Homework is a fact of life for most high school students. So too is the internet. So, it makes sense that 70% of teachers now assign homework that must be completed online. While this is not a problem for most kids, five million families don’t have internet at home, according to a 2009 finding by the Federal Communication Commission’s Broadband Task Force. So, what must these students do if they want to earn great grades and achieve their full potential?

They try harder.

Maybe a family member has internet access, but it requires a car ride or bus trip to get there. Sure, the public library has free Wi-Fi, but there’s also a 30-minute computer use limit and a young person may not feel comfortable there late at night. Restaurants and fast food chains may offer unlimited Wi-Fi but it often requires a purchase to use and the environment can be distracting.

Ultimately, without internet access, students do worse. Nearly half (49%) of American students fail to complete homework that requires internet access, causing their grades to suffer, according to a study by the Hispanic Heritage Foundation, the Family Online Safety Institute, and myCollegeOptions fielded in March 2015). The lack of access to safe, productive, and connected environments can lead to a lifetime of lost potential. This is America’s homework gap, and it often leads to gaps in college attendance and employment opportunities down the road.

Sprint’s Executive Chairman Marcelo Claure decided to try to close these gaps. Sprint knows about connectivity. After all, it’s their business. But Marcelo knew something else; he knew about Sprint’s long-standing commitment of giving back.

Youth connect to better with technology, United Way and Salesforce.org Philanthropy Cloud

To help close America’s homework gap, Marcelo founded the 1Million Project Foundation, a national nonprofit dedicated to the ambitious mission of providing one million high school students across America who do not have reliable home internet access with free, high-speed, mobile internet for their entire high school tenure. In our first 15 months, the 1Million Project Foundation provided connectivity to 165,000 students in 1,700 high schools in 33 states! 

Not only are 1Million Project participants benefiting, but so too are Sprint employees. According to a study of Fortune 1000 company employees that Salesforce conducted in partnership with Povaddo, companies that encourage employees to give back are more successful at attracting and retaining top talent than those that don’t. Good people want to do good, and they love it when their employer helps. When a CEO addresses important social issues, employees respond. Even better, when their company supports causes they value, employees do better too. They’re more likely to recommend their company as a place to work, stay there longer, and increase their overall engagement. Happy employees make for a more productive company.

Like many companies, Sprint lives its values and invests in actions that reflect them. After incubating the 1Million Project and spinning it off into a national nonprofit, Sprint continues to provide extraordinary support to the organization. In addition to providing the free network connectivity to 1Million Project students, Sprint provides financial support and thousands of Sprint employees’ volunteer hours. Sprint is dedicated to providing outstanding technological tools and services to their employees and, like other change-making companies, is an active participant in improving the communities in which their customers live, work, play, and study. 

This is why I was excited to speak at Dreamforce and be part of the Salesforce.org Philanthropy Cloud keynote. Philanthropy Cloud makes it easy to help employees make a difference. It helps you create employee giving campaigns, track volunteer opportunities, manage grants, and evaluate the impact your programs have so that you can do better.

Why stop at helping one million kids when you can keep going and change the world?

Watch the Dreamforce keynote here.