GIFT and Gratitude
We are in the middle of our GIFT Campaign. GIFT, which stands for Get Involved For Tomorrow, is our employee giving campaign through which Clorox employees can give to any nonprofit and the company will match the donations (up to $250 or $2,500, depending on the level of giving).
Last year Clorox employees, combined with the company match, pledged $4 million to more than 2,150 nonprofit organizations. Overall participation was a record-setting 52 percent, and there were several teams with even higher participation rates.
One story that has stuck with me comes out of our Houston plant. After Hurricane Ike hit the Gulf in 2008, some of our employees had damage to their homes. Pretty quickly, they received financial help from our Employee Emergency Relief Program, which fellow employees give to through the GIFT campaign. The next year, Houston’s GIFT participation shot up, hitting 97 percent. Last year, they hit 100 percent.
Houston reminds me just how powerful gratitude and giving can be. Both connect us to each other in a way that can make this world an easier place to navigate when the Ikes and Sandys turn our lives around and upside down.