This post is part of a series profiling the 2014 #SoGood Award winners announced at June’s State of Innovation Forum. These worthy winners are companies and individuals who are heavily contributing to social good in Boston and beyond. Read their stories to discover how you can give back.
When you think TripAdvisor, what comes to mind? World’s largest travel site? Billion dollar Boston company? How about socially responsible corporate culture, altruistic employees, or generous donations to charity?
Many don’t realize that TripAdvisor is one of the most philanthropic companies here in the Hub. Not only does the travel site have its very own humanitarian fund - The TripAdvisor Charitable Foundation - but also nurtures a culture of activism and generosity.
The TripAdvisor Charitable Foundation empowers employees to fulfill their desire to those in need. Every year, TripAdvisor Media Group contributes 2 percent of the past year’s earnings to the TripAdvisor Charitable Foundation. The employees, then, are the ones who decide where that money goes by submitting applications for charities to receive grants.
“Since its inception in 2010, the TripAdvisor Charitable Foundation has raised more than 8 million dollars,” Brooke Ferencsik, Director of Communications at TripAdvisor, said.
The Foundation has donated to more than 50 charities. Recent grantees include Partners in Health, Habitat for Humanity, and the Life is Good Foundation.
TripAdvisor also encourages employees to volunteer both on their own and on the company’s time, organizing annual service days and participating in Habitat for Humanity trips. If an employee wants to give back outside the office, they’ll have no problem at TripAdvisor. The company not only supports volunteerism, but provides plenty of opportunities to do so. Most recently, TripAdvisor Charitable Foundation partnered with Bootstrap, an afterschool program where tech professionals teach students math by showing them how to code real-life applications.
“We have about 15 different TripAdvisor engineers and non-engineers who go every week and they teach in public schools in disadvantaged areas around Boston,”Jenny Rushmore Director of Responsible Travel at TripAdvisor said. “They’re teaching algebra by teaching the kids how to program video games.”
It is this kind innovative activism that makes TripAdvisor more than worthy of the 2014 #SoGood Corporate Initiative Award. By setting the social good standard from the top down, TripAdvisor is a model for operating a successful billion dollar corporation with a conscience.
