What an exciting time to work, study and participate in citizenship – whether brand, corporate or nonprofit oriented – there is so much innovation and collaboration taking place. As I learn the ropes at Edelman and increasingly embrace the vast amount of resources and talent around the world, I will be sharing as many insights, news and work that I can. So here is the beginning of what fascinates me and my colleagues:
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Company Corporate Citizenship & Cause Marketing News |
“Changing Lives through Football”
Nike Soccer's Gamechangers have shown the power of soccer to effect social change on a range of issues from homelessness to health to education. Nike is expanding the team and is looking to the public to select the new Gamechangers. The process began in May when they launched the Changing Lives Through Football Competition in partnership with Ashoka's Changemakers. Organizations using soccer to enact social change were invited to submit an entry for a chance at a share of $90,000 in prizes. Finalists were selected by a panel of expert judges. Now the public will determine the winner. Voting closes on August 18, 2010 at 3:00pm PST. Individuals can only vote once but can share the voting widget with as many people as they like.
OfficeMax and DonorsChoose.org Pledge Support for WaitingforSuperman.com
Participant Media recently announced two new corporate partnerships for their online Take the Pledge campaign supporting the national release of the award-winning documentary film Waiting for Superman this fall. DonorsChoose.org will donate $5 gift cards to every person who pledges to see the film by September 15th. The gift cards can be used to fulfill requests made by American public school teachers who post classroom project needs on DonorsChoose.org. Once the campaign reaches the next pledge benchmark of 40,000 people, OfficeMax will increase their commitment to their A Day Made Better program. OfficeMax will add an additional 40 to the 1,000 teachers who will receive $1,000 each in school supplies. Waiting for Superman examines the crisis of U.S. public education through multiple interlocking stories. The film's trailer is powerful and worth watching: http://www.waitingforsuperman.com/
Kraft Foods Brings the Face of Hunger Directly to its Employees
Kraft Foods is bringing Michael Nye's portraits of hunger to three Kraft locations with the goal of educating employees and inspiring action in the fight against hunger. This initiative supports Kraft’s larger commitment to fight hunger. In October, the company will launch its second annual Delicious Difference Week initiative in which more than 14,000 employees in 50 countries around the world will partner with local food relief programs to deliver food and other services to people in need. Since 1990, Kraft’s foundation has donated nearly $1 billion in cash and food.
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Highlights from 2009 CSR Reports |
Dannon's corporate mission is to bring health to the greatest number of people across America through its products' benefits. Its three core values are Nutrition and Health, Nature (sustainability) and People (employees). The company uses its Dannon Next Generation Nutrition® grant program to help children understand the importance of healthy eating habits and being physically active. It does this by helping organizations provide childhood nutrition education programs within the states where Dannon has its headquarters or a plant. Dannon also participates in the Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI), and has committed to limiting advertising to children under 12 to only nutritious food choices.
* Dannon is an Edelman client
UPS**
In its 2009 CSR report, UPS announced that it gave $79.6 million in charitable contributions, including in-kind giving, despite the recession. Employees and their families volunteered 1.2 million hours and contributed $53.2 million to United Way. Additionally, UPS awarded 50% of its grants to local agencies where UPS employees volunteer. Among the company’s CSR awards in 2009, Fortune Magazine ranked UPS as #1 in the Delivery industry for Social Responsibility in its Most Admired Companies ranking. UPS’ excellence in employee engagement is important to their viability as a company. Not only are employees the face of the company through their delivery services, but 43% of full-time employees are also shareholders.
**UPS is an Edelman client
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Reporting |
GRI Announces New International Integrated Reporting Committee (IIRC)
The International Integrated Reporting Committee (IIRC) was created yesterday by the London-based Prince's Accounting for Sustainability Project (A4S) and the GRI. The organization will develop and promote global standards for companies to report their financial, environmental, social and governance performance in an integrated fashion. Robert Eccles listed the following barriers to systemic adoption of integrated reporting in his Harvard Business Review blog post:
- "Closing the books" on nonfinancial information at the same time as financial informationsince the internal measurement and control systems of the former currently lag the latter in terms of rigor and sophistication
- Finding a way to understand the relationships between financial and nonfinancial performance (Most companies claim good environmental, social, and governance performance contributes to shareholder value but provide very little data to back up this claim.)
- Getting analysts and investors to really pay attention to the company's nonfinancial performance
- Deciphering the current complexity of financial reporting, which makes it hard for all but the most sophisticated readers of financial statements to truly understand a company's performance
- Figuring out how to measure and disclose the risks a company is taking to create value
- Compensating for the lack of a globally agreed-upon set of standards for nonfinancial information
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Posted by: Supra Skate | 10/30/2010 at 02:00 AM