Positive social impact is part of our DNA at Mapbox. Since the beginning, our work with humanitarian, civic, open source, and non-profit partners has been core to who we are as a company - with our very early days mapping clinics in Nigeria, floods in Pakistan, deforestation in Congo, and elections in Afghanistan. 

Today and everyday, everyone across Mapbox is encouraged to embody our culture of positive impact. We believe it is important to support, invest, and grow the communities we live and work in. To support this, I wanted to highlight our Volunteer Time Off (VTO) benefit that many of our employees used during this Global Volunteer Month.

WHAT IS VOLUNTEER TIME OFF AT MAPBOX?

With our Volunteer Time Off benefit, our company encourages all employees to use at least four days worth of work time to volunteer and participate in engagement opportunities that are meaningful and support positive social and environmental impact. This is because we know that volunteering is not only excellent for team-building, learning and skills development, but also for our well-being.

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF VOLUNTEERING OPPORTUNITIES FOR MAPBOX EMPLOYEES?

At Mapbox, we think of volunteering in two categories:

1. Local volunteering: Group or individual volunteering activities in any Mapboxer’s local community. This volunteering can be organized by an individual or as a Mapbox-sponsored volunteering event.‍
2. Skilled pro bono projects: Projects and events organized with non-profit partners that focus on using Mapbox technologies for positive impact, or the use of our professional and geospatial-related skills to support the needs of a partner organization. This is organized by our Marketing team which you can read more about here.

CELEBRATING GLOBAL VOLUNTEER MONTH

Many of our Mapboxers across our offices utilized our VTO benefit and participated in Global Volunteer Month! Throughout the month of April, offices and teams at Mapbox hosted various in-person and virtual volunteering events, and I wanted to recap all the great things our teams have done this month in hopes of inspiring others. 

🍲 VOLUNTEERING AT A FOOD BANK 

Mapboxers across the US spent time packaging and serving food in the communities they live. If you’re thinking of finding a food bank near you, we recommend visiting Feeding America in the US.

Northwest Harvest Food Bank in Seattle

Mapboxers packaged over 400 bags of groceries for 200 community members. NW Harvest is a no-cost grocery store and food distribution center for community members located in the SODO area (South of Downtown). Customers can shop from a wide array of food and health products.

FamilyWorks Food Bank in Seattle

Additionally, Mapboxers volunteered at FamilyWorks Food Bank. Volunteers organized donations from the week in the back room to increase efficiency for workers and filled 80 grocery bags packed with an assortment of fruits, vegetables, canned goods, and pre-made meals for people and families in our community experiencing hunger. The team at FamilyWorks was a pleasure to work with and made the experience rewarding while helping those in need.

Capital Area Food Bank in DC

Mapboxers went to the Capital Area Food Bank and put together 559 boxes that will feed 559 senior citizens in DC and Prince George’s County Maryland.

🌊 CLEANING UP OUR SHORES AND PARKS

Across our offices, we gathered some employees to enjoy some sun and to also clean up our shores in Helsinki and San Francisco, and parks in Minsk. 

Earth Day Beach Clean Up at Ocean Beach in San Francisco

Mapbox family and friends celebrated Earth Day together and volunteered with Surfrider Foundation to clean up Ocean Beach. This organization’s goal is to raise awareness about litter and plastic pollution while cleaning the beach.

‍Satakolkyt Project Shoreline Clean Up in Helsinki

Mapbox Finland participated in the Satakolkyt shoreline clean up project. The original Satakolkyt project was a collaboration between the City of Helsinki Youth Services, The Helsinki Metropolitan Area Guides and Scouts, NNKY of Helsinki, Helsinki 4H, and Helsinki Green Youth. This year's shoreline cleanup took place at Kaisaniemenranta, Helsinki.

Park Clean Up at Kurasovshchina Park

Our Minsk team visited Kurasovshchina Park where they spent time cleaning and purifying the park from garbage, fallen leaves, and tree branches.

‍📚 Mentoring

Out of the Box Day, Mapbox Education Lectures in Minsk

Our Mapbox team in Minsk continues to visit Belarusian schools in remote areas of the country with our “Out of the Box Day” educational project. The team provided lectures designed to mentor and guide young students in exploring potential career paths. 

These online and offline lectures were in front of 40 students in Glubokoe. They discussed how to set goals, make choices, start their own business, and even talk about IT. At the end of the event, kids who participated the most were rewarded with small gifts. We also gave out books, which our folks helped purchase. By tradition, we all had tea and cakes together, giving the children a chance to speak with us about their questions.

🗺️ VOLUNTEERING THROUGH MAPPING 

Virtual HOT OSM Mapping 

Mapboxers around the globe joined virtual mapping sessions for the HOT OSM community. Below are pictures from the different events where Mapboxers in total added 534 map features.

‍‍‍‍‍‍‍Mapbox team in Japan

‍‍‍Mapbox team in Minsk

‍Mapbox team in the US

‍CONTINUING TO GIVE BACK

We know that volunteering doesn’t stop in April. We remain committed as a company to giving back to the communities we live and serve today and every day.