Kimberlin Education launches first Pledge 1% campaign for Little Blue Dinosaur Foundation
Kimberlin Education has delivered its first Pledge 1% campaign for Little Blue Dinosaur, an Australian based foundation aimed at educating pedestrian road safety to primary school children.
Pledge 1% spearheaded by Salesforce, Atlassian, Rally, and Tides is a global movement that encourages and empowers companies of all sizes and stages to donate 1% of product, 1% of equity, 1% of profit, or 1% of employee time to causes of their choice. Over 1,500 companies in 40 countries have joined the movement, committing to pledge 1% of equity, product, profit or time to make a difference in communities around the world.
Says Scott Farquhar, co-founder and co-CEO, Atlassian: “We are thrilled that Kimberlin Education has joined the Pledge 1% movement and is committed to sharing its success with the community. Employees, shareholders, customers, and the community all benefit when a company builds giving back into its DNA. It’s one of the best decisions we ever made.
Says Naomi Lindermeyer, the founder and education director of Kimberlin: “At Kimberlin Education, our focus is educating children and youth, and whilst we work with so many charities in this space we selected the Little Blue Dinosaur Foundation http://www.littlebluedinosaur.org/ as the charity we wanted to help pro bono as part of the Pledge 1% commitment because being a small charity, we knew our help would be invaluable.”
At just 4 years of age, Thomas Maxwell Davis McLaughlin was tragically taken from his family after a road accident whilst holidaying on the Central Coast of NSW. Tom loved to draw little blue dinosaurs and so his family launched the Little Blue Dinosaur Foundation to promote child pedestrian road safety initiatives and allow Tom’s legacy to shine on.
Says Lindermeyer: “When we first came across Tom and his family’s story we were heartbroken. We really wanted to help make a difference and prevent this type of tragedy happening again. We are so proud of the work we produced for Little Blue Dinosaur, with every member of our team getting behind the initiative. As part of our Pledge 1% commitment, we delivered lesson plans for teachers to use in the classroom for Preschool – Year 2 schoolchildren as well as a new website and gamified online education-based learning for students, all promoting important pedestrian road safety messages.”
Says Tom’s mother, Michelle McLaughlin, a director of Little Blue Dinosaur: “We are so honoured to have Kimberlin’s team backing us and are just humbled with their support, their contribution and amazing work. Our campaign is Tom’s voice. A clear, determined and passionate voice that speaks to children, for children and their safety. Tom’s message “Slow down; kids around” is an essential one that must be heard in every school around Australia.”
The campaign, a result of Kimberlin Education’s pledge of its agency resources and time, was recently launched in Term 1 nationally to principals and preschool – Year 3 teachers nationally via Kimberlin Education and includes a new website, interactive video for children, online game and lesson plan.