Tripadvisor has been a Donii Partner since 2018. In that time, Tripadvisor employees have used Donii to donate more than $30,000 worth of goods, straight out of their homes and closets. We talked to Kayla Mottola, Manager of Global Social Impact Programs at Tripadvisor, to find out more about how they view the intersection of community impact and employee engagement, and where Donii fits in.
Donii: Tripadvisor does an amazing job of making sure employees are involved in social impact efforts. Why is that important to you?
KM: The passion and commitment of Tripadvisor employees is the driving force behind the social impact efforts of Tripadvisor and the Tripadvisor Charitable Foundation. Through TripGives [Tripadvisor’s global employee giving and volunteer program] we want to help employees become more thoughtful and active global citizens. It's important for us to give them access to information that helps them better understand human lives and communities around the world and the ability to drive change through hands-on opportunities, and to help them support the organizations that matter most to them.
Donii: That is an awesome mission. How do you make sure your people are successfully engaged?
KM: By providing choice and ongoing relevant content and communications. The TripGives Portal, our online employee platform, enables this by providing a way for employees to match their charitable gifts to the organizations of their choice, track volunteer hours to receive rewards to give to the organizations of their choice, create content like fundraising pages for the organizations they care about and so much more. We also communicate to our employees often and invest in creating engaging content that is shared via multiple internal channels to make sure that we are always raising awareness and that TripGives stays top of mind.
Donii: Do you find that Donii fits into that philosophy of active employee choice?
KM: Yes - similar to the TripGives Portal, Donii enables employee choice by allowing our people to choose the organization that receives their in-kind donations. More importantly, we like that the choices they are provided are based specifically on the items they are donating and the needs of that organization.
Donii: Can you share any impact stories you've received from Donii nonprofit partners?
KM: One of our employees donated an Anne Klein suit to FamilyAid Boston that helped a single mother of three who had been recently laid-off to find a new job she's passionate about, and that has helped her continue to support her family. We were told that the donated suit not only gave her something to wear but helped give her the confidence she needed to ace her interview and land the job!
Donii: Love it! How do your employees feel about Donii as a physical amenity of your office?
KM: Donii is at both our Tripadvisor's Needham, MA headquarters [in the mail room] and Boston office location [at the reception desk], and it provides a level of convenience and accessibility for our employees year-round. Having the Donii kiosk on site allows employees to donate right from work and we often use Donii to coordinate office-wide, themed drives for a specific organization or moments in time, like Back to School.
Thank you Tripadvisor: we are so grateful for partnership, and our nonprofit partners are even more grateful for your donations!
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