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Cardinal at Work Cares

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Cardinal at Work Cares

The Cardinal at Work Cares program invites you to bring your talents, skills, and knowledge to address the social and environmental concerns you care about most, and share your good work with colleagues. In doing so, you may improve your personal well-being, develop new skills, create deeper connections with colleagues, and build relationships with community partners. Cardinal at Work Cares builds on years of employee giving and helps you give back to the communities where you live and work all year round.

Need extra inspiration? You can also earn BeWell incentive points for your efforts.

Your kindness – served up three ways

Cardinal at Work Cares Community Opportunities Platform

Here is a chance for you to learn about and share opportunities with colleagues. You may want to make life a little better for others, help protect the environment, support the arts, or give back in some other way. Whatever causes most concern you, whatever skill sets you have to offer, and wherever you want to make an impact – we want to make it as easy as possible for you to give back in a way that is meaningful to you by connecting you with ways to do so. We hope you connect and learn along the way.

Learn about the Community Opportunities Platform
Employee at a donation drive.

Cardinal at Work Cares Donation Drives

A direct way to help our neighbors is to contribute to a donation drive. By tradition, we’ll collect and assemble everyday personal care items for donation each November. These items are suggested by local service providers closest to the need. Additional drives will be embedded in our biggest employee events, so you’ll have opportunities to donate items year-round.

See how you can help make our drives successful
Team image

Cardinal at Work Cares for Teams

This is an opportunity to apply for a team volunteer experience with HandsOn Bay Area (HOBA), which may involve going off-site to work directly with a non-profit or coordinating a “project in a box” activity for your team to complete together at your work site. You’ll enjoy spending time with one another while also giving back.

Learn about who qualifies and how to apply for your team

If you’re not Stanford faculty or staff, if you’re looking to learn more about broader Stanford community engagement opportunities or how your team can get involved, visit the Office of Community Engagement.

Interested in participating remotely?

You can participate in the Cardinal at Work Cares program from wherever you may be. Purchase items for the donation drive through our Amazon wish list, post or find volunteer opportunities in other states, and explore the possibility of remote ways for your team to give back.

Giving back during work hours/on workdays


Some organizations seek volunteer support during the workday. In that case, you are encouraged to use your floating holiday, accrued PTO, or vacation time for your volunteer work hours. In 2021, Stanford added a second floating holiday for staff to have the latitude to take time off for observances or personal commitments, including community service hours. Please discuss your request for time off to volunteer with your manager, as you would for any activity that causes you to be absent when you are scheduled to work. Volunteer opportunities for Stanford organizations or Stanford-sponsored events should also be discussed with your manager and local human resources office.

Employer matching: Stanford’s status as a 501c3 non-profit organization precludes us from having a matching gift program.