Pledge 1% Program Launched to Celebrate, Foster and Inspire Early Stage Corporate Philanthropy

Founding partners Atlassian, Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado and the Salesforce Foundation set target of securing 500 pledges by #GivingTuesday 2015

Boulder, CO., December 2, 2014 – Atlassian, Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado and the Salesforce Foundation today announced the Pledge 1% program, setting a target of securing 500 pledges by #GivingTuesday 2015, December 1, 2015. The program is the result of corporate social responsibility leaders coming together to encourage and challenge their peers to pledge 1% of their company’s equity, product and employee time for their communities.

“When our company was small we made a public 1% pledge so that our employees and the world would hold us accountable,” said Scott Farquhar, co-founder and co-CEO, Atlassian. “We pledged 1% of equity, profit, employee time and software licenses. That little 1% decision at the beginning has turned into more than $30M aimed at making the world a better place. We want to empower other entrepreneurs to join the movement and we believe the Pledge 1% program will help them make one of the best choices of their lives.”

“When founding Rally Software, we made the commitment to pledge 1% of our personal and corporate equity to benefit the community and create the Rally Foundation. With Rally’s 2013 IPO, these early efforts translated into the largest single gift to our community foundation and in turn, gave a substantial boost to Rally's social mission of creating Citizen Engineers,” said Ryan Martens, co-founder and CTO, Rally Software; co-founder and board member, Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado. “This commitment has had a huge impact on our overall corporate culture and values. I encourage all entrepreneurs to make this same pledge to society.”

"Fifteen years ago, Salesforce transformed corporate philanthropy with the 1-1-1 model of integrated giving and it was one of the best decisions we've ever made," said Suzanne DiBianca, president, Salesforce Foundation. "Leading companies like Google and Yelp have already adopted all or part of Salesforce's 1-1-1 model and with the Pledge 1% program, even more companies will be inspired to create an impact in the communities where they live and work."

The Pledge 1% website details how companies can pledge 1% of their equity, product and employee time, empowering companies to take the pledge with the support of the Pledge 1% program. By providing a turnkey solution with tools, best practices and relevant information, the website is intended to make it easy for any company or person to incorporate philanthropy into their business model from the beginning.

#GivingTuesday is a global day dedicated to giving back. Businesses, charities, community centers, families and students around the world come together for one common purpose: to give and celebrate generosity. By launching Pledge 1% on #GivingTuesday 2014, the hope is to inspire, facilitate and further encourage giving by companies around the world and achieve a goal of 500 company pledges in one year.

The Pledge 1% movement already boasts an impressive roster of entrepreneurs, executives, founders, venture capitalists and companies who have pledged to improve their local communities, including Cotap, Foundry Group, Google, InsideSales.com, Optimizely, Rally Software and Yelp. Additional Pledge 1% partners, including B Lab, The Robin Hood Foundation, SV Angel, TechStars and UpGlobal, have committed to help grow that roster by encouraging the early stage companies they work with to make giving back a priority.

To learn more about how your company can take the pledge, visit www.pledge1percent.org.

About Pledge 1%:

Pledge 1% is a movement dedicated to making the world a better place by inspiring, fostering, and celebrating early stage corporate philanthropy. Pledge 1% encourages and challenges individuals and companies to pledge 1% of equity, product, and employee time for their communities, because pledging a small portion of future success today can have a huge impact tomorrow. The Pledge 1% website provides a turnkey solution featuring tools, best practices and relevant information, making it easy for any company or person to incorporate philanthropy into their business model from the beginning. To learn more or to take the pledge, please visit http://www.pledge1percent.org.

About Atlassian:

Atlassian unlocks the potential in every team. Our products help teams collaborate, build software and serve their customers better. Nearly 40,000 large and small organizations – including Citigroup, eBay, Coca-Cola, Netflix and NASA – use Atlassian’s tracking, collaboration, communication, service management and development products to work smarter and deliver quality results on time. Learn about products including JIRA, Confluence, HipChat, Bitbucket and Stash at http://atlassian.com.

About Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado:

The Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado (EFCO) is a network of Colorado entrepreneurs whose companies share a common commitment to pledge a portion of founding equity or a portion of annual profits to the community. By creating a culture of corporate philanthropy from an early stage, EFCO member companies instill the values of community support into their organizations and into the communities in which they reside. For more information about EFCO, visit http://efcolorado.org.

About Salesforce Foundation:

The Salesforce Foundation is based on a simple idea: leverage 1% of Salesforce’s product, equity and time to improve communities around the world. We call this integrated philanthropic approach the 1-1-1 model. Since the Foundation's inception in 1999, Salesforce technology has powered more 23,000 nonprofit and higher education institutions; we've provided more than $73 million in grants; and our employees have logged more than 743,000 volunteer hours throughout the world. For more information on the Salesforce Foundation, please visit www.salesforcefoundation.org.

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