While 2016 was our best year financially at Small Improvements, we don’t believe that our success operates in a vacuum. A cornerstone of our operating philosophy is that we donate 2% of our license revenue to charity.
This year we gave each employee at Small Improvements $3,500 (US) for up to three charities of their choosing. For our employees, this is an opportunity to support global and local causes they identify with, such as women’s rights, animal rights, cancer research, or the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe.
“We’ve always believed in supporting non-profits, and we encourage our employees to make a small difference wherever they can,” said CEO Per Fragemann. “Our annual team-wide charity donation has become one of the company traditions of which I’m most proud.”
In 2016, we ended up spreading $68,000 over 45 charities. Planned Parenthood in the United States received the largest combined donation ($5,000) as several Small Improvements employees felt motivated by the election results in the USA and the possible impact it could have on reproductive rights.
Others donated because of connections made through Small Improvements, which is how our Customer Success rep James Nichols got to know Possible Health out of Nepal – a charity that seeks to provide health care to the world’s most impoverished regions.
“I gave their CEO a demo of Small Improvements in 2014,” Nichols said. “I thought it was amazingly ambitious to go into a country and create a medical-care network from the ground up. After the earthquake (in Nepal) in 2015, they were needed even more to rebuild the country’s entire health system.”
Andrew Fordyce, who also works in Customer Success, was moved to donate to the Deutsche Alzheimer Gesellschaft (German Alzheimer Society) after seeing family members struggle with dementia.
Below is the full list of charities we’re proud to have supported in 2016. If you like our approach, why not suggest to your senior management team about establishing something similar.
| Organization | Donation Amount |
| Shape Your Life | $1,167.67 |
| One Spirit | $1,166.00 |
| National Abortion Federation | $1,166.67 |
| Deutsche Alzheimer Gesellschaft | $1.539,74 |
| Aktion Deutschland Hilft Refugees | $1,000.00 |
| WWF | $1,166.67 |
| Greenpeace | $2,333.33 |
| Bookaid | $1,166.67 |
| Tacitus Autism | $3,500.00 |
| Sterntalerhof | $1,166.67 |
| Special Olympics Österreich | $1,166.67 |
| Steirische Kinderkrebshilfe | $1,166.67 |
| Possible Health | $500.00 |
| National Resource Defense Council | $2,000.00 |
| Center for Reproductive Rights | $1,000.00 |
| The Trevor Project | $1,000.00 |
| ProAsyl | $1,000.00 |
| Ärzte ohne Grenzen | $3,250.00 |
| Medico International | $1,000.00 |
| Michael J Fox Parkinson | $1,000.00 |
| The Human Rights CAMPAIGN | $1,500.00 |
| One Girl | $1,000.00 |
| Unicef | $1,166.67 |
| Black Dog | $1,166.67 |
| Berliner Tiertafel e.V. | $1,166.67 |
| Björn Schulz Stiftung | $1,166.67 |
| Berliner Obdachlosenhilfe | $1,166.67 |
| Amnesty | $2,916.67 |
| SOS Barnbyar | $1,166.67 |
| Water Aid | $1,166.67 |
| Die Gelbe Villa | $500.00 |
| Sapa O’Chau | $2,500.00 |
| Hope Children’s Centre | $500.00 |
| Stiftung Naturschutz | $2,000.00 |
| Girl Effect | $1,500.00 |
| Musik Bewegt | $1,000.00 |
| Netzpolitik.org | $1,750.00 |
| Viva Con Aqua – Wasserprojekte | $1,500.00 |
| Operation Second Chance | $1,750.00 |
| ADOPT | $1,750.00 |
| Planned Parenthood | $5,000.00 |
| Sea Watch | $750.00 |
| Art For Refugee Kids | $2,000.00 |
| Maldef | $1,000.00 |
| Refugee Rights | $1,000.00 |
