhaug, General Manager of Microsoft Philanthropies, Technology for Social Impact, spoke about how we’ll collaborate to build Dynamics 365 Non-profit Accelerator on the Microsoft Common Data Model for Non-profits. The program will allow NetHope members and other non-profits to leverage Microsoft technologies, powered by Avanade. We’ll develop repeatable solutions specifically for non-profits in collaboration with our social sector clients, ensuring we can deliver excellence and affordability.

#humanimpact powered by Avanade people

Our people are core to everything we do at Avanade. In 2018, Avanade people contributed their own resources and time to make a difference in their communities around the world. In 2018, Avanade people raised: Almost $100K for charities through our Avanade Gives corporate match program. $70K in our December Season of Giving campaign, which included a special call to support the victims of the California wildfires through the American Red Cross. $20K for Awamu, a Uganda-based charity that supports underprivileged children and young women, by an innovative program that linked playing our popular Avanade Quiz with donations to Awamu.

In addition, people at Avanade volunteered 800+ hours in their own communities as part of our Avanade Volunteers program, in which each employee has eight hours of paid time each year to volunteer with a non-profit of their choice. We will continue to look for opportunities for our people to deliver human impact through our corporate citizenship programs in 2019.

Finally, as I complete my first year at Avanade, allow me a moment of personal reflection. I feel privileged and humbled to lead Corporate Citizenship and to work with such a fantastic and genuine group of people who really care about making a difference. We have lots of fantastic plans in place for 2019 to scale our efforts, grow our impact and continue to provide Avanade people with opportunities and innovative ways to serve their communities. I look forward to sharing our progress at this time next year as we continue to “empower young people and their communities to do more through the power of our people and digital innovation.”