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Is VM Summit 16 Right for You?

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Answer these two questions to find out if attending VM Summit 16 makes sense for you.

SOURCE:VolunteerMatch

DESCRIPTION:

You may have already heard of VM Summit 16. This unique conference, brought to you by VolunteerMatch, brings companies and nonprofits together in one place to collaborate on how to create better, more impactful partnerships, while harnessing the power of corporate volunteering.

But you may still be wondering, “Is VM Summit 16 right for me?”

To answer that question, start by asking yourself this: “Am I responsible for any of the following at my company or nonprofit?”

  • Employee engagement and culture
  • Managing my company’s employee volunteer program
  • Running my nonprofit’s volunteer program
  • Managing my nonprofit’s corporate partnerships.

If you answered “yes” to any of the above, then it’s time to ask yourself one more question: “Am I interested in any of the following?”

  • Connecting with, and learning from, others who have similar responsibilities at their companies or organizations
  • Increasing volunteerism at my company
  • Growing my nonprofit’s volunteer program to better accommodate corporate volunteers
  • Understanding what nonprofits actually want from my company’s corporate volunteer program
  • Understanding what corporate volunteers can offer my nonprofit
  • Learning how to communicate and manage expectations during my present (or future) corporate-nonprofit partnerships to best meet both of our needs—and the needs of our communities!

If you answered “yes” again, then VM Summit 16 is absolutely right for you. Join over a hundred other professionals who would also answer “yes” to the above in Chicago, IL on October 25, 2016.

Get your ticket today.

Tweet me:Answer these 2 questions to find out if #VMSummit16 makes sense for you: http://bit.ly/29Efrsn via @VM_Solutions

KEYWORDS: Volunteerism & Community Engagement, Education, vm summit 16, nonprofit, Corporate Social Responsibility, Partnerships, conference, VolunteerMatch


Alliance Data Corporate Responsibility

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SOURCE:Alliance Data

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In 2015, Alliance Data expanded our focus on children's health by donating over $1 million to children's hospitals across the United States. Additionally, more than 9.7 million miles - the equivalent of $1 million - were donated to children's charities through the Canadian AIR MILES reward miles program. These community efforts, in addition to our responsible use of data, are outlined in our 2015 Corporate Responsibility report.

Tweet me:#AllForGood @AllianceData & @LoyaltyOne donated 9.7 million miles to children's charities http://bit.ly/29QaUUI

KEYWORDS: Volunteerism & Community Engagement, Awards & Recognition, Alliance Data, Corporate Responsibility, CR Report, LoyaltyOne

PepsiCo, the PepsiCo Foundation and the Inter-American Development Bank Enhance a Strategic Partnership to Deliver Next Generation Solutions Throughout Latin America

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SOURCE:PepsiCo

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MEDELLIN, Colombia, July 14, 2016 /3BL Media/ - PepsiCo, thePepsiCo Foundation, and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) are proud to announce the renewal of their five-year, private-public partnership (PPP) aimed to spur social and economic growth in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC).

Having benefited more than one million people in 12 countries across the region, the previous five-year partnership agreement marked the first time a private-sector organization participated in the IDB's innovative regional trust funds. Since then, the partners have collaborated to generate evidence for innovations in areas including recycling, water and sanitation, youth development, sustainable agriculture, disaster relief and recovery, and nutrition.

Through an agreement signed by PepsiCo, the PepsiCo Foundation and the IDB, the public-private partnership is being renewed for another five years to deliver programs that combat poverty and increase economic self-sufficiency. In particular, the expanded partnership seeks to develop activities in the areas of access to water and nourishing solutions, efficiency in agriculture, and social innovation.

The renewed partnership will start off with “From Source to Home,” a program focused on water and sanitation, where a US $5 million dollar grant from the PepsiCo Foundation will work to improve the lives of approximately 850,000 people by 2025. To do so, the partners will collaborate to:

  1. Achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable water to people living in rural and disperse communities, focusing on benefitting women and girls.
  2. Launch a regional center for applied water resources management through the Hydro-BID program, to reduce the number of people suffering from water scarcity and advance climate change adaptation efforts.

“Through these collaborations, we are pioneering new approaches to generate impact in a region whose future looks brighter every day,” said the President of the IDB, Luis Alberto Moreno. “Moving forward, we will remain committed to working together, guided by an integrated approach which will continue to catalyze growth and progress, improving lives in the Latin American and Caribbean region for years to come.”

At the public launch of the program, Laxman Narasimhan, CEO PepsiCo Latin America, said “We’re proud of the long and amazing legacy of our business across 54 Latin American markets. We remain focused on this strategic sector and to the strong partnerships we currently have and continue to build. We believe the renewal of our PPP with the IDB will help us provide a long-term and positive imprint on society and the environment in the sector.”

About PepsiCo
PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated more than US $63 billion dollars in net revenue in 2015, driven by a complementary food and beverage portfolio that includes Frito-Lay, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Quaker and Tropicana. PepsiCo's product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including 22 brands that generate more than US $1 billion dollars each in estimated annual retail sales.

At the heart of PepsiCo is Performance with Purpose – our goal to deliver top-tier financial performance while creating sustainable growth and shareholder value. In practice, Performance with Purpose means providing a wide range of foods and beverages from treats to healthy eats; finding innovative ways to minimize our impact on the environment and reduce our operating costs; providing a safe and inclusive workplace for our employees globally; and respecting, supporting and investing in the local communities where we operate. For more information, visit www.pepsico.com.

About PepsiCo Latin America
PepsiCo Latin America is a division that includes all of its beverage, food and snack businesses in Latin America, comprising 54 emerging and developing markets.  Our beverage, food and snacks businesses in Latin America include snacks, beverages, cookies & crackers and nutrition categories, which generated US $8.2 billion dollars in net revenue in 2015. Our Beverages business in the region operates through 13 major bottlers.

