Oracle Volunteers come together to deliver 4,000 Acts of Kindness

What started as a typical water cooler conversation between colleagues about the impact of giving has now turned into 4,000 Acts of Kindness, a weeklong initiative (February 12-18) by our North America Applications (NAA) team focused on making a difference. “A big part of my team’s role is to understand what drives great employee engagement at Oracle,” says Debi Shupe, Director of NAA Employee Experience. “We quickly realized that our folks are happiest when they’re doing good, and we’re passionate about so many diverse causes that have a positive impact on our communities. So, we asked ourselves, ‘What if we found a way to connect all that passion on a larger scale?’”

Shupe was on to something. Recent research from the Stanford Graduate School of Business suggests that company-sponsored volunteering not only helps to boost social bonding among coworkers, but it also helps to create a sense of shared identity between employees and employers.

Many small acts making a big difference

The idea gained traction over the next few weeks, as more and more team members shared their experiences as Oracle Volunteers and the impact that’s had on their personal and professional lives. Shupe’s team partnered with Oracle Volunteering to curate over 60 impactful activities in 34 cities around the world. With a critical mass of roughly 4,000 members in NAA, the team quickly realized “If we all do just one little thing, together, we can make a big difference!” And thus #4000ActsOfKindness was born.

While new #4000ActsOfKindness projects are added daily to the total list of Oracle Volunteering opportunities, there is already a diverse set of projects including:

• Participating in a Community Cleanup in Seattle with Ronald McDonald House Charities Seattle
• Knitting Hugs for Hospice in Ontario with Heart House for Hospice
• Packing meals in Bangalore, India with Rise Against Hunger India
• Providing meals for the community with the Central Texas Food Bank
• Rescuing senior dogs in San Francisco with Muttville
• Mentoring students in Connecticut with the Carver Foundation of Norwalk

Follow #4000ActsOfKindness

If you want to track progress of the initiative, follow #4000ActsOfKindness and #OracleVolunteers on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.