What can the facility of ten obtain? Right here at Cisco, it will possibly — and does — change lives.
With ten days off to volunteer by our Time2Give program, $10,000 in matching donations, and tens of hundreds workers collaborating, Cisconians are empowered to show Function into motion, yr after yr.
And it’s not simply good for communities; it’s good for enterprise. A three-year longitudinal research from Cisco’s Folks Intelligence group discovered that Cisco workers who gave again stayed on the firm longer, had greater bonuses, and acquired extra peer recognition.
“[Volunteerism] is a strategy to actually drive enterprise worth,” shared Cisco Chief Social Influence and Inclusion Officer, Brian Tippens, to Human Assets Director. “It will also be seen as a robust model constructing instrument, or constructing belief as an moral provider, moral associate within the communities the place we stay and work.”
As we shut out fiscal 2025 (July 2024 – July 2025), our folks’s collective influence was felt in communities all over the world. By the numbers:
- 81% of workers participated in group influence initiatives – for the sixth yr in a row
- 566,166 whole volunteer hours
- $33.4M whole in worker donations and matching items
In fact, whereas the numbers are spectacular, they don’t present the true story of our influence. So seize your suitcases — we’re taking you all over the world to see how our workers are putting our Function into motion.
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An opportunity connection by a Cisco mentorship program led Josh Forrest to Engineers With out Borders (EWB), a non-profit that helps communities meet primary human wants by engineering tasks.
He realized a few venture at Wema Kids’s Centre in Kenya, an orphanage that serves ~400 college students from pre-Okay to highschool. Because of an inconsistent power grid, the centre was dealing with excessive working prices, variable water and electrical energy entry, and well being considerations. EWB was initially introduced on to assist alleviate a typhoid outbreak, and the necessity for help continued to develop.
Josh, a Technical Consulting Engineer – who simply so occurred to have {an electrical} engineering diploma and a dad with a photo voltaic enterprise – jumped on the probability to present again. Along with 5 volunteers, together with his Cisco mentor and his father, Josh spent two weeks in Kenya. Throughout that point, the group put in 24 photo voltaic panels that generate 10kW of energy, and an extra 30kW battery financial institution that gives electrical energy by the night time.
“The factor that made the largest influence was seeing the children mild up when there was water and light-weight at night time with out the concern of it going off,” shared Josh. “Seeing how excited they have been was indescribable.”
Josh has been invited to return once more subsequent yr – serving to to coach the scholars on constructing their very own photo voltaic panel programs.
📍 San Jose, United States
When Mohit Vaswani, a Cisco Resolution Engineer, and his spouse witnessed homelessness of their area people, they knew they couldn’t sit again whereas others went to sleep hungry. As an alternative, in 2013, his household started taking motion, one peanut butter and jelly sandwich at a time.
“We began making meals in our kitchen and distributing them each week to shelters,” shared Mohit. “We began very small with solely 50 sandwiches … however our program grew as extra family and friends joined.”
As we speak, Mohit distributes roughly 500 – 700+ meals per week to 5 Bay Space shelters and charities by his non-profit group, Lunch Bag Initiative. Donations to Lunch Bag Initiative at the moment are absolutely matched by Cisco by its Matching Items program, with Mohit and Cisco workers volunteering time by Time2Give — serving to to finish starvation, sandwich by sandwich.
📍 France, Spain, and Portugal Europe
Every year, Cisco workers all over the world lace up their boots — not simply to stroll, however to make a tangible distinction. The custom started in 2022, when greater than 400 Cisconians from 21 nations walked a portion of the Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage path community in Europe, elevating over €100,000 for most cancers charities.
Constructing on that momentum, almost 300 colleagues and members of the family from 21 nations got here collectively this previous June on a “journey for local weather motion,” trekking between France, Spain, and Portugal. 35,000 kilometers have been hiked as workers took significant steps (actually!) for the planet.
Over the course of 5 days (with some mountain climbing 10 days), contributors raised consciousness and funds for NGOs addressing the impacts of local weather change, strengthening their collective dedication to sustainability and international connection. In whole, almost $90,000 USD was raised for 17 charities.
📍 East
In April 2025, 10 Cisco volunteers from three nations got here collectively for a ten-day volunteer journey to help Palestinian refugees dwelling in 4 refugee camps throughout Lebanon.
Protecting over 1,000 kilometers throughout the nation — from Beirut to Saida to Tripoli to Baalbek — the group’s mission was easy: to deliver pleasure and help to those that have been displaced for 77 years.
By means of their Time2Give journeys, which have dated again to 2023, the group has positively impacted 1,500 households, sponsored greater than 250 orphans, educated 400 college college students, and plenty of extra. Their work spanned renovating and bettering clinics to delivering licensed trainings to college students and academics, together with by Cisco Networking Academy.
“Once we acknowledge the facility of inclusion and are available along with a typical objective, we will pursue a noble trigger in our lives and for humanity – serving to folks of their deepest hour of want,” shared Mohammed Suwwan, an Account Govt based mostly in Germany and a co-organizer of the journey.
📍 Japan, Asia
For Masahiro Takebayashi, a ardour for connectivity began early — on the paths of a mountain hike organized by his faculty, Sugamo Excessive Faculty in Japan.
However, with no mobile phone reception, what occurs if there was medical emergency?
Masahiro noticed a possibility — and an answer by networking infrastructure.
“It was by this occasion that I developed an curiosity in wi-fi know-how, which led me to pursue a profession at TAC Wi-fi,” shared Masahiro, right this moment a Technical Consulting Engineer at Cisco.
This previous fiscal yr, he volunteered as an alumnus and entered the mountain two days previous to the occasion, serving to arrange antennas and set up a wi-fi communication community between mountain cabins. He plans to proceed aiding on the trek by Cisco Time2Give.
What’s subsequent in fiscal 2026
Waiting for fiscal 2026, we stay dedicated to our Function – to Energy an Inclusive Future for All – and to supporting our folks as they create a optimistic influence on communities all over the world. Collectively, as workers, prospects, companions, stakeholders, and Cisco workers, we will flip particular person motion into international influence.
Psst – Are you a Cisco worker who needs to get entangled? Head to our Neighborhood Influence Portal to start out discovering volunteer alternatives, requesting matching items, beginning a fundraiser, and extra. And, when you’ve got a Time2Give story value sharing, we’d love to listen to it — attain out through communityimpact@cisco.com
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