About PepsiCo Foundation
Established in 1962, the PepsiCo Foundation is the philanthropic anchor of PepsiCo, collaborating with non-profit organizations to develop innovative solutions to challenges facing underserved communities around the world. In support of PepsiCo’s commitment to Performance with Purpose, the PepsiCo Foundation provides grants to eligible non-profit organizations to advance progress in the fields of Human, Environmental, and Talent Sustainability. For more information, visit: www.pepsico.com/Purpose/Global-Citizenship.

About the IDB
The Inter-American Development Bank is a leading source of long-term financing for economic, social and institutional projects in Latin America and the Caribbean. Besides loans, grants and guarantees, the IDB conducts cutting-edge research to offer innovative and sustainable solutions to our region’s most pressing challenges. Founded in 1959 to help accelerate progress in its developing member countries, the IDB continues to work every day to improve lives.

Tweet me:PepsiCo, the PepsiCo Foundation and the Inter-American Development Bank Enhance a Strategic Partnership http://goo.gl/2kcFT5

KEYWORDS: Philanthropy, Business & Trade, Pepsico, pepsico foundation, Inter-American Development Bank

Sanofi (SNY) Partners Successfully with UMass Boston in Undergraduate STEM Program

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SOURCE:Sanofi

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Sanofi (SNY) has partnered with the University of Massachusetts at Boston at Boston to improve STEM education through a $1 million grant.

Jim Burns, head of Sanofi’s North America R&D hub, said the program was the brainchild of the university, but was something that Sanofi was happy to support.

“We believe there’s a need for promoting STEM education within the public universities in the Massachusetts area,” Burns said . . .

To learn more, please click on the link below, which was published by Biospace.com:

http://www.biospace.com/news_story.aspx?StoryID=424267&full=1

Tweet me:Sanofi (SNY) Partners Successfully with UMass Boston in Undergraduate STEM Program http://bit.ly/29N00iA

KEYWORDS: Philanthropy, Education, Sanofi, Corporate Socieal Responsibility, csr, STEM, Science, Technology, engineering, math, University of Massachusetts at Boston, research & development, R&D

America’s Charities Selected to Design and Facilitate the 2016 State of Maryland Charity Campaign

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SOURCE:America's Charities

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ANNAPOLIS, Md., July 14, 2016 /3BL Media/ — Secretary of State John Wobensmith is pleased to announce that America’s Charities has been selected as the 2016 contractor for the State’s Maryland Charity Campaign (MCC). The MCC allows State employees and retirees an opportunity to donate to nearly 1,000 eligible charities. Many of these charities provide services directly impacting the public health, safety, and welfare of Marylanders by providing, food, shelter, healthcare, mental health services, services to the poor, homeless, and those suffering from addiction, in addition to supporting the arts, faith-based initiatives, and much more.

Since 1980, America’s Charities has been at the forefront of workplace giving's transformation. Their experience, combined with an accountable and transparent process, has resulted in the distribution of more than $650 million to more than 10,000 nonprofits.

America’s Charities has extensive experience in increasing the social impact of employers through the management of public and private sector employee giving and employee engagement programs. They have helped employers improve their communities while simultaneously helping employee donors find and donate to the causes they care about.

“We’re delighted to partner with America’s Charities for the 2016 Maryland Charity Campaign,” said Secretary of State John Wobensmith. “I am confident our partnership will greatly benefit communities statewide.”

America’s Charities is proud to partner with the State of Maryland to help design and facilitate their charitable contribution campaign.

“We are thrilled to bring our expertise in managing public sector employee giving campaigns to the State of Maryland,” said Jim Starr, Interim CEO of America’s Charities. “Together, we look forward to helping the generous employees and retirees of this great state maximize their giving and make an impact in their communities.

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America’s Charities mobilizes the workforce to affect social change. We provide a wide range of fundraising solutions to help nonprofits expand their reach and diversify their revenue streams, and help employers maximize community impact and employee engagement through seamless integration of workplace giving, volunteering, social responsibility, and other philanthropic initiatives. Our 35+ years of experience combined with an accountable and transparent process has resulted in raising more than $650 million of sustainable funds for more than 10,000 nonprofits addressing a range of causes including education, human rights, hunger, poverty, research, animals, veterans, disaster relief and health services. Click here to learn more and contact us.

Tweet me:.@AmerCharities is delighted to partner with @StateMaryland for their 2016 charity campaign http://bit.ly/29SWwOu #EmployeeGiving

KEYWORDS: Volunteerism & Community Engagement, Business & Trade, employee giving, State of Maryland, campaign management, America's Charities, Employee Engagement, Fundraising, cause marketing, corporate philanthropy, workplace giving, social responsibility, csr

Accenture, The University of Notre Dame, and The Rural Development Company in South Africa Launch Renewable Energy Program in KwaZulu-Natal, Delivering Clean, Affordable Electricity

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Local entrepreneurs have solar energy, Internet connectivity, skills training, and mentors to build businesses and create jobs

SOURCE:Accenture

DESCRIPTION:

NEW YORK; July 14, 2016 /3BL Media/– Accenture (NYSE: ACN), the University of Notre Dame Initiative for Global Development (NDIGD) and The Rural Development Company have launched the first solar-powered microgrids in the northern KwaZulu-Natal district of uMkhanyakude, South Africa, as part of the Connectivity, Electricity and Education for Entrepreneurship (CE3) program.
 
One solar-powered microgrid provides power for irrigation equipment in South Africa while a larger solar facility powers a pack house where local farmers consolidate yields and process and package harvested crops. This reduces the farmers’ overall burden of labor and operating costs, and enables the farmers’ cooperative to achieve crop yields large enough to supply commercial buyers.

The CE3 program serves as a catalyst for local economic development in these rural communities. It strengthens existing businesses, creates employment, and builds new businesses through the provision of clean, affordable electricity, Internet connectivity, and programs that train local residents in basic computing, entrepreneurship and workforce readiness skills. The CE3 business model is sustainable in that it enables each site to cover its operating expenses, including the cost of maintaining the microgrid infrastructure. 

