With the end of 2015 upon us and Auld Lang Syne still in our ears, we began thinking about our vision at Blue Margin.  There were the usual business goals around growth, profitability, culture, and market position. 

But something about the turning of another year makes us all more contemplative, more likely to consider the big “Whys” of life.  Growth and profitability are good, but why? The obvious answer, “Because it brings value to clients, and feeds our families in the process” didn’t seem to tell the whole story, at least not at this perennial juncture. 

Maybe it wasn’t the new year.  Maybe it was our increasingly greying hair, but our tactical goals began taking a backseat to our vision for how we might impact others. 

Eventually, we arrived at an epiphany – when it comes to volunteering our resources, it’s too easy to find comfort in the word “someday”.   “Someday I’ll have more time . . . someday I’ll have more money . . .someday I’ll have more energy . . . someday I’ll (fill-in-the-blank)”.  The problem is “someday” never comes. 

Several of us decided that contributing to our community didn’t have to hinge on someday.  If we elevated volunteering in our company culture, we could start impacting those in need now. 

At this point in our evolution as a company, we’re not able to go on month-long well-digging trips to Africa. So we developed a plan to start small and serve locally. 

Having set the bar at a more attainable level, we launched Blue Margin Community Works (BMCW) in January of 2016.  The initiative allows 2 hours of Paid Volunteer Leave (PVL) for every Blue Margin employee, every month.  It also rewards employees who complete 12 hours of community service in a 6-month period and 24 hours within a calendar year, by donating $100 for each milestone reached to the charity of the employee’s choice. 

BMCW has been a huge success and a blessing to our company.  Here are some of the cool places our team has had the privilege to volunteer this year:

We look forward to more opportunities to engage in our community and serve the needs of people around us.  And we would love to be inspired by what you and/or your company is doing to help those in need.