CRO Conference: Salesforce.com CEO Gives Talk on Integrating Philanthropy

Benioff breaks down the foundation’s unique giving structure in San Francisco keynote address

By Danielle Lee

SAN FRANCISCO—Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff realized some corporate priorities were out of order when a Washington, D.C., school needed a Marine battalion, summoned by America’s Promise Alliance Founding Chair Colin Powell, to transport some computers several years ago.

Before Powell was brought in, Benioff, then an Oracle executive, and another Oracle volunteer, tried to help the school, but the two weren’t up to the scale of the task.

Thus, Benioff vowed at the time: “When I start a company, I’m going to integrate strategic corporate philanthropy in the business.”

Benioff cited the anecdote in outlining the basics of Salesforce.com’s philanthropy program in a keynote address to some 200 attendees at the CRO Summer Conference 2008 here June 18.

The CRO awarded Benioff the CEO of the Year award for middle market (defined as companies with $100 million-$1 billion in revenues) following his address. The remaining six 2008 CEO of the Year Awards of varying revenue categories will be announced and presented Sept. 10 at the CRO Conference in Chicago.

Benioff made good on his philanthropy-integration promise. The sales-automation software company was founded in 1999, and the Salesforce.com Foundation a few months later. Benioff established the “1/1/1 model,” in which one percent of company equity, one percent of profits and one percent of employee hours are invested in community programs and charities.

Voicing a common theme throughout the day’s subsequent panels and keynotes, Benioff explained that early integration was key to the model’s success, and that also made it financially feasible in the company’s early days.

Benioff also championed the model for other companies, noting Salesforce.com’s influential role in the corporate philanthropy space and awards for ethical behavior.

But, he took issue with some company’s efforts, including those of his former employer, Oracle.

Benioff noted that Oracle, with 80,000 employees, recently announced a volunteer goal of 25,000 hours of employee volunteer service.

“That would be 15 minutes,” per employee, Benioff said. “That’s a very quick trip to the food bank.”

Benioff’s speech was preceded by a video presentation of Salesforce.com Foundation’s work, which has included disaster aid, scholarships through its Biz Academy program and free use of its software services for various nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), including the San Francisco-based Project Homeless Connect (PHC).

PHC Director Judith Klain attended the conference and spoke about this partnership.

In its mission to transition the homeless off the streets, Salesforce.com’s “user-friendly” data tracking services and donations have helped PHC serve almost 24,000 clients—12 percent of which are now permanently housed—since September 2004, Klain said.

PHC is one of 4,000 NGOs Salesforce.com has provided with grants, online service access and employee volunteer hours.

The company gives employees six days of paid time off annually to volunteer and half of their second day of work is devoted to community service, said foundation Executive Director Susan DiBianca, who also spoke to the conference participants.

In addition to donor and fundraising management, DiBianca said she was surprised to discover that 70 percent NGOs use the Salesforce.com platform to “measure program metrics to report better data to funders.”

Early in his address, Benioff touched on the convergence of numbers that drive the 1/1/1 philosophy for Salesforce.com’s 3,000 employees and $950 million revenue.

“It’s about the company itself, not the money,” he said. “The assets of the company are the value of the company.”