At Pax8’s first partner conference held earlier this month in Denver, EverFree, a nonprofit organization that helps human trafficking survivors on their journey to lasting freedom, had prominent table space next to the Pax8 Beyond registration desk. In addition to fundraising for EverFree at the conference, Pax8 has chosen the organization to support over the long term as one of its numerous social impact initiatives.
The distributor chose human trafficking because it’s “a global issue, but also something we could impact,” explains Lyndsey Hoffman, vice president of social impact for Pax8. According to EverFree, 50 million people are victims of trafficking right now, 70% of trafficking victims are women and girls, and 1 in 4 victims is a child. Notably, less than 1% of survivors receive the care they need to thrive in freedom
“Our culture is to take on the things that others aren’t brave [to] or just don’t have the know-how or the community to do that,” Hoffman says. “It’s culturally opening our privilege and our platform and our community to be able to solve, because we have privilege of knowledge”
Lyndsey Hoffman
She was recently back from a trip to Cebu, Philippines, with six Pax8 employees, to visit the EverFree women’s centers. “We got to train social workers and their staff on things like Microsoft Office.” Two of the employees were from Pax8’s Manilla office, so “we got to meet the clients where they were in their native language, which was also really empowering, not only for our employees to be able to do that, but for the community. … Instead of coming in and teaching or just writing a check, we showed up with our people in our community to really meet them where they were.
“The Sabu trip was for us to understand the needs,” she continued. “Also, we had the opportunity to meet with what they call a CAB, their client advisory board, which is a group of those that are in full freedom.” CAB members have gone through the EverFree program and are now in the workforce and are working with EverFree and the centers to develop an online application called Freedom Green Light to connect survivors and help them identify their strengths and skills to find employment, Hoffman explains.
Their need for technology and cybersecurity to protect the safety and privacy of survivors was another reason EverFree is a “match” for Pax8. “Beyond is really our kickoff to the partnership, being able to introduce them to other vendors, other partners, as well as Pax8 executives and those that have traveled from all over our regions to ‘mindshare,’ and to look for pro bono opportunities for our vendors and our partners to get involved. But it’s also a way that we can help open our doors a little bit and give perspective of the way that we’re developing the marketplace and our amazing products and engineering teams … and share almost like a consultative support. … We can help them make sure that they have all of those technology guidelines there to launch successfully.”
In addition, Pax8 donated 100% of the proceeds from merch sold at Beyond, plus made a $60,000 donation, which Hoffman says can provide 10 year’s worth of housing for survivors in Cebu.
The connection to Cebu is also a personal one for Pax8 CEO John Street, who spent time there during his lengthy stint in the Peace Corps, she notes.
“John Street really built our company on ‘People First’ and ‘Business is Personal.’ So, when we picked this [charity] and I had the opportunity to go, we shared some old memories of him getting to be in the streets of Cebu … with other Peace Corps initiatives.”
Hoffman, who assumed her social impact leadership role just shy of a year ago and prior to that was corporate social responsibility ambassador, says Pax8 has always promoted an “ecosystem of care. “Most recently, the company launched a corporate giving program for employees to support local community causes.
Another initiative under Hoffman’s umbrella is diversity, equity, and inclusion, and Pax8 recently changed its Employee Engagement Groups to Employee Resource Groups, launching ERGs for Pax8ers who are military veterans, LGBTQIA, people of color, neurodivergent, caregivers and parents, and women.
Also under Hoffman’s umbrella is Pax8’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) effort, which is still in its early days, she says. “The ESG side for us is super important. We’re learning and doing lots of understanding of what our emissions are, how much carbon impact we have in our facilities, and trying to understand the entire supply chain of that impact.”
She sums up, “It’s all a journey. But it’s a beautiful one.”
Have a good works in the channel/paying-it-forward or not-for-profit story to share? Email me at colleen@channelpronetwork.com.