Accenture has supported CE3 with more than US$2.3 million in contributions since 2012 through its corporate citizenship initiative, Skills to Succeed, which is equipping more than 3 million people around the world with the skills to get a job or build a business. In 2012, Accenture and NDIGD introduced the CE3 project as a pilot program in rural northern Uganda – across three communities deeply impacted by decades of civil war. The current projects scale the model further in Uganda and into South Africa. Accenture expects to train and mentor more than 3,350 entrepreneurs in information technology and entrepreneurship in South Africa and Northern Uganda, and help create approximately 2,475 jobs or start-up businesses by June 2017.
 
In conjunction with the grant, Accenture Development Partnerships, which delivers the power of Accenture’s global capabilities and experience to positively impact the lives of people in the developing world, teamed with NDIGD to help conceptualize, design and implement the CE3 project. The project team oversaw the market assessment, business model development and the program roll out. In doing so, they drew on Accenture’s strategy, industry and technical skills, as well as its local presence in South Africa and experience working with the international development community.
 
Additionally, Accenture Development Partnerships led the project’s sustainability efforts, training local staff, developing local management tools, assessing business models and providing training materials to help local businesses leverage solar energy in lieu of more expensive options. The project team also designed and developed a digital entrepreneurship training and mentorship program, giving community entrepreneurs access to training, webinars and online mentoring by Accenture employees.
 
“Drawing on Accenture’s strategy and technology capabilities – combined with our experience in the renewable energy industry, dedication and resources of NDIGD, and local market connections of The Rural Development Company – we have been able to empower underserved communities and fuel economic development through renewable solar power,” said Roger Ford, managing director, Accenture Development Partnerships. “We look forward to replicating the program and training aspiring entrepreneurs across rural Sub-Saharan Africa to contribute to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal #7 of ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and clean energy for all.”
 
The participating organizations have ‘industrialized’ the CE3 model through the development of an assessment toolkit that measures local environment, regulatory and market conditions in order to adapt the model for a specific region. It does so by analyzing local needs and developing the financial model required to achieve operational sustainability and recovery of capital expenditures as the program is extended to additional communities.
 
“Our work with Accenture and The Rural Development Company in Africa is a model for excellence that delivers social, economic and environmental impact,” said Scott Appleby, dean of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs. “Teaming with the private sector to foster economic and human development is a priority for NDIGD and the Keough School.”
 
As the program is scaled, Accenture and NDIGD are installing two additional solar microgrids in Northern Uganda that will power local schools, businesses and CE3 business incubation centers. Transitioning communities to renewable power will have the added benefit of reducing their dependence on costly and polluting diesel fuel and kerosene.
 
About Accenture
Accenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries and all business functions – underpinned by the world’s largest delivery network – Accenture works at the intersection of business and technology to help clients improve their performance and create sustainable value for their stakeholders. With more than 375,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries, Accenture drives innovation to improve the way the world works and lives. Visit us at www.accenture.com.
 
About NDIGD
The Notre Dame Initiative for Global Development (NDIGD) combines the existing world-class teaching and research faculty of the University with a dedicated staff of experienced international development professionals, administrators, and researchers. Together they address the challenges of building just and equitable societies by leveraging the University’s signature strengths to promote development and human dignity worldwide. It is an integral part of the Keough School of Global Affairs. Visit us at ndigd.nd.edu
 
# # #

 
 
Contact:
 
Barbara Lyon
Accenture
+ 1 703 947 1838
barbara.d.lyon@accenture.com
 

 
 

Tweet me:Solar microgrids in South Africa by Accenture, @NotreDame aid economic dev. http://bddy.me/2a0pTxM

KEYWORDS: Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Business & Trade, Accenture, Notre Dame, Solar, Solar Energy, renewable energy, Green, environmental, environment, University of Notre Dame, Rural Development Company, Internet, skills training, Energy, microgrids, South Africa, irrigation, Employment, entrepreneurship, uganda, africa

Guest Blog: One Recruiter's Journey to Help Children in Foster Care

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By Elizabeth Johnson

SOURCE:Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption

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Elizabeth Johnson is a Wendy’s Wonderful Kids recruiter who works every day to find forever homes for children in foster care.

I’ve been a Wendy’s Wonderful Kids Recruiter since 2007, but the surprising part is that I never aspired to work with children. I initially wanted to work with adults only (women mostly). So how did I end up on this path? Working with children in foster care and committed to finding them loving, permanent homes?

Prior to being a Wendy’s Wonderful Kids recruiter I was working at a children’s home, but my focus was on adult women who were on welfare. But when a job opened in the long-term residential girls unit, I realized I had a new calling. After seeing the unit and the girls there, I immediately thought WE CAN DO BETTER! This is unacceptable for children to feel so misunderstood, angry and alone…read the full blog here.

The Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program is the signature child-focused recruitment model of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption is a national nonprofit public charity dedicated exclusively to finding permanent homes for the more than 130,000 children waiting in North America’s foster care systems. Created by Wendy’s® founder Dave Thomas who was adopted, the Foundation implements evidence- based, results-driven national service programs, foster care adoption awareness campaigns and innovative grantmaking. To learn more, visit davethomasfoundation.org or call 1-800-ASK-DTFA.

Tweet me:Elizabeth Johnson talks about how she became involved with @Wendys Wonderful Kids http://bit.ly/1ZRUnkV #fostercare #welfare

KEYWORDS: Philanthropy, Dave Thomas, foster care, adoption, Recruiter, forever family, Wendy's, superhero

Test Your Employee Engagement IQ

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SOURCE:Cone Communications

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What do your employees really want? It’s not all about volunteerism and matching grants. Put your employee engagement knowledge to the test and learn more about the findings of the 2016 Cone Communications Employee Engagement Study.

Take the quiz here.

