At Incognito, we do what we can to be socially responsible. I’m writing this not to be boastful, but to hopefully encourage others to chip in, at any level they can, in any way they see fit. Our headquarters is located close to what used to be “skid row” in Vancouver. Homelessness is still an issue that society needs to tackle and try to improve. Every year, a local group publishes a calendar called Hope in Shadows that is sold throughout Vancouver, and contains moving images of people in their element in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. The funds raised empower, educate, and provide training to low-income people in this area and beyond. We are proud to sponsor this program and encourage you to purchase a copy of the calendar for this worthwhile cause. We have also recently started sponsoring Breakfast Club Canada, an initiative that supplies breakfast for kids at our local community center. For this, we provide some funds and the time for our employees to go and serve a nutritious meal to the little tykes.
Internally, Incognito sponsors any event that employees participate in, and will usually match, and sometimes triple-match, employee donations. We encourage employees to bring forward causes that are dear to them so we can launch internal campaigns. For instance, last year someone brought to our attention the need for vaccination in developing countries. For $100, we could immunize an entire village. In the end, we were able to immunize more than 50 villages. In the past some of our employees have even requested that we donate their bonuses to charity. If they choose to do this, we’ll match their funds.
Donation-matching is just one way to contribute. We also sponsor employees who volunteer their time during business hours. We always sponsor a breast cancer event and recently finished Movember. Employees have brought all of these campaigns to my attention and I am proud and happy to support them in their quest to enhance their own social responsibility.
Social responsibility is something that we all need to take part of. I try to spend my life with one idea in mind: no matter how bad my day is, someone out there is having a day that is much worse. So try to forget your own little bubble, smile, and help someone if you can. Maybe you have some free time, maybe you can organize a crowd, or maybe you have some funds that you can contribute. Who knows, you might discover that what you get out of doing this is much greater than what you put in. I know I enjoy the little that I do, and I’m sure you will too.
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