Commercial Integrator is excited to celebrate AVI-SPL as the winner of the 2023 Make A Difference Award! CI presents this prestigious award in partnership with ADI Global Distribution. ADI is, of course, a leading wholesale distributor of security, AV and low-voltage products.
Commercial Integrator presents the Make A Difference Award for the third year in a row. This highly coveted award recognizes and celebrates an integration firm that has made a difference through its philanthropic efforts. This year’s winner, AVI-SPL, is known for helping those in need within the communities it serves.
ADI is the wholesale distributor of security, AV and low-voltage products.
Based in Tampa, Fla., AVI-SPL is, of course, a digital-enablement solutions provider. The organization designs, integrates, manages and supports onsite and cloud-based communications and collaboration technologies. Moreover, it serves organizations all across the globe.
According to AVI-SPL, the company’s core value is to “thrive together.” Indeed, AVI-SPL strives to live out this value daily. The company attests that this mission also comes to life in the “AVI-SPL Gives Back” program. The initiative involves a structured outreach in the communities where employees live and work through volunteerism, fundraising or both.
How the ‘AVI-SPL Gives Back’ Program Works
The “AVI-SPL Gives Back” program happens throughout the year, all across the company. However, one month a year — in August — AVI-SPL dedicates itself to giving back. Throughout that month, each AVI-SPL location sets aside its usual work and takes time to perform community service. This service includes everything from packaging meals for food banks to renovating animal shelters to planting trees. In fact, the entire AVI-SPL team gets out and gives back.
During “AVI-SPL Gives Back” month in August 2022, roughly 20% of employees joined a giving-back activity. During the remainder of the year, approximately 10% (of 4,300-plus current employees globally) participated in making a difference in their communities. (That figure does not include participants in internal programs, such as DEI groups or mentorship classes.)
Thousands of Hours of Service
Based on the participation noted, the digital-enablement solutions provider estimates devoting 2,500 hours of its employee time to charitable giving and volunteerism in 2022. According to AVI-SPL, it directly supported a remarkable 37 charitable organizations around the world. The company did so through volunteerism and fundraising. What’s more, AVI-SPL serves the community in various ways. For example, each office collects and donates to a local cause, but individual employees also privately donate to organizations of their choice.
AVI-SPL estimates that its efforts have directly helped at least 500 families. Indirectly, however, the industry leader is likely to have touched thousands of lives. That, of course, also includes the goodwill shared among its employees coming together to thrive.
AVI-SPL has done so much good work that it was difficult for Commercial Integrator and ADI to choose any particular initiative to spotlight. However, Elevate — AVI-SPL’s Employee Resource Group focused on fostering gender equity in technology — deserves special mention. It selected Girls Who Code for an awareness and fundraising campaign. As part of the campaign, Elevate raised nearly $1,500 in donations in two weeks. Just as impressively, AVI-SPL matched that donation amount 100%!
Embracing Values of Community Service
AVI-SPL observes that the Elevate campaign is a great example of how the firm has lived out its values internally, through the DEI program, as well as externally, through community outreach.
Lauren Lew, senior associate, Girls Who Code, also praises the fundraising efforts. She says, “We are so grateful for the support from [AVI-SPL’s] June 2022 campaign! Your generous gifts gave 10 of our third- to 12th-grade clubs’ students a full year of programming.”
For Vicki Bosworth, executive vice president of human resources at AVI-SPL, community service is one of the cornerstones of the culture at the digital-enablement solutions provider. She puts it this way: “It enriches the lives of those we serve and strengthens our employees’ sense of purpose and connection. Together, we’re shaping a better future for the global communities where we work and live — and having an absolute blast along the way.”
John Zettel, CEO of AVI-SPL, adds a note of appreciation and continuing commitment. “I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to team AVI-SPL for your contributions to our communities,” he says. “With over 4,300 employees worldwide, we have the power to make a difference, and your outstanding efforts truly exemplify our core value of thriving together.”
Click on “View Slideshow” for additional images of AVI-SPL’s volunteering efforts.
