I've always had a dream of being able to use what we are doing at PalominoDB not only for our for profit clients, but for those who go out day to day helping those who need it. We always try to work with clients who make people's lives better, but there are those whose entire purpose is to provide aid, education and empowerment to those who are disadvantaged or whose freedoms are at risk. I am constantly inspired by companies such as Worldreader (http://blog.worldreader.org/) are a perfect example - who work to provide e-Readers to those who have no access to books or libraries in places such as Kenya. The challenge has always been how to provide support from our team when they are constantly busy. In a growing organization, resources are tight, and we are blessed with non-stop work from world class clients.
As we've grown to a sustainable size, I've had more time to think about issues such as this, and I would like to announce our newest program at PalominoDB - donation of hours. A good portion of our clients are on retainer agreements with a monthly minimum. Sometimes work is light, sometimes it is heavy and some clients just keep us around as insurance and rarely use our hours. Regardless, we have to staff for a certain workload and thus must enforce the minimum. I've always found myself frustrated at having to charge for hours not worked, and constantly brainstorm ways to provide maximum benefit to our regular clients.
PalominoDB would now like to announce our donation of hours program - whereby we are setting up relationships with non-profits who can use our resources - and the hours for this work will be donated by our clients who have unused hours and wish to see them go to a good cause, rather than paying the 50% unused hours rate. Clients can also donate a fixed amount of hours per month to the program. We will start our program with one non-profit, Worldreader, and will solicit for other companies who can make effective use of our resources. Should you know of any deserving companies, please don't hesitate to let us know!
You can see a video of Worldreader's work here. Please take a look at their donations page here, as there are great opportunities to donate for e-readers or books or to sponsor classes and schools.