When I first joined Fivetran, in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, I was struck by the number of “good people” I encountered across departments and geographies. Despite operating in a completely remote working environment — and amid the anxieties of a global pandemic — I immediately felt a connection to my colleagues and a genuine, reciprocal desire to support one another and give back to the community. This feeling has only grown stronger over time.

Alexander Lovell, Head of Data Connectors for our product management team, embodies this spirit. Moved by the suffering of our India team at the height of the pandemic, he decided to start an employee-led charity campaign. He dropped a spontaneous note in a company Slack channel, asking employees to follow his lead and donate to UNICEF India:

Fivetran employees from around the world joined in. In a matter of  days, we raised more than $35,000 — including Fivetran company matching funds — for UNICEF India Humanitarian Relief.

“It was awesome to see the outpouring of generosity,” Alexander recalls. “We struck a vein where people were able to do something constructive to help our team thousands of miles away. How quickly the team jumped in shows the depth of our caring and how united we are as a global team.”

ERGs embrace charitable giving

Katie McEllistrim, Senior SI Alliances Manager and member of the Fivetran Women employee resource group (ERG), and Jonte Major, Talent Operations Specialist and member of the Black Fivetranners Network ERG, recently led a similar fundraising campaign.

Part of the mission of every Fivetran ERG is to perform service-based work. Last year, Fivetran Women decided to focus its philanthropic efforts on a community of young women with a dream of a career in technology. In the spirit of helping to bring equity to the tech industry, where women — and especially Black women — are entering at a lower rate, Fivetran Women and the Black Fivetranners Network selected an organization called Black Girls Code (BGC) for its charitable project.

“I was so inspired by this campaign to help bring access to young black girls to be able to pursue a career in technology like I am fortunate enough to be doing,” says Jonte.  

“We initially set a fundraising goal of $5,000, but we had to keep raising it every few minutes as our colleagues were jumping in with incredible donations,” recalls Katie. “It was inspiring to see everyone rally around a great cause, and within two hours, we had raised about $25,000 — fueled by our company matching, which is a great perk for our team!”

Individual service initiatives

One final example of an employee-led charity campaign at Fivetran involves the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). I have volunteered for this organization since 2008, and earlier this year I organized the Resilience Challenge. About a dozen of us raised several thousand dollars for LLS by parlaying fitness goals into a program that raises money to fund research into finding a cure for all blood cancers.

“Whether you’re fundraising, volunteering or just doing your day-to-day work, Fivetran allows you to pursue your passion,” says Jonte. “And you feel supported every step of the way.”

Join us!

If you’re interested in joining the Fivetran team, we’d love to hear from you. We’re hiring for dozens of positions across all departments and regions. Check out our careers page to learn more, and please get in touch!