sos2020

Summer of Service 2020

Sogeti’s Summer of Service will run from June 1, 2020 - September 30, 2020.

Summer of Service

Sogeti’s Summer of Service is a program that encourages Sogetians to give back—and enjoy some friendly competition in the process. Units work with local charities while competing against other units to win money for the organizations they support.

Why is this important to Sogeti and our business?

  • Creates pride and teamwork with employees
  • Demonstrates Sogeti’s passion and heart for helping others
  • Contributes to the wellbeing of our local communities
  • Green initiatives can lower costs and increase operational efficiency
  • Community involvement expands Sogeti’s branding and recognition

How will we promote our CSR activities?

  • Website—posted on the Sogeti Gives Back section of the Sogeti US page.
  • Blog posts—during Summer of Service, we would love to feature the Summer of Service activities of a different unit on our Sogeti blog as well. If you have a service act or charitable organization that would be a great feature for the blog, get in contact with your unit SOS coordinator.
  • Sogeti USA’s national social media sites—Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube using the hashtags: #SogetiGivesBack, #SOS2020
  • Sogeti Snapshot communications
  • PR—Marketing will help coordinate with your local publications, if appropriate. In fact, send an email to Sogetimarketing@us.sogeti.com if you plan to complete a unique/large act of service. The marketing team can help generate excitement/awareness with the press BEFORE your event—possibly having reporters there during your act of service.

How to Enter

Selecting an organization

Over the years, Sogeti has supported more than 200 organizations (view the full list here). If your unit chooses to support an organization that is listed on this spreadsheet, no pre-approval is needed.

If your unit would like to support a NEW organization, please send the Sogeti Marketing Team a link to the charity’s website and a W9 for pre-approval. Also keep the following criteria in mind:  

  • Sogeti encourages employees to give back to the organizations that mean the most to their community. That said, Sogeti as an organization cannot support charities with politically-charged, controversial, or religious messages/missions.
  • If you would like to support an organization with a religious tie, please note that the CSR activity cannot be related to promoting the religious message. (e.g. You may support St. Vincent’s homeless shelter by serving a meal or sponsoring a clothing drive but NOT by teaching Sunday school or making a donation directly to the church.)
  • If you do not get pre-approval for a new organization, please note that it is possible that your CSR activities may not be entered into the Summer of Service contest.

Entering the contest

  1. Work with your local unit to organize a team (minimum of five Sogeti participants) and plan a CSR activity. Types of activities include:
    • Giving food and materials (e.g. food drives for a local food bank, collecting school supplies for underprivileged children)
    • Giving money (e.g. sponsoring a charity event, organizing a fund raiser)
    • Giving time (e.g. mentoring students, highway clean-up initiatives)
    • Giving IT expertise (e.g. helping a charity create a website or mobile app, mentoring students about IT)
    • Going green (e.g. planting trees, creating a car-pool program)
  2. Post your pictures to the Sogeti USA Facebook page—including a caption with details on your act of service.
  3. Post and manage your CSR activity on MyCSR. MyCSR is a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Engagement tool to provide more access to (CSR) events. MyCSR is a one stop shop for CSR where you can:
    • Sign up to Volunteer in your community.
    • Join one of our 11 Employee Resource Groups.
    • Find out more about our Environmental Sustainability Initiatives.
    • Search for and participate in events and training in your home city or project location.
  4. Learn how to Create Events and Manage Events in MyCSR.
  5. Ensure that everyone who participates in your event, joins the event in MyCSR.
  6. Once your CSR activity is over, make sure to update the event details in MyCSR with your results with the details that illustrate the scope of your event including the following:
  • Number of items donated
  • Amount of money raised
  • Number of people helped
  • Did you partner with a client?
  • Did you receive a thank you letter?
  • Was there any local press coverage?

