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Examples of Employee Volunteering to Kick off Global Volunteer Month
Featured this week: Apple, Avantor, Centene Corporation, Comerica Bank, Delta Dental of Michigan, Ohio and Indiana, Deltek, Enbridge, Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America, Jackson EMC, Lincoln Financial Group, LyondellBasell, KeyBank, NBCUniversal, Nielsen, Nike, POSCO, PRA Group, Raytheon Technologies, RWJBarnabas Health, S&P Global, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc., Vizient, Inc., Waters Corporation, Wayfair Inc.
The member community convened by Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship is one of a kind. The 500+ companies we serve each year are leaders in environmental, social, and governance action, and the thousands of individuals who make up this network are some of the best in the field! Pictured right: Apple employee volunteers working in conjunction with World Central Kitchen.
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Spotlight on You
Belinda Hyde, Chief Human Resources Officer for Waters Corporation, wrote an article titled, Equity for Women: Three Things We Can All Do Today. "The role of creating and celebrating equity for women has been a journey for me," Hyde shared during this Women's History Month. "As a female executive, it is personally meaningful to serve as a mentor or simply be a good listener. I hope someday equality for women is not something we 'celebrate' because it is table stakes. While I do recognize the progress we have made in gender parity in the workplace, we still have a long way to go."
Diana Candelejo, MPA, AVP of Economic Inclusion at RWJBarnabas Health, was recognized by Modern Healthcare as a Top 25 Emerging Leader. "Honored and grateful to share I’ve made Modern Healthcare’s Top 25 Emerging Leaders List," Candelejo shared on LinkedIn. "When you know small businesses and community members rely on anchor institutions for economic stability, you push for internal transformation."
As Women’s History Month comes to a close, Merck celebrated Dr. Rebecca Ruck, who co-foudned the Merck Research Award, which is given annually by the Women Chemists Committee (WCC) of the American Chemical Society to recognize and mentor talented women scientists. The award is targeted at women in their third and fourth year of graduate school with a research focus in one or more chemistry-related disciplines and aims to build relationships with promising chemists. "A key to attracting talent—especially diverse talent—is to build relationships early in people's careers so they become familiar with our science, our people and our values," said Ruck.
Neringa Hojrup, APJ lead for DEI and Women of Teradata & Allies, won the distinction of Champion of Change at the Women Leading Tech Awards. In a social post, Teradata shared, " [our] team is so proud of you...what a remarkable achievement!"
Dr. Constanza Cabello, VP of Equity Programs - Global Inclusion, Diversity, & Equity at State Street, joined the Board as the Director of Community Affairs for ALPFA Boston, which serves as the Boston chapter of the Association of Latino Professionals for America (ALPFA), a national not-for-profit organization dedicated to transforming the lives of Latinos today and for future generations.
Employee Volunteering Examples: Finding New Ways to Give
Since its inception 11 years ago, Apple's Employee Giving program has raised over $880 million dollars for almost 44,000 organizations globally. That includes the work of more than 76,000 employees who have logged more than 2.1 million volunteer hours. One example: Apple teams have volunteered for the last five years at the Field of Dreams, a three-acre horticultural site operated by Down Syndrome Ireland. In 2022, more than 850 volunteers completed more than 2,000 hours with the organization. Other volunteer projects include helping to build new affordable housing developments, hosting young learners at the company’s data centers, river cleanups, meal-packaging, and mentoring events.
Wayfair partnered with Community Solutions Inc. to host a volunteer day for its remote employees in Washington DC. Wayfairians used their day of service to assemble bedding kits and furniture to donate to those at the Conway Residence, a Community Solutions building to support formerly homeless individuals and veterans.
NBCUniversal's Asian Pacific Americans Employee Resource Group partnered with Seniors Fight Back to host a self-defense class. "With over 400 attendees, APA SoCal chapter members were proud to volunteer in support of the event," the company shared in a video post.
