Autodesk employees’ connection to giving and community

Amanda Kinley works every day to build a community for Autodesk customers, providing designers, engineers, and makers around the world with opportunities to connect with one another. She also has a passion for helping and connecting with animals, and regularly gives to shelters, doubling her donation with the Autodesk match. 

This year, her own Autodesk community showed up in a big way for Amanda and her dog, a foster named Skye who needed major medical treatments in order to live a good life. When she posted a fundraiser in the Fun Dogs of Autodesk Slack channel, she was hoping to raise a few hundred dollars to donate to the rescue providing Skye’s treatments. Instead, the small rescue was flooded with thousands of dollars, and countless messages of love and support. 

“Connecting with everyone across the Fun Dogs of Autodesk Slack channel that gave so much love, support, and financial assistance to Skye has really given me a different view of Autodesk. It’s so common to feel isolated, especially with remote working, but I have met an entire group of colleagues that I would have never crossed paths with.” 

Bobbie Casey’s passion for helping make a better world doesn’t end with her role at the Autodesk Foundation, where she connects startups and nonprofits to Autodesk’s in-kind support programs. She volunteers with Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) Marin, donating a $100 Cause Card for every 10 hours of volunteer work, and serves as Co-President of the Board of education nonprofit Arts+, where she can double her financial donations through Autodesk’s 2:1 Board Match. 

“Marin County is one of the wealthiest in the U.S, and some of our residents don’t have access to equal opportunities,” she says of her motivation to volunteer. There are practical benefits, too: she’s developing valuable leadership skills as Board Co-President for Arts+, running Board meetings and inspiring volunteers to give. Autodesk’s charitable giving programs allow Bobbie to marry her twin passions for social justice and the arts. “I want to nurture a diverse pool of talent for future careers in music, art, film, and theater.” 

Gabe Anderson lives his passion for education every day at Autodesk, where he develops and manages strategies to empower educators and students who use Autodesk software. As someone who relied on financial aid for his education, he is a proud yearly donor to his college financial aid program, in addition to several other schools in New York State, along with national and international nonprofits in the arts, civil rights, and environmental advocacy. 

“I’m lucky to have built and now live a comfortable life, though it wasn’t always that way,” he says. “By giving back, I know I’m helping people and organizations who depend on the kindness of donors. I’m grateful to work for a company that understands we’re all in this world together.” 

Gail Tanaka is the AEX global integrated marketing lead at Autodesk and Global Lead of the Autodesk Asian Network. Her leadership continues outside of Autodesk where she serves on the board of Kimochi, a nonprofit organization providing culturally sensitive programs and services to all seniors to preserve their dignity and independence, with a focus on the Japanese American and Japanese speaking community.   

Through her volunteer experience, Gail brought together the resources, products, and team to launch a pilot cultural program at Kimochi, teaching the elderly and youth Tinkercad and 3D printing, recently highlighted in our Autodesk blog.   

With Autodesk Foundation’s 2:1 donation match for Autodesk employees who serve as board members of nonprofits, Gail’s initial donation to Kimochi plus Autodesk Foundation’s match provided enough for Kimochi to purchase a 3D printer for the pilot program. In addition to helping seniors, the program has an intergenerational component: seniors learn the technology, then teach the children how to use it. They can connect meaningfully through technology and creative projects, while also learning about their Japanese American heritage. 

When Kassidi Sorensen learned about Autodesk’s charitable giving match, she knew exactly where she’d be donating her money: Three Little Pitties, an animal rescue in Houston, Texas that paired her with her emotional service animal, a labrador/pitbull mix named Atlas. 

“I was blown away with the level of care and diligence that went into their adoption process,” she says of Three Little Pitties, a volunteer-driven nonprofit that saves an estimated 3,000 dog and cat lives each year, “and Atlas has made my life so much brighter.” Through the “Fun Dogs of Autodesk” Slack channel, Kassidi connected with a colleague, who helped Kassidi set up a fundraiser for Three Little Pitties. “The donations came flooding in. People I’ve never met were so willing to read about my cause and donate. It really made me proud to call myself an Autodesker.” 

Timera Hart, Program Manager of Business Operations, has deepened her engagement with Prevention Now, a nonprofit focused on preventing human trafficking using data. Timera was first a volunteer, then a board member, and then a team lead for an Autodesk pro bono project. She’s excited to max out the Autodesk Foundation donation match each year, taking advantage of the 2:1 match for board engagement. 
 
“Through my volunteering, pro bono consulting, board leadership, and fundraising with Prevention Now, I’ve witnessed the power and compounding effect that tech companies like Autodesk can have when they share their skills and resources with nonprofits who operate on a shoe-string budget.”