Thriving Communities
Businesses cannot exist without strong communities. And ensuring everyone has equitable access to economic opportunities helps make communities stronger. We support the communities where we live and work by partnering with small and diverse businesses, and by investing in programs that decrease gender and racial wealth gaps.
Supplier Diversity
Despite ongoing global supply chain constraints, in 2022 we launched a new NI Supplier Diversity Program to work toward our goal of increasing our proportion of small and diverse suppliers. After a comprehensive third-party audit, we’ve focused on creating the infrastructure and partnerships needed for greater supplier diversity.
In 2022, we joined the National Minority Supplier Development Council to leverage access to more than 15,000 Minority Business Enterprises. We also partner with NI’s inclusion resource groups and local chambers of commerce to connect with small and diverse businesses.
of NI suppliers were small or diverse businesses (Goal: 16% by 2030).
Affordable Housing
NI has a strong tradition of helping our neighbors, and that includes our neighbors who are unhoused or struggling to find affordable housing. Our hometown of Austin is facing significant homelessness and affordable housing crises, which we are addressing through partnerships and volunteering.
In 2022, NI CEO Eric Starkloff cohosted a panel with Austin Mayor Steve Adler to educate NIers about the city’s initiatives to address unsheltered homelessness. To support these initiatives, we donated $500,000 to Finding Home ATX (see spotlight below) and awarded a $25,000 grant to our longtime partners at Foundation Communities, a nonprofit that provides affordable housing and on-site services. We also volunteered to provide meals and gifts to residents. We sponsored Austin Habitat for Humanity’s Build for Unity campaign, hosted a panel-raising ceremony with Mayor Adler at NI, and 161 employees spent 932 hours building at Habitat’s Scenic Point community in September and October 2022.
Community Outreach
NIers around the globe regularly volunteer to help people in our communities. For example, in 2022, employees in the United Kingdom held two volunteer days at Good Hope Farm, which helps adults with learning difficulties gain work experience. And employees in Budapest and Taipei collected donations to support Ukrainian refugees.
Spotlights on Thriving Communities
NI Restart
As NI Hungary employee Regina Novaczky watched the initial footage from the Russia-Ukraine war, she felt a strong urge to help her neighbors across the border. She created NI Restart, a program that provides Ukrainian refugees with an accelerated process for NI jobs, plus customized benefits and housing and transportation support.
India: Kaliyuva Mane
In June 2022, NI employees spent a day visiting Kaliyuva Mane, a free, residential, eco-friendly, co-educational, alternative school for children who do not fit in the conventional education system. Our team met with the school’s founder and teachers to understand its vision and mission, toured the school, served meals, and ate lunch with and played with the students.
Finding Home ATX
NI is a partner in Finding Home ATX. This unprecedented initiative is tackling Austin’s crisis of unsheltered homelessness by investing in crisis services, temporary shelter, and 1,300 new units of permanent supportive housing (housing combined with services such as mental health care, substance abuse recovery, and workforce development).