Part 3: VaynerMissions Pilot & Team GaryVee Case Study

If you’re more of an audio person, check out the YouTube video linked below. If you’d prefer to read along at your leisure, skip the video and read through the slides :)

Gary, I’m sharing the vision of VaynerMissions through a case study I put together on behalf of Team GaryVee. VaynerMissions are the unique stories and missions of the people that make up VaynerMedia and the impact they’re making in society for important causes that matter to each of them

The problem is that there’s no seamless, easy or universal way for VaynerMedia to include and involve ALL company employees to support causes and charities that matter to each of them in a consumer-centric way in today’s content driven society

In other words, VaynerMedia employees, who are storytelling, purpose-driven, and mission oriented people, WANT to be included and involved in how VaynerMedia gives back to and empowers charities in our local communities, but they currently can’t

So how do we solve this? Two words, VaynerMissions. Instead of telling you how this would work, I thought we’d show you. And when I say we, I mean me and Team GaryVee

Think Facebook Birthday Fundraisers, but at VaynerMedia and on your Vaynerversary instead

Here were the results of the pilot with Team GaryVee. VaynerMedia supported 18 employee VaynerMissions by donating $18,600 to 11 different charities that VaynerMedia employees deeply care about

And here were the 18 members of Team Gary Vee and the charities they each chose to support as a part of this pilot. I’m sure you’re probably thinking, how did we do this?

That was by implementing these 5 rules and restrictions. Each employee could only choose one charity for their VaynerMission. Employees could only share their mission on their Vaynerversaries. Each employee received $1,000 dollars from VaynerMedia to support and donate to different charities that were close to their hearts. Of that $1,000, $500 went directly to each employees mission on their Vaynerversary. The other $500 could go towards supporting different VaynerMedia colleagues and their charities on their Vaynerversaries

So I assigned fake Vaynerversaries

And approved a list of charities to choose from

Then I gave everyone $1,000 of fake Monopoly money

And created a ‘giving system’ to support each other’s missions by clicking different emojis representing different dollar amounts

And then piloted this simple idea in a private slack channel by empowering everyone to share their missions

For Zain’s VaynerMission, he chose to support the American Cancer Society

And as you can see, Drock, Claude, May, Andy, Dkirk, Sinan and Katie all donated 100 VaynerDollars to support Zain and his mission

I operated at the lowest level of detail by adding up all the clicks of the different emojis from everyone’s posts in this pilot and created what Zain’s VaynerMission might look like in the future. Zain and 15 of his colleagues at VaynerMedia collectively raised $1,465 for the American Cancer Society

But that was only half of Zain’s giving story at VaynerMedia. Zain also donated $475 to 8 different colleagues and 7 different charities on their Vaynerversaries too

Together, Zain’s VaynerMission and VaynerLegacy created his 401K for his Soul

Finally, Zain and everyone else shared why they loved being able to support one another and their missions through this simple idea with their very own testimonials

Remember, what gives people feelings of power is NOT money or status. It’s having colleagues that support you

To conclude, I’ve created and tested my hypothesis and model behind VaynerMissions by asking a few questions. Is VaynerMedia interested in empowering and including company employees to share their missions and stories in philanthropic initiatives? Do VaynerMedia employees want to give back and contribute in the first place? And will charities accept money from VaynerMedia and its employees? All three questions were answered with yes

And I truly believe that when VaynerMissions is successful in 2021 and beyond, that other companies and business leaders will want to follow Gary and VaynerMedia’s lead

I believe that VaynerMedia will make the entire game of business better in the future, simply be empowering its company employees to share their missions and to leave a legacy while they’re employed at VaynerMedia. Other global brands will eventually follow VaynerMedia’s lead.

To quote Gary himself… was me. I’m the one in that video who quoted Gary at a dinner

that we had together in November of 2018. Legacy is greater than currency

Finally, I wanted to make sure I thanked everyone on Team GaryVee who made this pilot and this vision possible in the first place. Thank you!

Now Gary, if you’re inspired after better understanding the vision of VaynerMissions through this pilot and case study I’ve put together for you and Team GaryVee in my attempt to work for you for free, I’d love for you to check out the next and last short video on the VaynerMissions website

For those that are interested, below is the YouTube link from Gary’s channel when we had dinner together back in 2018

Jump to the other stories in this 4 Part Series

Part 1: VaynerMissions Explained In 2 Minutes

Part 2: Scott Harrison’s Advice To Me In December 2019

Part 4: Hey GaryVee, I’d Like To Work For You For Free!