A Conversation with Dr. Jane Goodall: "The Jane Goodall Magic"

As we continue our year long virtual celebration of Dr. Jane Goodall, a UN Ambassador of Peace and advocate for the world’s forests and their creatures, Dan Springer speaks to Dr. Goodall about the changing nature of service as many people find their ability to travel or even leave their homes restricted. Although normally accustomed to traveling the world and connecting directly to people who share her passion for the planet, Dr. Jane Goodall now finds herself “happily stuck in her childhood home” and is busier than ever. 

Our experience has been similar. Since 2015, DocuSign employees have logged thousands of hours of hands-on service in their communities with paid volunteer time-off through our DocuSign IMPACT initiative. This year, we’re approaching our service with the same passion, but in a different way — through virtual volunteering. One multi-month project currently underway is with Rainforest Trust, where DocuSign employees are producing a series of virtual capacity building workshops for Rainforest Trust’s network of conservation NGOs. Around the world, these workshops help the organizations operate more efficiently as they update their processes and operations for the virtual world as well. In contrast to our work last year with Rainforest Trust, where employees physically traveled to the Amazon to deliver in-person workshops, this year we’re able to triple NGO staff member attendance and expand our virtual programming to NGOs in Africa and Asia as well.

In this installment of our monthly series about Dr. Goodall’s incredible work, she shares how she has likewise scaled up her impact in the virtual world, reaching hundreds of thousands of people through Virtual Jane via online meetings, podcasts, email and more.