This past Thanksgiving weekend served as an opportunity for us to slow down and reflect on this extraordinary year before the holiday season frenzy kicks into high gear. After Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday comes today: GivingTuesday.
GivingTuesday is a global generosity movement unleashing the power of people and organizations to transform their communities and the world. The movement was created in 2012 as a simple idea: a day that encourages people to do good. Over the past seven years, it has grown into a global movement that inspires hundreds of millions of people to give, collaborate, and celebrate generosity.
Axonius started the year with a fun challenge: How can we keep the spirit of GivingTuesday alive throughout 2020?
Events
As a growing cybersecurity company, our team invests heavily in industry and regional events to meet cybersecurity professionals across the country. We swapped disposable swag with a commitment to instead donate to causes that we care about.
We donated $5 for every RSA Conference attendee who visited our booth in San Francisco in February and donated that sum to Steph and Ayesha Curry’s Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation. In August, we upped the ante to $10 per virtual booth visit at Black Hat USA and donated that sum to the International Consortium of Minority Cybersecurity Professionals (ICMCP).
The Great Debate
In August 2020, we launched The Great Debate, a 10-part webinar series debating the merits and pitfalls of some of the hottest topics in cybersecurity today. We have been donating $500 to a nonprofit organization of each speaker’s choice as a thank you for their time and participation. This effort impacted the following list of 16 incredible organizations — and we still have two webinars left to go this year!
ICMCP
The ICMCP is dedicated to the academic and professional success of minority cybersecurity students and professionals. Their mission is to achieve consistent representation of women and minorities in the cybersecurity industry through programs designed to foster recruitment, inclusion and retention – one person at a time. The ICMCP tackles the “great cyber divide” with scholarship opportunities, diverse workforce development, innovative outreach, and mentoring programs.
Axonius is a Silver Sponsor with (ICMCP), and we look forward to supporting ICMCP’s efforts in scholarships, mentorships, and job opportunities.
Axonius for Good
Given the success of our philanthropic initiatives this year, we are excited to announce our Axonius for Good program, which seeks to invest in future cybersecurity talent, cultivate industry engagement, and strengthen our communities.
Our areas of impact include:
- Investing in the Next Generation - We pledge to empower underrepresented youth to pursue a career in cybersecurity.
- Cultivating Industry Engagement - We pledge to offer industry peers with opportunities to be the change together.
- Strengthening Our Communities - We pledge to encourage our employees to create a lasting impact in their communities.
The spirit of paying it forward is woven into the company culture through our “Volunteering and Charity Plan”. Every employee is granted two volunteer days, and Axonius donates $25 to the ICMCP for each volunteer day. Axonius will organize volunteer days at its two company sites, New York City and Tel Aviv, when it is safe to resume in-person activities. Additionally, employees can opt to have their annual holiday gift donated to any registered nonprofit organization of their choice.
Thank you to our partner organizations and industry peers in helping us achieve our giving goals this year. We can’t wait to make an even bigger impact in 2021.