How to Win

There are multiple prizes up for grabs during Summer of Service:

  • Four monthly “Service Superstar” prizes
  • Four monthly “Random Drawing” prizes

This year, there are even more opportunities to win a prize for Summer of Service! We will award prizes accordingly:

  • June—one “Service Superstar” prize and one Random Drawing winner; each wins $500 for their charity
  • July—one “Service Superstar” prize and one Random Drawing winner; each wins $500 for their charity
  • August—one “Service Superstar” prize and one Random Drawing winner; each wins $500 for their charity
  • September—one “Service Superstar” prize and one Random Drawing winner; each wins $500 for their charity

Tips to be selected as a “Service Superstar”:

  • Take pictures! Post pictures of your unit completing acts of service with your charity wearing your Summer of Service shirts and tag Sogeti USA’s Facebook, Twitter (@Sogeti_USA), and Instagram (@sogeti_usa) accounts. Include details of the act, the name of the charity, your results, and our hashtags: #SogetiGivesBack and #SOS2019. Hint: The better the pics, the more likely they are to be selected for sharing on our social media sites. For tips on taking winning photos, check out our photo tips. (Please note that posts must be approved by the Marketing team in order to be featured on our social media. If you have any questions on posting, feel free to contact Avainte Saunders.)
  • Do something BIG—get a large percentage of your unit involved and include measurable results.
  • Provide detailed information on your act of service and specific details on the impact of your act of service (actual dollars raised, actual items donated, etc.). The details you provide on your submission form will help us understand the scope of your act of service, so make sure you tell us exactly how you’re helping your charity.
  • Partner with a client for your activities.
  • Send us the thank you letters you receive from the charity or get a brief statement/quote from the charity on the impact of your act of service.
  • Work with the Marketing team to have your activity covered by local press. (Please contact Marketing BEFORE your event if you believe your activity is something that the local press would be interested in covering.  Marketing will help pitch the story and try to get reporters to cover your story.  For a journalist to be interested in covering a story it must be newsworthy—meaning it should be unique/creative, have an interesting perspective, or impressive results.)
  • Get creative—complete an act of service that’s different and unique.
  • Partner with Capgemini—Capgemini has offices in some of the same cities as Sogeti including Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, New York, and Phoenix, giving you a chance to team up for an act of service. In addition, on September 13 Capgemini’s CARES Day provides another opportunity for you to partner with Capgemini in their CSR activities. For more information about how you can work with Capgemini on your Summer of Service activity, please contact Marketing.

You can win more than once!

If your act of service wins a monthly prize, you are still eligible to win ANOTHER monthly prize OR be selected as one of the grand prize winners.  In short, the best acts of service will win—and possibly more than once.

FAQ

Our unit has CSR activities planned outside the dates for Summer of Service. Can they still be counted in this contest?

Unfortunately, no. Only CSR activities completed June 1st through September 30th are eligible for the Summer of Service contest. However, if you do complete an act of service outside of these dates, we would still like to share your story, so send us your details and pictures.

How many charities should my unit support?

It is up to your unit how many charities and CSR activities you’d like to support—there is no limit. Work with your GVP or nominate someone in your unit to help coordinate your efforts.

Does my individual charity work count towards Summer of Service?

While we always want to support individuals giving back to their community, the Summer of Service is meant to be a time of giving and a time for team building. We ask that a minimum of five people from the unit be involved in Summer of Service activities and that the volunteer work be done on behalf of Sogeti rather than on a more personal level.

What is the best way to share photos with the Marketing team?

The easiest way to share photos—especially if sharing many photos—is to upload them to OneDrive and share the link with Marketing. If you have any questions about this, feel free to reach out to Avainte Saunders.

Who are the judges?”

There will be a panel of judges from the corporate office.

Can units work together to support a charity?

Yes. Each unit will be recognized for joint efforts, and charities earn entries for each unit that supports it.

What can I do if I don’t have a Summer of Service t-shirt?

As we are not purchasing any new SOS t-shirts this year, we encourage Sogetians to wear blue when completing your SOS activity. While it doesn’t need to exactly match the SOS shirt blue, the closer you can get to that blue, the better.