Tweet me:Test Your Employee Engagement IQ with @Cone's Quiz: http://bit.ly/2acX5yA #EmployeeEngagement #CSR

KEYWORDS: Diversity & Human Resources, Business & Trade, Employee Engagement, Cone Communications


Kimberly-Clark Corporation Unveils New Sustainability Strategy and Goals

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SOURCE:ReportAlert

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Kimberly-Clark Corporation recently published its annual report on sustainability, providing a comprehensive update on the company's efforts and introducing new sustainability priorities and goals through 2022.

“Our vision is to lead the world in essentials for a better life.  From the products we make to help moms care for their families to having the proper regard for the environment, this vision inspires us to care for the communities where we live and work,” said Tom Falk, Kimberly-Clark Chairman of the Board and CEO.  “In 2015, we achieved or surpassed our 5-year sustainability goals and will continue to set aggressive goals for ourselves to make a positive impact in the world around us.”

To achieve its 2015 goals, Kimberly-Clark collaborated across its teams and with key customers, suppliers, business partners and nongovernmental organizations. The company expanded its socially- and environmentally-focused programs and made great strides to reduce its environmental footprint while delivering programs to enable positive social impact. 

“We’re proud of the progress we’ve made in finding ways to grow Kimberly-Clark sustainably,” said Sandra MacQuillan, Chief Supply Chain Officer.  “As technology evolves and as we learn more about what we can do, it is possible that we could have a footprint that gives back, rather than takes – an aspiration we are all excited by.”

2015 Highlights 

Social Impact

  • Increased the amount of Kimberly-Clark communities with socially-focused programs from 62 percent in 2011 to 97 percent in 2015 – read more about our Toilets Change Lives and Mothers Against Malaria programs.  
  • Contributed $29 million in total global donations and community investments, accounting for 2.9 percent of Kimberly-Clark’s net income.

Forests & Fiber

  • Increased the amount of FSC®-certified virgin fiber in Kimberly-Clark tissue products from 7 percent in 2006 to more than 75 percent in 2015.
  • Collaborated with the Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®), to use the power of the marketplace in support of ending deforestation and safeguarding forest ecosystems. Read more about our progress in an FSC-case study.

Waste & Recycling

  • Diverted 95.6 percent of manufacturing waste from landfills as of December 2015.
  • Participated in global programs to recycle materials and reduce waste impact to landfills.  Read more about how recovered packaging materials are converted into quality recycled-plastic products for schools and/or communities around the world.

Energy & Climate

  • Awarded 2016 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Climate Leadership award for excellence in greenhouse gas management. Read more here.
  • Reduced absolute GHG emissions by 7.2 percent since 2010, exceeding 5 percent target.

Supply Chain

  • Exceeded the 25 percent water use reduction goal with a 27 percent reduction rate from a 2010 baseline – which is up from just 2 percent in 2011.
  • Recorded zero fatalities and reduced Total Reportable Incident Rate (TRIR) by 50 percent from 2010-2015.
  • Achieved 100 percent key supplier participation in social compliance program. Since 2012, Kimberly-Clark has completed more than 400 audits that resulted in improved working conditions for more than 123,000 employees across the external supply chain.
  • Hear more about our supply chain vision from, Sandra MacQuillan, Chief Supply Chain Officer.

Coinciding with Kimberly-Clark’s 150th anniversary in 2022, Sustainability 2022 aims to pave the way for another 150 years of success through these five priorities:

  • Social Impact – Improve the well-being of 25 million people in need through social and community investments that increase access to sanitation, help children thrive and empower women and girls.
  • Forests & Fiber – Innovate Kimberly-Clark's tissue products to reduce their natural forest footprint by 50 percent, while increasing our use of environmentally-preferred fiber.
  • Waste & Recycling – Extend Kimberly-Clark's zero waste mindset to all solid wastes and deliver innovation to help keep product and packaging material out of landfills.
  • Energy & Climate – Achieve a 20 percent reduction in absolute greenhouse gases versus a 2005 baseline.
  • Supply Chain – Uphold Kimberly-Clark's values through proactive environmental and social programs that address material risks and sustain our commitment to human rights, worker safety, anti-corruption and environmental protection.  

“Five years ago, when we first set out to achieve our 2015 sustainability program, we knew it marked a shift in our thinking. We pushed ourselves to look beyond the responsibility of our operational footprint into other areas throughout the value chain,” said Lisa Morden, senior director of global sustainability for Kimberly-Clark. “As we embark on the next leg of our journey with our Sustainability 2022 strategy, we do so backed by the full commitment of our teams around the world.”

To tell us what you think, write to sustainability@kcc.com.

Media Contact:
Terry Balluck
+1.972.281.1481

Read the Report

Tweet me:.@KCCorp provides update & introduces new #sustainability priorities & goals through 2022 in report http://bit.ly/29QrB5t via @ReportAlert

KEYWORDS: Reports, Environment & Climate Change, Kimberly-Clark, ReportAlert, sustainability

Shaping Innovation Through Play

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By Anne Wintroub, Director of Social Innovation, AT&T

SOURCE:AT&T

DESCRIPTION:

I live in San Francisco, where “making” and “tinkering” has become a rite of passage for kids. Schools, public and independent, are building maker spaces.  Libraries are hosting making workshops.  And every summer, parents go to somewhat absurd lengths to get their kids into the stunningly popular Maker Camps that have popped up across the city.  I know, I’m one of them.  And it’s worth it, my now eight-year-old still remembers proudly the giant crocodile he built two years ago at a Maker Camp, and brags daily that he knows how to use a chop saw.  To him, making equals fun, and first and foremost that’s what it is.  But it’s also deeply empowering for young people, who learn through making to collaborate, evaluate and create.   

Providing students with the freedom to tinker, make and explore is changing education for the better and inspiring interest in STEM careers. The Maker Movement, as celebrated by the White House last month, is gaining traction in the education community – combining traditional play with technology to foster collaborative problem-solving through hands on learning.

