Get Involved!

Be a part of the solution by volunteering to help your neighbors and neighborhood during this tough economic time. The Points of Light Institute and HandsOn Network offers a dynamic tool to connect individuals to local volunteer opportunities throughout the country. To learn more and get started, visit 1-800-volunteer.org

Interested in planning a targeted group volunteer project with your colleagues in some of the hardest-hit communities in the country?  Connect to a volunteer center in that community through the Points of Light Institute and HandsOn Network’s local affiliate network. To learn more, visit their website.

White House Summer of Service (pdf) (June 22 – September 11, 2009)

Examples of Companies Getting Involved

Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc.

Anheuser-Busch will grant $50-$300 to eligible nonprofit organizations if an application is given by an Anheuser-Busch employee who is actively involved in the organization. (More information available on page 49 of CSR Report.)

BorgWarner

Employees donated their $5,000 or $10,000 award to local charities, including the Seongyook Children’s Welfare Center in Korea, Special Olympics and the Alzheimer’s Society in Canada, a kindergarten and zoo in Germany, a charity caring for children infected with HIV in Mexico, and the American Cancer Society in the U.S.

Comcast

Comcast helps the community with its annual Comcast Cares Day program. Comcast Cares Day brings together tens of thousands of Comcast employees, their families and friends to make a positive impact in neighborhoods across the country through volunteerism. Comcast had a record-breaking Comcast Cares Day on Saturday, April 25.  Well over 50,000 volunteers came out to do their part at more than 550 project sites around the country.

Conseco

Conseco promotes nonprofit organizations to its employees through volunteermatch.org. Registration is free and Conseco directs much of its funding towards nonprofit organizations that many of its employees volunteer for.

Deloitte & Touche, LLP

Skills-based volunteerism is the focus of Deloitte’s approach to community involvement.

Dunkin Brands

All full-time Dunkin’ Brands employees receive a Friday of paid time each quarter to serve the community.

Eli Lilly and Company

Eli Lilly recently won the 2009 United Way Spirit of America Award. Lilly’s first Global Day of Service had 22,000 Lilly employees volunteering in more than 55 countries making it one of the largest volunteer initiatives of a U.S. company. Additionally, Lilly employees provided over 21,000 school supplies through United Way of Central Indiana’s backpack attack and recruited more than 600 employees as ReadUP tutors for fourth and fifth grade students. Employees also donated an estimated 5,000 volunteer hours of skills-based Six Sigma expertise to help increase nonprofit efficiency, plus sales employees supported their home communities by volunteering in areas of need.

First Data

Over the course of the year, First Data volunteers committed over 4,500 hours to charitable organizations. Their employees around the world have spent personal time bettering their neighborhoods and improving the quality of life of others.

Genzyme

Scientists in the Schools is a volunteer program aimed at building relationships between Genzyme employees and local schools. Genzyme volunteers register for the program to offer their expertise to schools and charitable organizations that serve students. They are eager to share their knowledge and increase awareness of Biotechnology in local schools. Volunteer opportunities range from mentoring a student or teacher to serving as a science fair judge to speaking at a career day.

Hewitt

Hewitt Associates provides pro-bono human resources consulting to not-for-profit organizations that could not otherwise afford them, as well as in-kind donations, of call centers, printing, technology, real estate space, and other services.

Intel Corporation

Every year, employees spend thousands of hours mentoring youth, cleaning parks, lending technical expertise, joining task forces, and participating in community service projects. Overall, approximately 68 percent focused on basic human needs, education and training, and support for local small and medium-size businesses.

Kellogg’s

Kellogg’s is offering coupons of $5 or more to any consumers who donate to Feeding America through its website.

Kimberly-Clark Corporation

In 2008, K-C and their employees contributed $21.6 million in cash and product donations for charitable causes worldwide. As part of that amount, the K-C Foundation matched $1.2 million in employee giving, and awarded almost $1 million in grants to charities where employees or their spouses volunteered over 60,000 hours of their time.
Legg Mason Inc.

Legg Mason encourages its employees to participate in several volunteer programs it promotes throughout the year. These programs include: Days of Caring, Our Holiday Outreach, Earth Days, & International Volunteer Day.

LexisNexis

LexisNexis, through the global LexisNexis® Cares program, provides their employees two days off to volunteer for charitable organizations. LexisNexis also sponsors volunteer work at board meetings and conferences throughout the year.

Lexmark

Lexmark’s volunteer efforts include such organizations as Big Brothers Big Sisters, Junior Achievement, Habitat for Humanity, United Way and many more.

Microsoft

For every free, completed download of Internet Explorer 8 through http://www.browserforthebetter.com/, Microsoft will donate the financial equivalent of eight meals to Feeding America’s network of 206 local food banks.

NCR

More than 1,100 hours of volunteer community service were performed by more than 400 Team NCR volunteers over the course of two two-day events held in Dayton, OH and Atlanta, Peachtree City and Suwannee, GA.

Nvidia

Project Inspire allows every Nvidia employee to have an impact on their local community by participating in a company-organized community outing.

Office Depot Foundation

The Office Depot Foundation has launched the Caring Connection – a user-friendly, online resource that makes it simple to learn about and enroll in thousands of volunteer opportunities. The Foundation firmly believes that “Volunteerism is one of the most effective and meaningful ways in which individuals of all ages can make a difference,” according to Mary Wong, President of the Foundation, especially during these tough economic times.

Perry Ellis

Perry Ellis initiated the “Roll Up Your Sleeves” program to make a difference. Anyone who volunteered 20 hours by May 20, 2009, received a free signature Perry Ellis skip dent dress shirt.

Shell Oil Company

Every year more than 1,500 Shell employees, retirees and their family members contribute, on average, more than 40,000 hours for company-sponsored volunteer initiatives nationwide. These include support of Shell’s sponsorship of the America’s WETLAND Campaign, Shell’s Workforce Development Initiative and various United Way campaigns

Siemens

Siemens Caring Hands mobilizes employees to donate their time and talents to worthy causes to carry out Siemens’ commitment to impact the communities in which we live and work through volunteerism.

Symantec

Symantec organizes volunteer-led community relations committees at each of our major sites worldwide. These volunteer committees make grant recommendations, organize volunteer events for employees, and provide input on the issues most affecting community members’ quality of life.

Valero Energy

Valero employees donated nearly 139,000 hours of time in 2008 to volunteer for countless community projects, including mentoring students, organizing fund-raisers, participating in clean-up events, volunteering at youth centers and various other activities

Valspar

Valspar is partnering with Habitat for Humanity to help with neighborhood revitalization through home building, specifically through A Brush with Kindness. Volunteers transform neighborhoods by painting home exteriors, providing minor repairs and landscaping; these tasks can be difficult for low income, disabled and senior homeowners. Projects are identified based on the greatest possible impact to the appearance of a neighborhood.

Weyerhaeuser

In 2007, 10,273 Weyerhaeuser employees completed more than 318 projects and contributed nearly 119,000 hours to local communities through their Making WAVES program.