(RED) and The Global Fund

Ten years ago, more than 1,200 babies were born each day with HIV. Today that number is down to 400, and (RED), alongside global health organizations, aims to get that to virtually zero by 2020.

(RED) was created in 2006 by Bono and Bobby Shriver to drive corporate contributions to The Global Fund to fight AIDS. How (RED) works is simple: When consumers buy (RED)-branded products and services, their purchases trigger corporate giving to The Global Fund, supporting HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention programs in Africa, homes to roughly two-thirds of the world’s HIV-positive population.

“It’s really not about charity. It’s about justice, and that each life has equal value,” said CEO Deb Dugan. “AIDS has taken 35 million people. That’s like all of Canada being gone.”

(RED) is collaborating with Salesforce to power communications and data management, enabling its team of just 18 people to make a profound, measurable difference in the world.

“We have the biggest ideas and work with the biggest companies on the planet. And so we need tools to do that better,” Dugan said. “Salesforce has not only given multimillions of dollars to the cause to get the job done, but Salesforce employees have also come in and worked with (RED) as though they were part of the team — and now have really become part of the (RED) family.”

Achieving the impossible

One of the goals of (RED) and The Global Fund is to reduce the transmission of the virus from mothers to their babies. “Virtually everyone 15 years ago said where we are today was impossible, that we would never achieve it, that we couldn’t accomplish this. It was too complicated, couldn’t be done. It’s been done,” said Mark Dybul, Executive Director of The Global Fund.

Salesforce supports this ambitious initiative through its 1-1-1 model, which dedicates 1% of Salesforce’s technology, people, and resources to social impact organizations.

Collaborating with Bank of America, Apple, Beats, Starbucks, Coca-Cola, and many other companies, (RED) has now mobilized more than $360 million. “That’s a huge amount from the private sector. Nobody else has done that,” said Christoph Benn, a doctor who helped create The Global Fund.

Trust and communication make these partnerships possible. Salesforce helps (RED) maintain the highest standards for both at an immense scale.

“At (RED), we have over 6 million followers on social media. And over the years, we’ve had 60 partners. How do you communicate to those followers and have it feel one on one? How do you communicate to those partners, their employees, and their social media, and have it feel face to face, like humanity and storytelling to really capture your heart?” Dugan said. “We spend a lot of time thinking about that. And Salesforce has spent a lot of time this year thinking about it with us.”

Open communication about results is especially important to Millennials, a prime audience for (RED). “Our generation, as well as our partners, are demanding a sense of transparency that we want to uphold,” said Carly Farmer, Operations Associate. “Salesforce has really enabled us to show that in an impactful way through Analytics Cloud. And being able to do so just keeps the trust between our partners and our brand so strong.”

Team members at (RED) are able to share the kind of data that partners and consumers demand because they use Salesforce. “There is no way that we could have grown the way that we have and continue to grow our partnership base and our product base without a tool like Salesforce,” said Jadian Brice, Strategic Partnerships Associate. Brice and her team can use Salesforce to automate their email communications, while at the same time increasing the relevance and value of each message for each recipient. “Having that increased efficiency creates capacity, especially on the partnerships team, which means more partners, more products, and more campaigns moving forward, which ultimately is more money to The Global Fund to fight AIDS,” said Brice.

The Global Fund continues to find ways to amplify the impact of its work. Said Benn, “We need to have a good track record of what’s happening in these countries — what is working where, and why is it not working, how should we intervene — and you need very sophisticated IT platforms to integrate all this data. Salesforce is helping with that.”