This weekend in San Francisco, AT&T is hosting Shape: an AT&T Tech Expo to inspire and celebrate innovation. There will be speakers, tech talks, exhibits, and a hackathon. And there will be a live Maker Camp for more than 500 kids to get hands-on with tech tools. They will experience innovative starter projects like soldering and controlling traffic lights through breadboards.

Through AT&T Aspire, we are working to bring virtual and in-person Maker Camps to kids all across the country. Our $250,000 contribution to Maker Media supports free resources available on the Maker Camp website for teachers, educators and parents. They combine the best parts of summer camp while stoking kids’ creative fires by exploring physics, basic electronics, construction, woodworking, programming, sensors and circuits.  Since 2012, Maker Camp has served over 1 million kids, with hopes to reach 1 million more. Currently, there are already some 600 Maker Camp affiliate locations set for this season, with the goal of 1,000 affiliates helping kids learn to love making.

To ensure the future success of our young people and our workforce, it’s important that we understand the connections between old fashioned play and modern technology. Everyone can make something. By helping students discover their ability to take things apart and put them back together, we’re helping to ensure the possibilities of what they can create are endless. From a giant crocodile, to the next tech sensation.

Follow #ATTShape and #MakerCamp on social media for updates from the expo!

Tweet me:.@ConnectToGood "Shaping Innovation Through Play" http://soc.att.com/29TmzVK #ATTimpact #ATTShape #MakerCamp

KEYWORDS: Events, Conferences & Webinars, Education, AT&T, Anne Wintroub, Maker Camps, Tech Expo, shape, san francisco, hands-on, White House, STEM, Careers, kids, Maker Media

SECURE THE FUTURE Gives Teens a Voice at AIDS 2016

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SOURCE:Bristol-Myers Squibb Company

DESCRIPTION:

July 15, 2015 /3BL Media/ - A generation after the HIV epidemic first shook the world, the statistics can still seem daunting. That’s especially true in sub-Saharan Africa, where today 1.6 million adolescents between the ages of 10 and 19 are living with HIV. But if you look beyond the numbers you’ll find more hope than ever.

“Today the goal is no longer just surviving,” says Phangisile Mtshali, director of SECURE THE FUTURE, the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation’s program to address HIV/AIDS in women and children in Africa. “It’s facing the challenges of living life to the fullest and being productive members of their families, of their communities and of their countries. These kids have lived past the age of 1, they’ve lived past the age of 5. They’ve lived to be young adults.”

Challenges remain. “There is stigma and discrimination in both private and public places,” says Tinashe Rufurwadzo, the 24-year-old communications officer for the AfricAid Zvandiri program, which provides services for HIV-positive young people in Zimbabawe. “There is economic hardship. Sometimes people stop taking medication because they think they’re cured, and they’re not.”

Yet as HIV and AIDS shift from an acute health crisis to a manageable chronic disease, Rufurwadzo and his peers are witnessing a cultural shift, with more young people talking openly about their HIV status, taking medication without shame and planning for the future.

And on July 17, the day before the 21st International AIDS Conference officially commences in Durban, South Africa, the youth will share their stories. During a daylong conference called “In Our Voice: Positive Stories! Positive Teens! Positive Lives!”, HIV-positive adolescents  who participate in programs supported by the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation will talk about their own experiences to a capacity crowd. Through song, dance, debate and discussion they’ll share personal stories and vital practical knowledge that can help others.

“They’re walking examples of what the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation set out to do when it said, ‘There will be a future,’” says Mtshali. “Because what’s a future without the children, for any nation?”

“They couldn’t speak for themselves when they were born,” says Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation President John Damonti, “but they grew up and they know the issues better than anyone else. Let’s hear what they have to say.”

It’s been 17 years since SECURE THE FUTURE was launched with a $100 million commitment from the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation. And things looked very different in 1999.

“We launched the program before any other large international responses had been established,” Damonti says. “It was the first and largest private commitment for HIV and was quite groundbreaking.”

From the start, SECURE THE FUTURE took aim at issues affecting women and children, beginning with breaking the cycle of mother-to-child transmission. “We started from the ground up, hiring local staffs and putting together advisory boards made up of representatives from the five African countries where we launched,” Damonti says. SECURE THE FUTURE, with the help of the Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative, began working in Botswana, where the infection rate was 39 percent among adults. The first Children’s Clinical Center of Excellence opened on June 20, 2003. 

“Within 18 months of opening, 5,000 mothers had brought their children to us,” Damonti says. “We had 1,300 kids on antiretroviral treatment in the first year.”

Centers in Lesotho, Swaziland, Uganda and Tanzania followed. Today, of the 300,000 kids currently in the Children’s Clinical Center network, a third are now adolescents.

“It’s a really important time in Africa,” Damonti says. “Along with the big reduction in mother-to-child transmission, we have an aging group of teenagers who are dealing with their own issues while coming to terms with being HIV positive.” The hope is that the “In Our Voice” session at AIDS 2016 will empower this generation to become advocates for their own health in the same way SECURE THE FUTURE advocated for them in their youth. 

Damonti and Mtshali are already focused on the challenges ahead for SECURE THE FUTURE and its partners, namely the connection between HIV and cancer. Women with HIV, it turns out, are five times more likely to be diagnosed with cervical and breast cancers.

“We pride ourselves on responding to needs before they become crises,” Mtshali says. “We demonstrated that when we focused on treating children, on community-based education, on how HIV impacts mental health. We’ll do the same with the emerging priority of non-communicable diseases. It’s not just about evolution. It’s about living the mission.” 

Tweet me:SECURE THE FUTURE Gives #Teens a Voice at #AIDS2016 http://bit.ly/29U4uac @bmsnews @AIDS_conference

KEYWORDS: Volunteerism & Community Engagement, Philanthropy, SECURE THE FUTURE, AIDS 2016, Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation, HIV/AIDS, HIV-positive, adolescents

GSK and Save the Children Call for Developing Country Innovations to Enter $1 million Award

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SOURCE:GSK

SUMMARY:

  • Prize recognises innovations that are helping reduce child deaths 
  • This year’s Healthcare Innovation Award gives special attention to innovations which focus on the hardest-to-reach children 

DESCRIPTION:

July 15, 2016 /3BL Media/ - GSK and Save the Children today launched their fourth annual $1 million Healthcare Innovation Award, which rewards innovations in healthcare that help to reduce child deaths in developing countries and have the potential to reach even more children.

