Pacific Office Automation’s 2023 Community Impact

Pacific Office Automation is built on the premise of individuals challenging one another to solve whatever problems we face. It’s how we find solutions for our customers and for our company, but it’s just as relevant when it comes to finding solutions in our community. As we reflect on what we’ve accomplished in the past year at Pacific Office Automation, nothing stands out like our work in the community. Our entire organization pitched in, and the results have been nothing short of inspiring.

POA partnered with 179 unique foundations in 2023, providing not just monetary donations, but products, services, and charitable time—utilizing the resources of our company and the skills of our workforce. And whether it was toy and food drives or providing joy to children facing terminal illness, jointly contributing with our friends, partners, and customers allowed us to make a greater impact than we ever could have managed alone.

We’re particularly proud of our work with the Boys & Girls Club, the Salvation Army, the Ronald McDonald House, and the Children’s Cancer Association. These are organizations that share our values, and do the daily work of making the world a healthier, more equitable, and better place.

Some of the strongest inroads we’ve made in our communities came through athletics. POA supports sports in many capacities because we believe the skills learned through athletics translate to valuable social attributes later in life. We’re passionate about creating more access and equality in sports to positively impact the lives of kids—especially as studies demonstrate a direct link between participating in youth sports and later career earnings. Pacific Office Automation currently supports high school programs in 10 states along with seven university athletic programs.

In 2023, we organized—along with our friends at Green Barn Events—the inaugural Oregon Charity Championship golf tournament, which saw 32 nonprofits compete for a $50,000 purse. Not only did the event net $78,000, but it gave us the opportunity to interface with great nonprofits in the community, such as the Maurice Lucas Foundation, Randall Children’s Hospital, and First Tee. We look forward to replicating this event in the other markets we serve, with the goal of giving back to these communities.

We also helped host the Portland Grand Prix. It was a tremendous opportunity to get to know race fans in the Pacific Northwest, but perhaps even more impactful was the chance to take 70 students from Portland Public Schools behind the scenes and open their minds to potential careers in sports, science, and technology.

These kinds of education initiatives are central to our community support. POA continues to be involved in public school STEM programs, helping to encourage a new generation of youth to study and learn about career possibilities in these fields. And along with our scholarship programs—which help promising young students reach their academic goals at institutions of higher learning—we’re proud to donate time and money to Junior Achievement, an organization that helps young people connect what they learn in school with life outside the classroom.

This coming year, our plan is to continue these partnerships that are creating real results, while also searching for new ways to do good. At Pacific Office Automation, our north star is what authors Dave Logan, John King, and Halee Fischer-Wright call Stage Five of Tribal Leadership: “a comparative utopia of teamsmanship, outstanding communication, groundbreaking efforts, and shared drive toward global impact.” We work together to drive our company forward, but our mission goes beyond office management. We measure our success by how much we contribute to the communities in which we live and work.