When I explain what I do at Yahoo!, people often respond with excitement, interest, and frankly, a little bit of jealousy. How many people get to spend their work week leveraging the premier digital media company to have a positive impact on the world? On the Yahoo! for Good team, we’re all about helping our employees, audience, and advertisers make a bigger difference for the causes that matter to them. Rather than focusing on a single issue, we focus on amplifying the issues others care most about. I’m proud to be a part of a team that is willing to take this unique approach to corporate social responsibility (CSR) and forge our own best practices.

In my first year at Yahoo!, a large part of my job was managing the Yahoo! Employee Foundation (YEF). I use the term “managing” loosely, because YEF’s real driving force is passionate Yahoo! employees. YEF helps Yahoos make a bigger impact on the causes they care about through volunteering, championing a grant, or donating, and the results are truly remarkable. It’s unlike any other employee foundation I know, and with 61% of employees contributing to YEF in 2010, it’s a model for other employee foundations looking to cultivate an engaged employee base. My fellow Yahoos should be proud to be part of a culture that makes giving second nature.

The people who make all of this possible are the members of the YEF Board. They’re all volunteers with full time jobs who give their time to shape YEF’s strategy. They range in tenure and job responsibility at Yahoo!, but when they come together, they accomplish some astounding things. I think it’s notable that these Yahoos put in so many extra hours to make YEF possible, and that Yahoo! supports them in doing so.

Today marks the launch of YEF’s annual fundraising drive, which brings Yahoo! employees around the US together to raise money for our grants program. We’re aiming to break last year’s record by reaching a 65% participation rate among US Yahoos so that we can have a bigger than ever impact in 2012.

Each year, YEF gives away over $2 million in grants to organizations that are important to Yahoos. It’s an impressive number, but it misses the most inspiring part of the YEF Grants program, which is Yahoos helping Yahoos to help others. During the YEF Grant interviews, which happen twice per year, Yahoo! Employee Champions come to pitch their favorite nonprofit to the YEF Grants Committee made up of, you guessed it, Yahoo! volunteers.

YEF also helps Yahoos connect with each other through volunteer opportunities. This year, each member of the executive staff is hosting and participating in a YEF volunteer event. I’ve attended most of these events, and it’s been fun to see Yahoos volunteering alongside colleagues that they might not work with on a daily basis. Most importantly, though, these events provide a clear window into the impact that YEF is having on our community.

Though YEF has been a central part of my Yahoo! experience so far, it’s only part of what we do at Yahoo! for Good. I lead Yahoo!’s disaster response process, which is another program that sets Yahoo! apart. When a disaster strikes, we’re able to activate Yahoo!’s incredibly large and powerful network of users to support relief efforts happening around the world. In response to Japan’s earthquake and tsunami earlier this year, our audience contributed over $7.3 million in a matter of weeks. What’s more, Yahoos snapped into action, taking advantage of a special 2:1 matching gifts opportunity by donating nearly $600,000 to the relief efforts. To me, it’s remarkable that Yahoo! thinks outside the boundaries of typical philanthropy by leveraging some of our greatest and most unique assets – our passionate audience and employees – to magnify our impact significantly.

And we’re not stopping there. Through efforts like disaster relief, we’ve learned that our audience is looking for ways to respond to articles that move them, right in the moment that they feel moved. Because of that, we’re exploring new, quicker, and more effective approaches to enable our audience to make a difference through our editorial content.

It’s been an incredible year for our team, and I know that there’s more to come. I’m especially inspired by the hallway and coffee bar conversations I have with other Yahoos who have ideas for new and innovative ways for Yahoo! to enable our employees, audience, and advertisers to make a bigger difference. To learn more or find out how to get involved, check out http://howgoodgrows.yahoo.com/.

Proud Yahoo,
Abby Speight
Yahoo! For Good Associate.

Editor’s Note: This article is part of a series entitled, “In My Own Words,” that gives employees the opportunity to share their own stories about Yahoo!. Feel like yodeling your own? Post your Yahoo! story on your social networks using the hashtag #myYahoostory.