Soon after Amy Weaver announced that she would be stepping down as chief financial officer of Salesforce, the San Francisco-based company known for its customer relationship management software, she got a note on LinkedIn from an organization she had never heard of.
It was Direct Relief, a humanitarian nonprofit based in Santa Barbara, California, that provides free medical aid and disaster relief across the United States and around the world. It sources donated medicines and supplies and delivers them to clinics, hospitals, and community health centers.
Weaver nearly deleted that LinkedIn note, but then she found a Forbes article ranking Direct Relief fifth on the list of America’s top 100 charities. She became its CEO in May.