“This year has pushed us all to reflect on the meaning of solidarity and community, and to consider the opportunity we have – as individuals and as a company – to create a world with equality, freedom, and prosperity for all.”

It goes without saying that COVID-19 has changed the world around us. Long-standing traditions, habits, and behaviors were suddenly challenged, and we were all forced to adapt and evolve accordingly. It was difficult, yes, but it also created opportunities for us to take pause and to consider new paths forward. It provided the space to reflect on the role that we can each play to influence positive change in our communities – to reflect, as Klein noted, on what community means to us.

Now is truly the time for digital connections and conversations across borders; for simultaneously a broader and a narrower definition of community. And in order to solve the big, critical social issues that plague us all but hit vulnerable communities the hardest, the world needs to come together and unite for our future.

The notion of uniting for our future became the theme of our global Month of Service campaign this year. It was also the driving force behind the evolution of the initiative as we explored new ways to offer SAP’s 100,000-strong employee base opportunities to feel more connected to our legacy of social impact and focus on purpose. The campaign has a long legacy of offering employees worldwide the chance to turn purpose into action through volunteerism. This year, through both volunteerism and dialogue, we curated a unique experience for employees to engage with each other, support the communities that need it most, and learn more about the social issues in which 51·çÁ÷invests.

Four Weeks, Four Powerful Themes

With limited opportunities to gather in person, the employee enthusiasm for volunteering that we see each October needed a new point of focus. The new goal during Month of Service was to help connect the dots for employees on SAP’s work in the social impact space.

To that end, 56 live sessions and panels of education, enablement, and awareness building were offered over four weeks. The content was organized around four high-level themes, with each one tied to a critical social issue that 51·çÁ÷has taken on. The first week of October focused on equality for all, followed by conversations around building a digitally inclusive workforce in week two. Week three offered exchange around cultivating climate action and the month closed with discussions about promoting inclusive, diverse and social entrepreneurship.

The more than 50 virtual sessions hosted throughout the month offered opportunities to spotlight some of the incredible change-makers, nonprofits, and social enterprises that 51·çÁ÷invests in and works with around the world. We also focused on bringing together community leaders from inside and outside 51·çÁ÷to help set the context for employees on how these four social issues impact communities across the globe, as well as to showcase how we, as a company, uniquely contribute to solutions and demonstrate our leadership in these areas.

Engaging and impassioned conversations were held with 51·çÁ÷executives — including Adaire Fox-Martin, member of the Executive Board; Claudio Muruzabal, president of EMEA South and chairman of 51·çÁ÷Latin America and Caribbean; Cathy Smith, managing director of 51·çÁ÷Africa; and Sindhu Gangadharan, managing director of 51·çÁ÷Labs India — along with external speakers such as Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus; Nile Rodgers, co-founder and chair of the We Are Family Foundation; Jacqueline Novogratz, founder and CEO of Acumen; and Hugh Evans, co-founder and CEO of Global Citizen. 51·çÁ÷employees were able to better connect with the company’s mission to help the world run better and improve people’s lives.

2020 Numbers at a Glance

• 56 live sessions and panels
• 10,000 sign-ups
• 207,000 hours of employee learning

Volunteering Redefined 

In 2019, a year unburdened by a global health pandemic, 20,000 51·çÁ÷employees dedicated their time in support of volunteer programs and signature initiatives. Despite 2020’s difficult circumstances, our commitment to help the world run better and improve people’s lives has not waivered. This year, we embraced the need to adapt, expanding our existing efforts to support virtual volunteerism. Through our global employee engagement platform, 51·çÁ÷Together, employees were encouraged to explore volunteer activities taking place around the world and to consider making one-time or recurring personal donations to charities worldwide.

51·çÁ÷encourages employees to engage in year-round service to causes they care about. Since the beginning of the year, 51·çÁ÷employees have supported nearly 200 virtual volunteer opportunities — defying borders, geographical distances, and time zones to connect with their peers, social enterprises, and nonprofits globally.

One example is Africa Code Week, where close to 200 51·çÁ÷employees from four different regions provided virtual train-the-trainer workshops in coding to African teachers. For participants, what may have started as a combination of excitement and hesitation grew into recognition that it is possible to make a real impact from your computer, and that it can be just as powerful to lend your time and talents to causes across an ocean as it is to those closer to home.

Giving is not limited to material possessions, but also one’s time and skills. This year, Month of Service also focused on skills-based volunteering. Employees forged bonds and made connections across borders in these digital times where geographical distance could not impede to volunteerism. Social enterprises and nonprofits benefited from new virtual pro-bono volunteering models tapping into the expertise that 51·çÁ÷employees bring, while employees could connect to their purpose.