From the 7 July – 7 September 2016, organisations from across developing countries can nominate innovative healthcare approaches they have implemented. These innovations must have resulted in tangible improvements to under-5 child survival, be sustainable and have the scope to be scaled-up and replicated.

The Award is one of a number of initiatives from GSK and Save the Children’s five-year strategic partnership, which combines the two organisations’ expertise and skills with the aim to help save one million children’s lives. Since 2013, more than a dozen inventive approaches – from a paperless immunisation records system to an affordable diarrhoea treatment kit – have been recognised through the Award. This year, as well as recognising approaches that have helped reduce child deaths, the Award will give special attention to innovations that focus on the hardest-to-reach children.

Outlining the focus of this year’s Award, Ali Forder, Director of Programme, Policy and Quality at Save the Children, said: “Extraordinary progress has been made in recent years to reduce the number of children dying before their fifth birthday. Despite this progress, more than five million children still die each year and millions of children are being left behind because of their gender, poverty, or ethnic identity; because they live in remote areas or urban slums; or because they are caught up in conflicts. We want to seek out and recognise ways in which these children can be reached.”

Lisa Bonadonna, head of the GSK and Save the Children partnership, added: “When it comes to reaching the poorest children with quality healthcare, no single organisation has all the answers. So we’re always searching for new and different ideas, wherever they might be. Our Award recognises that some of the best solutions to development challenges come from people living with them. Tough conditions can stimulate innovation, generating solutions that are relevant and adaptable. If these bright ideas can be shared across countries and continents, the impact could be profound.”

In 2013, a device that eases the breathing of babies in respiratory distress was awarded the highest share of the Healthcare Innovation Award prize fund. It was developed by the College of Medicine/Friends of Sick Children, Malawi and Rice 360°: Institute for Global Health Technologies. Commenting on the impact of the Award, Professor Elizabeth Molyneux, professor of paediatrics at the College of Medicine and Queen Elizabeth Central Teaching Hospital, Blantyre, Malawi, said: “It was exciting to win the Award, which has allowed us to provide technology and training in teaching hospitals in Tanzania, Zambia and South Africa. Funding from GSK and others shows confidence in what we are offering and gives us a chance to share with people who will benefit from it.”

A judging panel, made up of experts from the fields of public health, science and academia, will award all or part of the funds to one or more of the best healthcare innovations. Further details on the judging process and criteria can be found online at www.healthcareinnovationaward.org

Entries close on 7 September 2016 at 11:59pm (GMT). Winners are expected to be announced in December.

Notes to Editors:

About the Healthcare Innovation Award:
The Healthcare Innovation Award was announced following the launch of GSK and Save the Children’s innovative partnership in May 2013, which is tackling the ambitious goal of helping save the lives of one million children in some of the world’s most vulnerable communities. One of the unique aspects of this shared value partnership is the focus on working together to maximise innovations to tackle under-5 child mortality. For example, Save the Children has a seat on a paediatric R&D board, which includes representation from other independent experts as well as GSK. The board provides insight and research on child health that shapes GSK’s R&D efforts through the partnership.

While good progress has been made in recent years, in 2015, more than 5 million children died before their fifth birthday1. Often these children are in the most remote and marginalised communities. The GSK and Save the Children Healthcare Innovation Award aims to discover and encourage replication of the best and most innovative examples of healthcare to have the biggest impact for vulnerable children. 

The top prize in 2015’s Healthcare Innovation Award was granted to PATH in Vietnam for Immreg, a system which brings immunisation records into the digital age. Rather than handwriting records, which can be time-consuming and prone to error, health workers in the Ben Tre province now use a computer or smart phone to monitor vaccine stocks; register pregnant women and newborns; and track what vaccines they have received. They can also remind mothers via text message to get vaccinations for them or their child. PATH was awarded $400,000 to take forward their work. They plan to expand Immreg to an additional province in Vietnam and also adapt the system to tackle child malnutrition.

Previous winners of the Healthcare Innovation Award have gone on to expand and replicate their approach. Some examples include:

  • In 2013, a device that eases the breathing of babies in respiratory distress won the top award. It was developed by the College of Medicine/Friends of Sick Children, Malawi and Rice 360°: Institute for Global Health. They are rolling out the technology and providing training in teaching hospitals across Tanzania, Zambia and South Africa. Needs assessment, training and installation have been undertaken in all three countries; 14 hospitals have received units and continue to receive follow-up support from the project.
  • The mobile health management system, ZiDiTM – operated by MicroClinic Technologies, Kenya – was recognised in 2013 for its ability to improve the quality of maternal and child care by providing access to real-time data on medicines and disease trends, to support health planning decisions. According to MicroClinic Technologies, support from the Award has helped more than 500,000 patients to experience improved care through the facilities that are on ZiDi.
  • In 2014, Living Goods was recognised for their work in Uganda. The organisation trains and empowers skilled health micro-entrepreneurs who go door-to-door educating their community about ways to improve their health and distributing products such as fortified foods and solar lights. In 2015, Living Goods and its partner BRAC grew from 1,000 to 3,700 community health promoters in Uganda, more than tripling the number of families served.

Nominations must:

1)   Be from a country classified as ‘low’, ‘lower-middle’, or ‘upper-middle’ income by the World Bank (http://data.worldbank.org/country). Countries classified as ‘high income’ by the World Bank or that are in the European Union are not eligible (http://europa.eu/about-eu/countries/index_en.htm).

2)   Describe an innovative approach or process applied to under-5 child survival that can demonstrate impact within an eligible country.

GSK – one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies – is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer.  For further information please visit www.gsk.com.

