Giving Back to the Community
TCI strongly believes in giving back to the community that it serves. Throughout the year, we perform many charitable works, both individually and as a company. These include the following:
Los Angeles Giving Circle (LAGC)
Helen MacKinnon is co-chair of this non-profit, which is part of the Women’s Foundation of California. The organization supports financial literacy and economic self-sufficiency for underserved girls and young women and Helen is an active fund-raiser and membership advocate.
http://www.womensfoundca.org/los-angeles-giving-circle
LA Tech Happy Hour
When a bunch of TCI staff first visited this Meet Up group, they found a place where techies from all walks of life, industries, and technologies came to grab a drink and meet likeminded individuals. We quickly decided that this was something that we could get behind and have been their sole agency sponsor for 2013.
http://www.latechhappyhour.com
DocuTalks
Helen is also one of the organizers of this film club, which supports independent filmmakers and the LAGC through screenings of documentaries that includes a Q and A period afterwards with someone associated with the film.
Donors Choose
TCI has had a number of raffles and giveaways and there is no better gift than that of helping our teachers educate the young minds of tomorrow. Donor Choose gift cards allow the cardholder to go online and choose a classroom project to help fund. This can range from simple art supplies, to getting a classroom a new computer.
Mobile Meet Ups
Having been in business for close to 30 years, TCI has an extensive network of professionals that we can call upon to share their knowledge with the technical Community. These, free to the public, talks have included high-level Android and iOS developers as well as IT professionals from companies like Science and eHarmony.
Coffee Recycling Program
When TCI moved offices we vowed that the days of the Keurig were behind us, mainly because there is no way to properly recycle those little cups. We switched to Flavia, a pouch based form where we can work directly with Terracycle, which has a national program (aka ‘Brigade’) called the MARS Drinks Fresh Pack Brigade® that recycles the packets. These Brigade programs are unique as they accrue points for each unit of waste collected. These points can then be applied to a number of eco-friendly programs such as the Arbor Day Foundation (planting of new trees). Double-win!
One Voice
Every holiday season, TCI sponsors one or two families, providing them with gifts and food to make this time of year a happier one. The TCI staff is split into groups and assigned one family member to shop for. Often the groups spend their own money in addition to what we as a company reimburse them for to buy every gift requested by their family member.
Heifer International
At the holidays, each staff member is allocated a certain amount of money to spend in the Heifer catalog. As a company, we have bought cows, pigs, bees and trees to help out the impoverished around the world.
