Salesforce, the 22-year-old cloud-based sales and marketing platform, was founded with philanthropy baked into its core, but the major events of 2020 changed the way its corporate leaders think about giving. Ebony Beckwith, chief philanthropy officer at Salesforce and CEO of the Salesforce Foundation told Cheddar that COVID-19 and recent social justice movements are now transforming corporate philanthropy.
"I feel like people are really starting to understand the power of corporate philanthropy at the cellular level right now, and I'm really happy to see more companies stepping up because it's really a collective effort," she said.
While the foundation has been pursuing philanthropic programs for two decades, over the last year, she said, the company has shifted its charitable priorities from education and career attainment to a broader suite of issues.
"At Salesforce, our vision has always been to ensure that everyone has equal access to a quality education, a meaningful career, and the opportunity to really reach that full potential, but we're starting to think about it differently since last year," Beckwith stated.
In particular, the company is focused on closing the racial funding gap by supporting more nonprofit leaders of color.
"We're also investing in areas like civic engagement, food security, and access to capital because we see that all of those issues are so deeply connected."
Top-down planning is only part of Salesforce's philanthropic strategy. It also hopes to tap employees to gauge their own interests and concerns.
Beckwith said that Salesforce employees have volunteered a total of 5.7 million service hours.
"Employees want to be working for organizations who put their money where their mouth is, who allow them to give back, who allow them to take time off of work, even if they're working from home now," she added.
Nvidia on Wednesday became the first public company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion. The ravenous appetite for the Silicon Valley company’s chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023.
Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global, breaks down September’s CPI print and inflation trends, explaining what it means for markets.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
Tesla, the car company run by Elon Musk, reported Wednesday that it sold more vehicles in the past three months after boycotts hit hard earlier this year, but profits still fell sharply. Third-quarter earnings fell to $1.4 billion, from $2.2 billion a year earlier. Excluding charges, per share profit of 50 cents came in below analysts' estimate. Tesla shares fell 3.5% in after-hours trading. Musk said the company's robotaxi service, which is available in Austin, Texas, and San Francisco, will roll out to as many as 10 other metro areas by the end of the year.