About Save the Children – Save the Children believes every child deserves a future. In the UK and around the world, we give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. We do whatever it takes for children – every day and in times of crisis – transforming their lives and the future we share.

GSK enquiries:   
UK Media enquiries:Catherine Hartley+44 (0) 20 8047 5502(London)
 Rachel Cooper+44 (0) 20 8047 5502(London)
US Media enquiries:Sarah Alspach+1 202 715 1048(Washington, DC)
 Sarah Spencer+44 (0) 20 8047 5502(London)
 Gwynne Oosterbaan+1 215 751 7468(Philadelphia)
Analyst/Investor enquiries:Ziba Shamsi+44 (0) 20 8047 5543(London)
 Tom Curry+ 1 215 751 5419(Philadelphia)
 Gary Davies+44 (0) 20 8047 5503(London)
 James Dodwell+44 (0) 20 8047 2406(London)
 Jeff McLaughlin+1 215 751 7002(Philadelphia)
Save the Children media enquiries:Steph Aldrich+44 (0)203 763 0987(London)

Cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statements
GSK cautions investors that any forward-looking statements or projections made by GSK, including those made in this announcement, are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Such factors include, but are not limited to, those described under Item 3.D 'Risk factors' in the company's Annual Report on Form 20-F for 2015.

Registered in England & Wales:
No. 3888792
Registered Office:
980 Great West Road
Brentford, Middlesex
TW8 9GS 

Sources: 1. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs178/en/ (accessed 1 July 2016)

KEYWORDS: Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Health, GSK, Save the Children, developing countries

First Annual Great Massachusetts Cleanup Yields Nearly 33 Tons of Trash

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Follow Friday: Keep America Beautiful Affiliate Stories

SOURCE:Keep America Beautiful

DESCRIPTION:

Keep Massachusetts Beautiful's first annual Great Massachusetts Cleanup wrapped up at the end of May with impressive results. Thanks to the efforts of nearly 9,000 volunteers and municipal leaders in 50 communities across the state, there are at least 33 fewer tons of trash and litter in Massachusetts. The Great Massachusetts Cleanup is a statewide effort of the Keep America BeautifulGreat American Cleanup, the nation's largest community improvement program.

"This was the first year we compiled results from the many existing and recently organized litter cleanups that take place across the state each spring,” explained Neil Rhein, executive director of Keep Massachusetts Beautiful. “The results were encouraging. However, we realize there is much more that needs to be done to raise awareness about our state’s litter problem. We need to mobilize government, business, and volunteer resources to clean it up, or better yet, prevent littering behavior.”

Continue reading here.

Tweet me:#FF @kabtweet Affiliate Stories: Inspirational @KeepMaBeautiful 1st annual Great Massachusetts Littah Cleanup. http://bit.ly/29VcHYK

Contact Info:

Mike Rosen
Keep America Beautiful
+1 (203) 659-3008
mrosen@kab.org
http://www.twitter.com/kabtweet
http://www.facebook.com/keepamericabeautiful
https://www.instagram.com/keepamericabeautiful

Larry Kaufman
Keep America Beautiful
+1 (203) 659-3014
lkaufman@kab.org

KEYWORDS: Volunteerism & Community Engagement, Recycling, Keep America Beautiful, Great American Cleanup, Keep Massachusetts Beautiful, Great Massachusetts Cleanup, Affiliate Stories

 

GM Rochester Plant Launches Solar Array

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GM Foundation to Give Generous Gift to Local Charities

SOURCE:General Motors

DESCRIPTION:

ROCHESTER, N.Y., July 15, 2016 /3BL Media/ - While some may think the sun doesn’t shine very much in Upstate New York, promoters of solar energy know differently.  General Motors added a 466-kilowatt solar array at its Rochester Operations plant on Lexington Avenue to leverage the sun’s energy to help power the plant. The plant showcased the array at an event with community leaders, public officials, employees and the media on Friday, July 15.

“At 466 kilowatts, this array will generate approximately 570,420 kilowatt hours of energy annually said GM Global Manager of Renewable Energy, Rob Threlkeld. “To put that into context, that same amount of energy could power nearly 57 single family homes in New York State for a year.”

General Motors leads the automotive industry in solar energy use in the United States, according to the Solar Means Business report released by the Solar Energy Industries Association.

Sustainability is a part of every employee’s job at GM, and many practice environmental stewardship at home, too. Rochester Operations Sr. Environmental Project Engineer Cynette Cavaliere, who not only works on improving the environment at work, but also lives what she preaches at home.

“It’s great the GM Rochester plant is able to use the extra parking lot to provide renewable energy for the plant. I have 18 solar panels on my house to charge my Chevrolet Volt, so the scale of our new solar farm impresses me. It would be able to provide energy for over 1000 electric vehicles a year!”

“At GM, our commitment to the environment applies to every part of our business – from improving the efficiency of the vehicles we put on the road, to the way the components that go into them are manufactured,” said Threlkeld. “Using renewable energy is one way we reduce our environmental footprint.”

Together with a team of contractors including Meridian Solar and Sustainable Energy Development, Inc., GM was able to install the solar array in less than six months. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority also supported the funding and development of the array.

GM has 22 solar arrays around the world, 16 of which are in the U.S. Together, these solar panels would equal the size of 130 American football fields.

GM has committed to promoting the use of 125 megawatts of renewable energy by 2020, and will exceed that goal later this year.

“This has been an exciting project for the plant and comes along with other environmental improvements we’ve made, like recycling almost 3000 tons of material in 2015 and being landfill-free since 2013, and earning the ENERGY STAR Challenge for Industry by reducing energy intensity throughout our operations by 30 percent in less than five years,” said Plant Manager Neal Evans.

During the event, the plant presented grants totaling $20,000 on behalf of the GM Foundation to United Way of Greater Rochester ($10,000), School of Holy Childhood ($5,000) and Junior Achievement ($5,000). In addition to these grants, GM Rochester Operations has raised over $250,000 for community projects through a variety of fundraising efforts and employee donations.