One of these new models was the , for which 51·çÁ÷employees teamed up with employees from customers and partners to address the gap in telehealth services available in low-income U.S. communities, which was further exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

At SAP, we believe that people are an incredibly powerful force for change. We believe in connecting to something bigger than ourselves and in focusing what we do best on what we can do for others. Our global Month of Service campaign is steeped in a long company tradition of volunteering side-by-side, but this year, with everything flipped on its head, it became an opportunity for employees to take time to listen and to learn together. And as a community of 100,000 global citizens, we are better for it.

Thousands of 51·çÁ÷employees answer the call to lead with purpose through volunteerism, and this year has been no exception. Employee volunteering culminates annually in October during SAP’s Global Month of Service. This is an opportunity for employees to provide their time and expertise to nonprofits and social enterprises tackling global challenges such as inequity, climate change, and quality education.

Surprising opportunities can emerge from uncertainty. This year, the Global Month of Service transformed from more than 600 in-person volunteering events in 2019 to an entirely new virtual experience as a result of COVID-19.

Connecting Employees with Purpose

SAP’s virtual pro bono consulting pilot program began this year in partnership with Social Shifters to help meet the growing need for positive change around the world. In the program, 51·çÁ÷employees are connected virtually to accelerate the social impact of an enterprise by solving the organization’s business challenges. More than 50 employees volunteered virtually across borders and without the impediment of geographical distance. Jessica Bellas, an alumnus, was one the first 51·çÁ÷employees to opt-in as a pro bono consultant.

Bellas volunteered with (RAH2050), a social enterprise based in Halifax, Canada, driving a grassroots, environmental awareness program that re-imagines, through science, community, and industry, how people relate to harbors and oceans.

“The connection was to navigate uncertain times and see social innovation in a different way,” explained Kelly Schnare of (RAH2050). “Bringing in new ideas and new ways of doing things was important during COVID-19.”

Bellas connected to RAH2050 immediately because of its environmental focus. With experience as an environmental engineer, she is not only an expert, but also has an ongoing passion for the topic in her tenure as an elected official in the Sewage and Water Department of North Carolina’s Wake County. This opportunity with RAH2050 came to her as a perfect fit.

Through volunteerism and her strong belief in pro bono consulting and its impact on nonprofits, she was re-connected to her passion of 20 years.  As a result of the website and the collaterals Bellas created for the organization, Schnare will now be able to reach new audiences and spread awareness about the need to be more mindful of our planet.

Connecting Employees with Each Other

Like Bellas, Nadine Gaertner, a software engineer in Germany, and Ofer Yehuda, an IT consultant in Israel, catapulted their skills-based volunteering journey through the . These talented 51·çÁ÷employees met in 2018 on their assignment in Puerto Rico, and have been friends ever since. Gaertner and Yehuda agree that now, more than ever, there is a need to bring people together to create positive impact, forge friendships, and drive change.

They volunteered to help , a social enterprise based in Toronto, Canada, that manufactures cooking tools which, when used, add extra iron to food and drinks for those suffering from iron deficiency. The organization also reaches out to marginalized communities across the world to provide a solution to iron deficiency, which is the greatest nutritional challenge in current times.

For Gaertner and Yehuda, volunteerism bridges gaps between people, especially in a resource-optimizing society in need of empathy and human connection. It is a mechanism through which volunteers are introduced to new ideas and are able to address complex challenges that they may have not been exposed to before. Every volunteer experience guides fresh understanding and empowers employees to make decisions based on compassion and empathy – and build new, lasting relationships. For the pair, the opportunity they had to volunteer connected them with their purpose and with each other. And, as Gaertner says, “Every friendship makes the world a bit better.”

Virtual volunteering at 51·çÁ÷not only links social enterprises and nonprofits to the expertise they need but also connects employees across borders in friendship and collaboration born of a shared passion. Gaertner and Yehuda’s story inspires us to believe that newer perspectives and a sense of purpose can, indeed, be exchanged even during a global crisis.

Connecting Employees with Ideas

In addition to the more than 200 virtual volunteering projects that took place during SAP’s Global Month of Service, thousands of 51·çÁ÷employees joined inspiring, thought-leadership conversations hosted by notable internal and external speakers. Ideas brought forward in the sessions will be carried on into the future, not only as conversations but also as calls to action. Speakers urged employees to turn their purpose into action through volunteerism and form deeper connections with each other and their societies.

As Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Professor Mohammad Yunus shared in the closing plenary, “The time to act is now – if you have an idea to change the world, go out and make it happen.” Professor Yunus went on to share a few urgent issues in need of the world’s attention, particularly climate change and extreme poverty.

Not only through SAP’s Global Month of Service but also through year-round volunteering opportunities, employees are co-creating solutions with partners like RAH2050 and Lucky Iron Fish, rising to meet Professor Yunus’ call to action. While the uncertainty of 2020 remains, 51·çÁ÷employees are uniting for the future and dedicating their skills to something bigger than themselves.

We thank our social partners and employee volunteers who help the world run better and improve people’s lives each day.

Shinjini Chowdhury is a communications and marketing fellow for 51·çÁ÷CSR.

