Many companies have Corporate Social Responsibility programs, but at Remsoft it runs much deeper. Phillis Kelly, Lead Generation & Sales Support, explains how and why Remsoft gives back to the communities where we live and work.
I’m Phillis and I work on Remsoft’s Sales Team, but that’s not my first role within Remsoft. I’ve been with the company 12 years and over time have held many positions: Sales & Marketing Assistant, Sales Coordinator, Office Manager, and HR Coordinator. All these positions have allowed me to do what I love: interact with our awesome clients. On top of all of this, I’m also the Chair of Remsoft’s Donation Committee.
Remsoft really believes in giving back to the communities where we live and work, and that community-oriented culture has been a part of Remsoft for a long time. We’re very proud of how we’ve been able to help organizations and causes flourish over the years, both internationally and right here in our home community of Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.
Over the past five years alone, we have given over $250,000 to organizations we believe in.
And believing in these causes is very important to us.
What is our process?
At the end of each fiscal year, Remsoft’s executive team allocates an amount of money to be distributed. From there, every person on the Remsoft Team has the opportunity to submit proposals for a cause they care for deeply. And these causes vary: from groups we volunteer with, to organizations that have helped individuals within our team directly, to initiatives happening within our community.
There are very few restrictions on how the money needs to be spent, only that the beneficiaries are:
- a club, not-for-profit, charity, or community group, and
- a project or activity our team feels passionately about and where a Remsoft contribution would allow the project to be actualized or fulfilled.
The proposals then go to a committee made entirely of Remsoft Team Members, including myself as chair, and members from our Development, Services, Solutions & Innovation, and Administrative Teams. The committee then decides how the money will be divided. This sometimes results in several smaller donations or a large donation, like in 2016 when we donated more than 160 grocery gift cards to Syrian Refugee families upon their arrival to Fredericton.
Where Has the Money Gone?
Our team is grateful to be able to help the organizations that are dear to us and Remsoft’s impact is felt on many levels – social, environmental, educational and well-being.
One of our largest recipients of funds is the Nature Trust of New Brunswick, a charitable land conservation organization that is responsible for conserving over 2600 hectares in more than 50 nature preserves throughout the province of New Brunswick. One of these preserves is Hyla Park, Canada’s first Amphibian park, of which Remsoft is a proud steward and organizes an annual Spring cleanup.
In 2013, Remsoft proudly funded a robotics program at Science East, an interactive science museum in Fredericton. This included a summer camp, where using LEGO Mindstorms NXT and a variety of high-tech sensors and probes, campers built and programmed robots that navigated through obstacle courses and perform other amazing feats.
Food security has also been a consistent cause Team Remsoft feels passionately about. With donations in 2014, 2015 and 2017, Remsoft has funded over 35,000 meals to Ontario families in need through Food for Life Canada. In addition to that, with assistance from Remsoft, Greener Village (Fredericton’s food bank) was able to install an irrigation system to grow healthy, fresh food for local families in need.
Our team is very active in the outdoors, and so sports teams, bike and ski trails have also been built and improved with funds received from Remsoft. This includes a trail built by River Valley Cycling called “La Woodstock”, an homage to our flagship modeling software, this past year we donated to Wostawea Ski Club for their trail expansion at Killarney Lake.
Remsoft also supports those looking to better support others and themselves. We’ve donated to Kiva, a microfinancing company connecting people through lending to alleviate poverty, and we’re long-time friends and contributors to The New Brunswick Association for Community Living, a not-for-profit working on behalf of children and adults with an intellectual disability and their families.
In total, we’ve given to over 40 organizations in the past five years alone.
As we continue this blog series on giving back, we will be highlighting several of our favourite or most interesting donations.