Since the invasion in Ukraine began, PRA Group’s Poland employees have worked to support the Ukrainian people by gathering and donating items like food, medical supplies and hygiene products. They also worked to secure housing for those affected by the crisis, sometimes providing shelter for refugees in their own homes. PRA Group donated $50,000 to support its Poland office’s outreach. The financial services company’s global network also helped reunite families as refugees sought shelter. “They are an inspiration to their colleagues around the world, and as a company, we are determined to support them,” PRA Group President and CEO Kevin Stevenson said of the team in Poland.
Amanda Gorman joined the Estée Lauder Companies' Good Works Purpose Week to remind stakeholders that the power to make a difference in the world starts with making a difference within ourselves. The company encouraged its global ELC employees to power possibilities in their communities by getting involved and volunteering. As part of purpose week, Amanda joined for a special event with WRITING CHANGE grantee WriteGirl!
Since the beginning of 2021, LyondellBasell employee volunteers and their families have dedicated over 400 hours to cleaning neighborhoods, parks, and beaches around the Greater Houston area. Through the power of many, Houston-area LyondellBasell volunteers have successfully collected approximately 3,000 pounds, or 1.5 tons, of trash through recent activities like the Texas Conservation Fund’s annual "Trash Bash" and the Texas General Land Office’s Adopt-A-Beach.
Last month Nike’s Black Employee Network (BEN) partnered with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Portland to put on an indoor field day for local kids in the community. Nike employees led a day of fun activities for the kids, including basketball clinics and games, art stations, technology education stations, face-painting, barbers, braiders, and more.
In this recent roundup, Deltek employees share stories of how they've used their volunteer time off program hours in support of their local communities.
Avantor employees from the Global Communications, Brand, and Operations team banded together to make a difference this month, creating over 300 new mom and baby kits for #AvantorFoundation grantee, Maternity Care Coalition.
More Member Companies in the News
Lincoln Financial Group shared, "we are closing out #WomensHistoryMonth by highlighting our Women’s Business Resource Group (BRG). The mission of our Women’s BRG is to empower women to make an impact on Lincoln’s business through a supportive network and opportunities to grow, develop, contribute to the community and influence our business. All year long, they provide educational content and programming for our employees and this month was no different!"
Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America and EVERFI have collaborated on next-era Minding Your Money courses to build the skills for financial wellness among high school students. Described as a "first-of-its-kind financial wellness curriculum," the courses address the intersections of personal finances, relationships, and health, with the goal of helping young people learn lasting financial habits before they enter adulthood. “As part of our commitment to underserved communities, we wanted to invest in providing young people with more than financial basics. This program builds confidence in managing money and an understanding of how financial wellness can affect emotional and physical health,” said Andrew McMahon, Guardian Chief Executive Officer and President.
KeyBank recently donated $150,000 to St. Vincent de Paul Society of Lane County (SVdP) in support of the organization's Shed-ucation initiative. Shed-ucation is a new program designed for students in Career Technical Education (CTE) courses at rural public high schools throughout Lane County in which they build outdoor sheds for mobile-home parks. The program will give students hands-on experience, introduce impactful facilities upgrades to mobile-home parks, and benefit local labor pools seeking workers with skills in building and construction. KeyBank’s donation will help offset costs of materials, transportation, and labor.
Nielsen Foundation awarded more than $2 million in grants to 53 nonprofit organizations in 2022 across a variety of the company’s priority areas, which include representation in media and technology, educational access and persistence, and economic mobility and well-being. Some highlights included $1.19 million in community grants to 44 organizations dedicated to strengthening diverse communities through education, economic mobility, and media and technology programs. The Foundation also donated $522,500 in continued support for Discover Data and the TechDiversity Accelerator, their two Signature Programs promoting data education and economic mobility; $250,000 in Data for Good grants to support organizations using data in innovative ways to advance representation in media and technology; and $64,000+ in Volunteer Grants.
Members on the Move
Join us in welcoming new members: NBCUniversal!
Members from S&P Global, Comerica Bank, Centene Corporation, Vizient, Inc., Enbridge, Jackson EMC, Raytheon Technologies, RWJBarnabas Health, POSCO, and Delta Dental of Michigan, Ohio and Indiana have recently registered for the 2023 International Corporate Citizenship Conference, happening this spring in Minneapolis, hometown of our convening sponsor, Target. Reserve your spot today!
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