Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals Together
This year I had the opportunity to attend my very first Dreamforce. It was a great experience, and something I especially appreciated was Salesforce’s commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs are 17 goals created by the United Nations to promote and achieve prosperity for all while protecting the environment. These goals keep us all focused and are central to the work I have done throughout my career.
Before Idealist Consulting, I worked at nonprofits that serve communities from all over the world. In Portland, I started at Adelante Mujeres, where I helped develop a holistic small business development program for Latinx entrepreneurs. After that, I pursued humanitarian work in Guatemala. There, I spent time at a co-op that provides economic opportunities for women living in rural areas.
The SDGs, although not necessarily named, have philosophically been central to these organizations’ work and my personal values. Adelante Mujeres and Maya Traditions Foundation both contributed to achieving gender equality (Goal 5) and providing sustainable economic growth (Goal 8).
Now, at Idealist Consulting, I get to work with a variety of organizations that each help accomplish SDGs. Rob Jordan founded Idealist Consulting with the goal of acting as a hub within the nonprofit space and to build partnerships through our services. Rob’s intention addresses Goal 17, which says we need to work together to meet the Global Goals. As Head of Client Success, Goal 17 is significant to me because I aim to ensure that the organizations we work with are more successful through our partnership.
To celebrate this direction of Salesforce focusing on the SDGs, I want to highlight some clients we’ve worked with that are making strides to reach those goals, and how they are leveraging technology to do that.
One22 and Goal #1
One22 provides a variety of services to the people in the Greater Teton community. Those services include emergency financial assistance, language assistance, immigrant services, and scholarships. Ultimately, the services they offer help their community thrive and provide the skills and resources to leave and stay out of poverty. That’s why the work they do ultimately contributes to Goal 1: end all poverty.
One22 was originally three separate organizations that eventually merged. The merger made them realize that they needed to connect that data from the three organizations. That’s when we helped them align with Salesforce. By moving the whole organization to Salesforce, they can keep track of everything and have accurate reporting. This allows them to measure their impact and to see areas they can focus on to better their community.
BOKS and Goal #3
BOKS is an initiative from the Reebok Foundation that promotes physical and mental health for school children. They have volunteers and trainers all around the globe that help run before-school programs for students, to promote stimulated bodies and minds to nurture effective learning.
Goal 3 of the SDGs aims to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. BOKS does exactly that. But in striving to achieve that goal, they needed a way to keep track of programs and make sure children were getting the proper physical activity. To do that, they came to us, and we helped optimize their Salesforce instance for growth and expansion.
Child Care Aware of Washington and Goal #4
Ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all is the objective of Goal 4. Child Care Aware of Washington is helping make that a reality in their state. Their mission is to ensure that every family in Washington has access to high-quality and early learning education. They provide resources to help families find child care, improve child-care programs, and advocate for effective policy that ensures accessible and inclusive child care.
We recently worked with them to help migrate them off their old databases onto Salesforce. Moving their data to Salesforce cut back on administrative tasks, ensured better quality data, and ultimately reduced costs. More efficient processes allows for more investment towards their mission.
What Goal Matters to You?
I get to work with some great organizations that are making contributions to the SDGs. But there is more work to be done if we want to reach the goals by 2030. The most recent report warns us that “a much deeper, faster and more ambitious response is needed” for us to meet these goals. What goal matters to you and your organization, and what are your plans to accomplish that goal? What can we do in partnership to work towards these goals?
What to Learn More How Technology can Help You?
Feel free to contact us and ask how Salesforce can help increase your impact and create efficiency at your organization. We would love to see how we can partner up to help.
