Forge 2024: Making an Impact

This year’s annual customer conference, Forge 2024, brought together passionate leaders, innovators, and advocates in the heart of Las Vegas. Forge was more than just a conference—it showcased efforts that we hope will inspire our customer community to drive positive change through our own actions, such as a Braze Cares donation booth, offsetting the conference’s carbon emissions, and our first-ever Tech for an Equitable Future customer partnership.

Braze Cares: A commitment to community

For the second consecutive year, Forge attendees had the opportunity to help decide how a $50,000 donation from the Braze for Social Impact Fund would be allocated to selected organizations. Right when you entered the conference there was a Braze Cares Donation Station, where attendees were given tokens worth $25 to donate to one of three amazing organizations addressing critical needs in our communities—Jaya Mental Health, The Just One Project, and TechSoup.

• Jaya Mental Health: Jaya Mental Health is dedicated to addressing the stark global disparities in mental health support for low-income communities. Their sustainable model focuses on empowering local nurses, healthcare workers, and volunteers by providing essential training in mental healthcare skills.
• The Just One Project: The Just One Project’s mission is to increase access to food, resources, and supportive services to build a stronger, healthier, and more connected community in Las Vegas.
• TechSoup: TechSoup’s mission is to build a dynamic bridge that leverages technology to enable connections and innovative solutions for a more equitable planet. Each year, they help hundreds of thousands of small nonprofits access and use technology, better equipping them to tackle the world’s most pressing issues.

Tech for an Equitable Future: Empowering underrepresented founders

This year’s Forge also marked the launch of applications for the fifth cohort of our Tech for an Equitable Future product grant program. We announced our first-ever partnership for the program with BET+, a premium streaming entertainment service and Braze customer. This was announced onstage during the keynote!

The Tech for an Equitable Future program will offer 20 companies with underrepresented founders, including Black and women entrepreneurs, with 12 months of free access to Braze technology and supporting resources that enable business growth and scalability.

Through this new partnership, BET+ will mentor five companies from the Tech for an Equitable Future program, assisting them with Braze use cases and overall customer engagement strategies. The streaming service will also lead participants in a live Masterclass workshop focused on brand marketing, and provide these five selected companies with free features in BET+ subscriber email campaigns.

The application window for the fifth cohort officially opened at Forge on September 24, 2024, and will remain open until January 17, 2025. We’re excited to continue empowering startups that are driving innovation and equity across industries.

Building a sustainable experience: Green initiatives at Forge

This year, sustainability was deeply integrated into the conference, from the food we served to our waste management practices. Leftover food from the event was donated to Three Square, Southern Nevada’s largest hunger-relief organization. Reusable furniture and event materials found a second life through Opportunity Village, a local organization supporting individuals with disabilities.

To further reduce Forge’s carbon footprint, Braze offset 1,550 metric tons of CO2, so that the estimated impact of air travel by attendees was carbon neutral. The purchase of 1,550 metric tons of carbon credits was based on calculated emissions for flights based on the departure location of registered attendees. This carbon credit purchase supports a vital project aimed at reducing emissions through refrigerant destruction, in partnership with Tradewater, an organization dedicated to eliminating harmful greenhouse gasses.

Celebrating customers with the Braze for Social Impact Torchie Awards

One of the most exciting moments of Forge 2024 was the announcement of the Braze for Social Impact Torchie Award. This award recognized a customer who has utilized the Braze platform to spark meaningful social change. The 2024 winner was honored on-stage at the conference and was able to direct a $10,000 grant to a charity of their choice through the Braze for Social Impact Fund.

This year, we’re proud to recognize ShareTheMeal as the winner of our “Braze for Social Impact” 2024 Torchie Award. ShareTheMeal is the fundraising app of the United Nations World Food Programme. ShareTheMeal used the Braze platform’s capabilities to recognize individual donors as “Field Heroes” and to raise further funds to combat hunger. This collaboration has raised millions of meals to help people in need, making a significant impact on communities worldwide. ShareTheMeal has directed their $10,000 grant to the fight against global hunger.

There were also several submissions with impactful Braze use cases, including:

• Delivery Hero for raising 20 million meals via in-app donations.
• Too Good To Go for fighting food waste with the Ask-A-Friend feature.
• Trainline for encouraging greener travel choices with CO2 savings.
• Boys & Girls Club of America for disaster relief response after Maui wildfires.

Final thoughts

As we look ahead to the future, we are more committed than ever to creating a more equitable and sustainable world. Forge 2024 reminded us all that with collaboration, creativity, and heart, we can turn our social impact goals into reality. We can’t wait to see what’s next.

Let’s keep making an impact, together! For more information on Social Impact programs at Braze, go to esg.braze.com.