Each year we have a thank you post here on the blog and we are so very thankful for another amazing year together with you, our community, last year we made a post “Happy Thanksgiving – Our promise and thanks” – we promised we would not litter this site with ads, we would not have “sponsored projects”, we would not add a social media malware button on each page of our site, we would not send you any spam, ever. We are able to make promises like this because we have customers, that is you, thank you.
…we’ve been told we’re leaving “money on the table” because we do not spam, we won’t put advertising on Adafruit.com – that we could be monetizing pages views for lots of money, that we do not have share buttons on every post/product page so people will not share on social media, that we should take money to do sponsored projects, sponsored posts or have an affiliate program. Maybe they’re right and we’re sure that’s a business model that will work for others, but we think our customers and community enjoy the experience at Adafruit and will reward us by purchasing our products. By not being distracted by all these spammy things, it means we focus 100% on new products, tutorials, writing and sharing code & hardware, making videos and creating great content. We’re posting this today, Thanksgiving, because of you, our customers and community. We are solely supported by you. Enjoy the turkey, there’s no spam at our table. Thank you!
And we’ve kept that promise and will continue to do so because you the customer & community are what makes this all work. The community hold us to a high standard, as we all should for each other, it’s up to all of us to make our world a better place together.
So speaking of that… As Adafruit has grown we’ve been able to do and give more to our employees, this is what are doing, starting in 2016. Here’s an email sent to the team today.
hi team!
thank you so much for a great year together, we still have some more to go, the biggest days are ahead of us. the future is very bright and we are doing an excellent thing together that you are building. adafruit’s code, services, and products touch lives and educate, we’re so thankful we’re able to provide great resources & tools.
we wanted to say “thank you” to all of you today – we are so thankful we are on this adventure with all of you. as adafruit has grown from a 1 person apartment company to a factory in nyc, together we have all been able to do and give more to each other every possible way: more paid time off, more benefits like a great 401k that’s great for everyone, commuter benefits, promotions from within, raises, kudos and feedback, structure and support, diversity in our dna, mentoring, opportunities to grow, all with the goal of finding more ways for team members to build their lives with us together.
that’s how we say thank you, caring about each other day-to-day and long term. all we have is each other, let’s keep making it excellent! 🙂
we can also say thank you by giving to local communities and causes that are important to all of you. at state of the fruit we announced we were researching paid time off for donating time to a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, and good news, we can do this.
as we hit 2016 we are very thankful to be in a place where we can give adafruit members more paid time off. *starting in* 2016 we are giving our team paid time off for donating their time to a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. we worked smart to make sure it was ok with all the lawyer folks, insurance folks, and employment experts we work with on a daily basis. we’ll have a specific team lead meeting and all company meeting and have the updated handbook in early jan with the details.
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“everybody can be great…because anybody can serve. you don’t have to have a college degree to serve. you don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. you only need a heart full of grace. a soul generated by love.”
― martin luther king jr.
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service means lots of things to lots of people, our ladyada made “kits” of food that went to shelters and needy families in the new york area for thanksgiving this year. she’s really good at making and shipping “kits” – go with your strengths 🙂
there are so many ways we can all help each other. donating time, the most precious resource we all have, is something we want to encourage and celebrate. we are hoping we can start a trend in the “maker” communities and companies.
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“be the change you want to see in the world.”
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“the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
-mohandas karamchand gandhi
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all of you have given us and each other the ability to run a great company with a great cause, adafruit: thank you, thank you, thank you! we will do our best to make the world a better place; through sharing, through our electronics that teach, to empowering our teams to invest their time improving their local communities and the world. thank you and have a great thanksgiving.
All of you, our customers and community have given us the ability to run a great company and a great cause, Adafruit, thank you, thank you, thank you, we will do our best to make the world a better place, through sharing, through our electronics that teach, to empowering our teams to invest their time improving their local communities and the world.
Thank you and have a great Thanksgiving.
-Adafruit
