Why Spreetailers Give Back: A Reason for Every Season

Community Impact is woven throughout our company culture. Many events during the year focus on how we can elevate our social impact. This starts day one in onboarding, where new hires write letters to frontline workers. As they continue their careers at Spreetail, they can participate in our bi-annual Volunteer Week and our End of Year Celebration giving back event. This not only applies to full-time team members, as our interns collaborate on a community project every summer.  

While our teams work hard to identify ways to positively impact our community partners, we understand team members may align with nonprofits outside of our company-wide programming. We want all Spreetailers to contribute to causes they are passionate about and believe will revolutionize our communities. To allow for this inclusive approach, we have opportunities for team members to give back through donation matching, community time off, referral prize donations, and the Spreetail Spotlight Community Leader of the Quarter Award.

Donation Matching

Beginning on your first day, all full-time and intern Spreetailers can double their impact by submitting their donations to eligible nonprofit organizations for Spreetail to match. Annually, our company will match up to $250, which increases to $500 and $1000 after being employed for 3 years and 5 years, respectively. We asked three team members who continue to donate year over year, what motivates them to utilize this benefit?

• “#Actlikeanowner - in my eyes this extends past the walls of Spreetail to our communities. If I want the community to be better, I must do my part - the donation match allows me to maximize my impact.” Ashley Lowry, People Operations Facilities Specialist

• “Helping others around us, in the communities we live in, is part of Spreetail's DNA. In addition to opportunities for us to get out and be hands on with our community partners, it is awesome that Spreetail allows employees to extend beyond that by donation matching. We all have causes that we are passionate about. Although mine may not be the exact same as yours, Spreetail recognizes that there is a myriad of ways to affect our communities and allows employees to double down on giving a damn. All it takes is to have a cause you care about and fill out a simple form to double your contribution to a cause in need. It is an easy decision.”- Skirell Jones, Partnership Development Manager

• “I serve on a nonprofit board in Lincoln called The Hub Central Access Point. We focus on helping young people have the support and resources they need to thrive as adults. Every year I donate to The Hub, and Spreetail matches my donation, meaning I can double my financial impact, which doubles the impact my dollars can make on young people right here in Lincoln.”   - Emily Olinger, Head of People & Culture

Community Time Off

We understand giving back to communities can come in many forms, and some team members prefer to donate their time over money. In 2019, we launched paid volunteer time off for all full-time Spreetailers. Every year, team members can take an extra three paid days or six paid half-days off to give back to causes they care about. As a Spreetailer, they can choose a charity of their choice or work together with other team members in a group effort to give back.

• “Volunteering gives me the opportunity to make an impact in the community that helps better the community. I also believe empowering others through volunteering will give the opportunity to someone less fortunate to make the impact on the world they want to. It is awesome that Spreetail has such a great benefit that allows us to be part of the effort to make our community a better place. I encourage everyone to utilize this benefit in one way or another because when it comes to volunteering, even the smallest amount of effort can lead to the biggest impact.” - Logan Nadgwick, Payables Associate

• “I love that Spreetail offers CTO because it gives me a chance to help my community when it's needed - which sometimes falls within office hours. This world has been flipped upside down and it warms my heart to be able to help those who are in need.” - Mariah Drullinger, Vendor Performance Coordinator

• “I've been very fortunate in my life to have many blessings and opportunities that have allowed me to do whatever and be whoever I want to be. I volunteer because I want to use my ability to either directly or indirectly impact the life of someone else by giving them an opportunity, giving them a chance at something that positively impacts them.” - Nate Williamson, Manager of Vendor Managers

Referral Prize Donations

At Spreetail, we reward team members who refer others to join our company through a tiered referral prize program. While these prizes (a trip to Hawaii!) motivate our team to help us grow by referring great talent, we knew something was missing. To align with the importance we place on giving back to our communities, we decided to roll out the option to donate to your nonprofit of choice. Using the tiered approach, Spreetailers can accrue nonprofit donations ranging from $50 to $2500.  

• “I donated to the Nebraska Appleseed Foundation, and I chose them now (and for the last decade) because their mission lines up exactly with my own political philosophy. Spreetail has gone beyond what's expected of corporations in terms of community investments. Our Communities team is not only composed of smart and passionate individuals, they're empowered to make a difference and have been doing so. As we grow, our investment into the community grows and that can only be a good thing.” - Gabe Williamson, DevOps Engineer III

• “Through donating my referral prize, I saw an opportunity to give back. While Covid has brought a lot of positive growth to our business, it’s also created some really challenging realities for many Americans. I wanted to give back to our Omaha community to help those who are struggling at this time. Working with refugees has been a personal passion of mine. I had an opportunity to work with North Korean defectors while living in South Korea and it just opened my eyes to the challenges refugees face. I also teach a course on refugees at Doane so it’s something on my mind quite a bit. You never know the impact you could have on someone’s life. Even a small contribution, whether that’s money or time, can really help change someone’s circumstance for the better.” - Alanna Hoffman, Training & Development Lead

Spreetail Spotlight – Community Leader of the Quarter

With the various opportunities our team members have to give back, we want to recognize those going above and beyond for their communities. Spreetailers can nominate their peers to receive the Spreetail Spotlight award for Community Leader of the Quarter. The winner of this award receives $1500 to donate to nonprofit(s) of their choice. You can read more about our recognition program here.  

• “When I was searching for a new job over a year and a half ago, I made it a priority to find an organization that recognized the importance of community involvement and philanthropy. Since joining, I am so happy to look back and see the impact I’ve been able to have because of Spreetail’s dedication to doing good in our communities. It was truly the best feeling, not just to be recognized as the Community Leader of the Quarter, but to be given an opportunity to donate $1,500 to organizations that are important to me.“ - Allison Buss, Talent Development Partner

While these opportunities to give back occur throughout the year, we know nonprofit needs grow during the holiday season. Giving Tuesday, a global generosity movement, is recognized on December 1 this year. We’d like to encourage both individuals and organizations to find ways to give back that works best for them. To share why you give and inspire others, post using #UNselfie on social media and tag @wearespreetail so we can learn about new opportunities!  

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