January 7, 2025
January 7, 2025
In January 2016, Mission North rolled out our E3thos Program and 2-2-2 philanthropy model, to hit the ground running in our efforts to give back. Armed with our three E’s — empowerment, equality and environment — we pledged 2 percent of our time, profits and partner equity to support local organizations in New York City and San Francisco.
Now, as January 2017 approaches, we can see the remarkable impact giving back has had on our employee’s happiness, motivation to contribute, and investment in this essential Mission North value.
Not only did Mission North increase each employee’s paid time off to volunteer from eight hours each year to 40 hours, both coasts also partnered with local organizations to invest in the education of children in our communities. Employees spent their personal volunteering hours talking with English-language learners through New York Cares, tending to and harvesting the garden at the Esalen retreat center and helping children in our community learn to read through Read Aloud, to name a few.
San Francisco has partnered with San Francisco Education Fund’s “Circle the Schools” program at Moscone Elementary School:
In addition to donating our time, we’ve supported many organizations, nominated by employees, through our monthly Local Impact Grant of $1,000. We donated to Lava Mae, The Innocence Project, PAWS (Pets Are Wonderful Support), Watsi, Playworks, Taking it to the Streets, Equality Florida Action, Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, and Beats for Boobs.
This fall, we supported a group of diverse nonprofits. Our October recipient, Cake4Kids, bakes and delivers birthday cakes for underprivileged children who typically wouldn’t receive a cake, in hopes of raising their self-esteem on their special day. "We've given to Cake4Kids for the past several years because the cause is so special and important,” says partner and general manager Bill Bourdon. “So many children, whether living in foster care or challenging home situations, don't get the luxury of a birthday cake. Cake4Kids lets them know people in their lives really do care.
"For the remainder of the year, in response to the senseless acts of police brutality and therise of race-related crimes in the U.S., we brainstormed organizations to give back to that work to promote minority voices and fight these issues.
Our pick for November was Families United For Racial & Economic Justice (FUREE). FUREE is a subset of the Fifth Avenue Committee, a community-based organization that strives to advance social and economic justice in South Brooklyn. FUREE organizes and unites low-income families to build strength and fight against systems of oppression. Some of their campaigns include demanding public housing accountability in New York City, empowering youth groups in public housing environments, providing food and environmental justice for underprivileged communities, and increasing voter and political engagement.
For December, we chose the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) as the Local Impact Grant recipient. Since 1920, the ACLU has worked to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the U.S. It works through litigation, lobbying, and community empowerment, and provides legal assistance in cases when it considers civil liberties to be at risk.
As we look forward to 2017, we see even more work to be done. Reflecting on 2016, we’ve made a huge impact and are looking forward to many years of giving ahead.
