Linkedin Blog

A smile comes to my face when I think of the heightened sense of generosity the holiday season tends to bring out in people. Observing firsthand the diverse practices but similar thoughtfulness in many countries the past few years, I’ve started paying special attention to random acts of kindness. And in my professional life, my role as board chair of the LinkedIn for Good Foundation continues to humble and inspire me as I observe colleagues leading charitable initiatives around the globe. Check out the slideshow below for a few highlights of these efforts. Wishing you and yours a happy holiday season!

Holiday Giving LinkedIn Style from LinkedIn

A year ago, LinkedIn announced the first ever Transformation Grant program, which gave LinkedIn employees the opportunity to receive a grant to go towards something transformational for themselves or their community. Looking back, I remember thinking it was a terrific idea, but I couldn’t think of anything applicable in my life.

Two weeks later, I was introduced to Philip Holsinger through a colleague in my office. Philip, a professional photojournalist, was in Chicago to photograph folks in the office to see if he could capture the same human spirit in cubicles as he had in his work in the field. As the resident amateur photographer in Chicago, I was brought into the conversation. Over coffee, Philip told me about his nonprofit Caractere, Inc and a program they run called the Haiti Workshop for Foreign Field Service in Photojournalism, which takes a select group of amateur photojournalists into the field. As he told me more, my mind and heart began racing. I immediately knew this meeting was serendipitous; I had something transformational on the horizon. I had to go to Haiti.

The highly Mo-tivated LinkedIn team stepped up big time for Movember 2012, ranking 61st amongst all teams, globally, in supporting this vital men’s health initiative. LinkedIn’s 332 registered Mo Bros and Mo Sistas, spanning 13 offices in 7 countries, rallied their friends, families, colleagues and professional networks behind a fundraising effort that topped USD$97,000, more than double last year’s tally.

When I was a kid, National Geographic was one of my favorite magazines. I thumbed through the pages looking at pictures of exotic plants, animals and people in faraway places and couldn’t wait until I could explore this whole wide world. I also developed a passion for the ocean and waves at an early age growing up in Florida. Since then, I’ve had a chance to travel to different places surfing and exploring but rarely giving back to the communities I visited.  That was until I met and worked with nonprofit Surf For Life which sponsors educational and community driven development projects in coastal communities.