Pack the Bus: SAP Concur Fusion Participants Impact the Lives of Thousands of Youth in the Greater San Diego Area

Julia Donovan |

At SAP Concur, our corporate social responsibility (CSR) mission is to provide quality education and digital inclusion for all youth. We believe one of the best ways to bring this mission to life is through hands-on experiences and volunteering opportunities. From internal company meetings to external customer events, we meet our employees and customers where they are with hosted CSR opportunities that offer the chance to exemplify our SAP vision of helping the world run better and improving people’s lives

Earlier this month, approximately 1,000 SAP Concur employees and more than 2,300 customers and partners traveled to San Diego, California for SAP Concur Fusion, our annual customer conference. For the conference’s CSR activity, we partnered with The Boys and Girls Club (BGC) of San Diego on its Pack the Bus initiative. The BGC of Greater San Diego has an annual school supply donation drive with a goal of filling 1,000 backpacks to provide students with the educational materials they need for the school year. In partnership with employee and customer volunteers, the SAP Concur CSR team exceeded that goal by packing 2,000 backpacks, allowing BGC of Greater San Diego to concentrate their efforts and resources where they matter most, the students.

Many participants returned to the packing stations multiple times each day and a few volunteers packed more than 100 backpacks on their own. This passion for service exemplifies who we are at SAP Concur and what we do to uplift, give back, and positively impact our communities.  In speaking with one customer at Fusion who had been through the packing line multiple times, he expressed to me that the opportunities to give back to local communities is why he remains a loyal customer of SAP Concur. A few customers remembered our prior packing event at Fusion 2018, and were so glad to see that an opportunity to make an impact was provided again this year.

The BCG of Greater San Diego’s mission is to inspire and enable youth to achieve academic success, build good character and responsible citizenship, and make healthy lifestyle choices. The clear alignment of our missions around quality education and academic success made BCG of Greater San Diego the perfect organization for us to partner with during Fusion 2019. By providing underserved students with these supplies, we empower them to feel confident in the classroom and ready to learn, preparing them for their journey to academic success and beyond.

SAP Concur will continue to provide employees and customers with transformative volunteering experiences, connecting them with a deeper sense of purpose. We look forward to all the possibilities of making an impact next year at Fusion 2020 in Orlando, Florida! 

The Boys and Girls Club of Greater San Diego has been serving the San Diego area for more than 75 years, with 65% of its youth identified as low income. In some locations, as many as 98% of the kids are low income. For more information, visit BGC's website.