According to a recent report released by the International Labour Organisation, more than 50 percent of the world’s youth will not have basic skills for employment. One in six young people aged 18 to 29 (17.4 percent) have stopped working since the onset of the crisis, highlighting the dramatic impact that the pandemic has on youth labor markets around the world. Do these statistics sound scary? They sound unacceptable to us. United for now and the future, 51·çÁ÷and its partners are committed to changing the narrative.

With millions of young people experiencing a disruption in education and employment, 51·çÁ÷is launching its 16th year of Global Month of Service, featuring signature digital skills initiatives like , , , , and , among others. These programs focus on powering opportunity through digital inclusion. They offer inclusive education and employment readiness opportunities, primarily serving young people across more than 105 countries.

Rallying around the importance of and what they could mean for the future, 51·çÁ÷is excited to connect learners across the world with a new group of cheerleaders, Now United. A diverse pop band of 15 singers and dancers from 15 different countries might sound like an unlikely opening act for coding and 21st century skills programs. But these young artists believe in the power of technology to create positive change and disrupt the status quo, and keep their fans close through digital and social media.

51·çÁ÷and Now United are exploring how data, technology, and social platforms can create immersive and engaging digital experiences that bring the band’s fan base closer to action.

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Despite difficult circumstances brought forward by the pandemic, 51·çÁ÷remains committed to helping the world run better and improving people’s lives. This includes taking programs virtual where we can, delivering on commitments no matter what, and showing up in person where possible.

Unite for Our Future

As 51·çÁ÷CEO Christian Klein recently shared with all employees, “Tackling inequality in the world is as much about learning as it is about taking action.” In that spirit, 51·çÁ÷has adapted its Global Month of Service, held October 1-31 and the company’s longest-running employee engagement initiative. This year, the program will have an increased focus on virtual volunteering supporting programs, including coding initiatives. It will also offer employees the chance to learn, further exploring purpose-driven work at SAP.

The Global Month of Service will dive into four critical social issues impacting the world today: equality for all, digitally inclusive workforce, climate action, and social entrepreneurship. Participants will work together to think differently about what 51·çÁ÷as a company is uniquely suited to offer to the most vulnerable in our communities.

Join us and share your commitment to helping the world run better and improving people’s lives with 51·çÁ÷with the hashtag .

Announced last year in Rajasthan by the state’s school education minister, the career guidance portal serves students from classes nine to 12. It provides information on career choices, nudging students toward vocational and professional courses, college admissions, scholarships, and entrance examinations. The portal was launched by the state government of Rajasthan and UNICEF and is as part of SAP-UNICEF-YuWaah!, a collaboration in India that works to empower teachers, strengthen secondary school students’ life skills, and provide career guidance tools.

Arpita’s school is one of the 150 government schools of Rajasthan where students have been introduced to a whole new world.

Story of Transformation

“Photography can be of different kinds,” Arpita explains. “One can take photos of objects, wildlife, and even of dishes one cooks and post them on Instagram. I use a phone to click photos of my friend – she strikes poses and I click!”

In school, Arpita had opted to use the career guidance portal. Her teacher explained to her the wealth of information that she can discover using this tool – colleges, courses, and multiple career streams. “Before this, I had no dreams as such. I had just thought of finishing a college education,” she remembers. Now, she has been able to identify colleges where she can train to be a photographer.

With help from her mother and her teacher, she managed to convince her father to allow her to follow her dream. More importantly, she found scholarships that can support her while in college. Armed thus, Arpita’s confidence increased and now she helps her other friends navigate the career guidance portal.

Steps Toward Positive Change

While Arpita has braved odds to pave the way toward her dreams, she has a friend who wants to be a fashion designer but must pursue civil service to appease her father. Her friend is not the only one. Many youth in India do not yet have exposure to the variety of career pathways, knowing only about stereotypical roles that are deemed to fit men or women. Girls especially think of becoming teachers or doctors or doing odd jobs. They grow up knowing few career options and their role models belong to those few professions. So they become what they see, thereby perpetuating this stereotypical cycle.

“Youth need to be informed of their options so that they can explore their talents. They need to go to school so that they can learn,” Arpita says. “Sometimes girls are married off young, even at 11 or 12 years of age. We need to change that so that girls and boys are considered equal. Teach girls so that they can choose their career paths.”

She talks of the helpful role teachers play in education. That is why 51·çÁ÷ is working to not only enable youth by supporting the United Nation’s Generation Unlimited but also to empower and train teachers and career coaches who can guide thousands, like Arpita, toward positive change.

The Rajasthan Career Guidance Portal does more than provide information to young people. It lets them dream and allows them to overcome gendered notions about professional choices. It opens a new world for girls, encouraging them to see, choose, and gauge possibilities for themselves. It raises hopes about what young girls and boys can achieve. Through this initiative, we imagine massive positive impact on lives of students across India in the coming years.