How disruption and CSR can create community change: A Q&A with Pax8 on their social impact work

Disruption is an essential component of systems change. It's often incremental, taking place in the in-between moments when individuals and organizations realize there just might be a better way to get things done. Effective corporate social responsibility relies on these courageous moments of disruption to progress. Pax8, a cloud IT service provider headquartered in Denver, leans into this process of disruption to advance its corporate social responsibility efforts and create change in its communities.

Guided by the focus areas of environment, community development, education and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics), and human services, Pax8's corporate social responsibility efforts range from everyday activities such as giving and employee-led volunteering to investing in global climate solutions through its Ecologi program. To learn more about how this company creates change through CSR, we sat down with Lyndsey Hoffman, Pax8's vice president of social impact.

What inspires Pax8's CSR work?

The passion for Pax8's CSR work started with our CEO John Street and his experience in the Peace Corps. Street, a champion of giving back, understands that business is personal. As the company continues to grow, the team at Pax8 channels his spirit of giving back by investing in the communities that matter to our customers, employees and clients. With this foundation in place, our social impact team was created. What continues to inspire our work each day is the family of Pax8ers, partners and the unique global communities we represent.

Share your favorite CSR story from the past year.

When our Pax8 Americas sales and vendor teams heard news of the war in Ukraine, our leaders jumped into action with the social impact team to find out how we could support people on the front lines in need of resources. The social impact team connected with Project C.U.R.E Denver, a nonprofit organization that distributes donated medical supplies, equipment and services across the globe. In partnership with Project C.U.R.E, Pax8 developed a series of volunteer events over the course of two months that gave our teams the opportunity to pack medical supplies and ' Kits for Kids ' that were sent out to Ukraine and 134 other countries in need.

What excites you about the future of Pax8's CSR work?

The most exciting thing about the future of our work is a continuation of what people already know and love about Pax8 — disruption. We're excited to facilitate respectful disruption to bring about socially responsible change in our business, communities and partnerships. As we continue to grow our business and scale into new regions in the years ahead, Pax8's social impact CSR programs will become globally accessible in new markets around the world.

What advice would you give to companies trying to start their CSR journey?

Start somewhere. Even if it's small, every little bit of effort adds up and will create more impact than you think. Also, don't be afraid to ask questions. There is more work to be done than we can all accomplish alone. Engage partners, listen with intention, dive in with your people and communities and be creatively curious.

Good Works Colorado is brought to you by Delta Dental of Colorado, a nonprofit dental insurance company dedicated to making Colorado better through Mile High Smile LINK — the investments we make to deliver on our mission of improving the oral health of the communities we serve. Our Smile Power is amplified by fellow companies dedicated to being strong corporate citizens like those named to the Civic 50 Colorado, the 50 most community-minded small, medium, and large companies in Colorado as determined by True Impact's adapted national Civic 50 survey.