The GM Community Grants program will provide nearly $2 million in funding to hundreds of organizations in 47 communities where GM employees live and work. Through these community grants, GM is building stronger communities and enriching the lives of its neighbors.

About General Motors
General Motors Co. (NYSE:GM, TSX: GMM) and its partners produce vehicles in 30 countries, and the company has leadership positions in the world's largest and fastest-growing automotive markets.  GM’s brands include Chevrolet and Cadillac, as well as Baojun, Buick, GMC, Holden, Isuzu, Jiefang, Opel, Vauxhall and Wuling. More information on the company and its subsidiaries, including OnStar, a global leader in vehicle safety, security and information services, can be found at http://www.gm.com.

CONTACTS:
Mary Ann Brown
GM Tonawanda Engine Communications​
313-806-9590
maryann.brown@gm.com 

Tweet me:.@GM's Rochester plant launches solar array to leverage the sun's energy http://bit.ly/29VO2TZ

KEYWORDS: Energy, Solar Energy, General Motors, GM, Rochester, sustainability, solar arrays, GM Foundation, United Way of Greater Rochester, School of Holy Childhood, junior achievement, GM Community Grants

Skilling India: As Unemployment Soars; Here’s a Solution

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Programmes must go beyond training; they have to work on every link of the employment chain

SOURCE:McKinsey Social Initiative

DESCRIPTION:

This article originally appeared on The Financial Express.

By: Rajat Gupta and Saipriya Sarangan

Youth employment is a global problem, with more than 73 million youth unemployed worldwide. In India, the unemployment rate among young people is almost 13% (compared to 4.9% overall) and skill gaps are large across industries.

Underemployment is even more acute. India’s skilling problem is a classic conundrum. Young people desperately search for entry-level jobs while employers, ironically, are unable to find people with the right skills, or could face a monthly turnover sometimes as high as a fifth of their workforce. The ranks of young, often educated, unemployed people are building up.

The imperative for skilling young people is well-recognised and has been flagged as a national priority for almost a decade, with significant initiatives being launched by the government. However, results have been mixed.

Programmes have reported high dropout rates, low employment percentages and continued attrition post-placement, leading to dissatisfied employers as well as disillusioned youth. Providing ‘skill-training and certification’ alone cannot be a solution to the problem. There is clearly a case for going back to the drawing board.

July 15, the UN World Youth Skills Day, draws attention to the need to equip young people with skills, setting them on a path towards a fulfilling career. In 2015, McKinsey Social Initiative (MSI), a global independent non-profit, launched Generation, a programme that aims to do exactly this. Founded and partly funded by McKinsey & Company, MSI is also supported by USAID and other corporate partners.

Our experience with the project illustrates that to be successful, skilling needs to be much more than training—it needs work on every link of the employment chain—from sourcing (of candidates) right up to post-placement mentoring, supported by measurement at every step.

Looking beyond training—sourcing, counselling, connecting to employers

We launched our pilot for Generation in India in the healthcare sector, an industry that faces a shortage of trained people at the entry-level. This is a seven-week programme to train youth to become General Duty Assistants (GDA)—providers of care to patients in hospitals, under a nurse’s guidance.

Our approach was to work with employers to define relevant skills and behaviours and to design a practical curriculum, focusing on ‘soft’ skills like punctuality and persistence. Finding willing employers as well as students, in large cities like Delhi and Hyderabad was not difficult.

Our graduates also performed well on the job. With an innovative curriculum and employer-engagement, we had expected the programme to sail through, but results proved otherwise—many graduates quit within the first months of placement, and there was disillusionment all around.

We went back to the drawing board, analysed the attrition cases, made several course corrections and launched afresh: this time with an end-to-end view. One key element was a focus on ‘sourcing’—this meant understanding the youth who enter our programmes, setting their expectations and continually testing their commitment to employment.

We instituted a pre-training hospital immersion module called ‘Week Zero’ which entailed clinical exposure in two shifts before students were enrolled. This presented a clear idea of what to expect at the workplace, right from the start.

Other factors emerged from the analysis—for example, people living more than 10 km away from their job location were more likely to leave—hence placement was made more targeted. In addition, we instituted a mentorship programme with daily monitoring and weekly feedback during training, as well as ongoing support during the early weeks after placement.

Measuring the benefits

The change in approach improved our outcomes immensely: over 90% of our graduates have found jobs as opposed to industry placement averages of 60-70%; our monthly attrition rates are 5% whereas industry attrition is as high as 30%; At their workplace, Generation graduates are able to free up 20-30 minutes of nurses’ time in every eight-hour shift.

As a result, hospitals are willing to rehire from us. In fact, seven of our 12 employer partners have begun sharing a part of training cost, on the basis of benefits they see from this hiring. Our next step is to assess the impact on customer satisfaction.

The Generation programme is establishing a new set of metrics to establish and quantify the productivity gains that come from skill training. We estimate that hospitals that employ our graduates (or equivalent) could increase their margins by about half a percentage point.

This gain is enough to cover the training and counselling costs, pay higher wages to young people and yet leave the employers with some surplus.

We are still refining what works, and what doesn’t; across all five countries where Generation will graduate more than 10,000 people by the end of this year. In India, we aim to reach half a million young people by 2020.

This will only be a drop in the ocean and we aspire to create a set of practices that can be applied widely to other skilling programmes. Our experience offers lessons to those who want to take their own actions.

Gupta and Sarangan work at McKinsey & Company. Both are directors of Generation India, a programme of McKinsey Social Initiative

Click here to read the article on The Financial Express.

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To learn more about McKinsey Social Initiative (MSI), please visit the website. You can also learn more by visiting the Generation website and following Generation on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.

 

Tweet me:.@YouEmployed shares solutions for #YouthUnemployment in India #WYSD #YouthSkills: http://www.financialexpress.com/fe-columnist/skilling-ind

KEYWORDS: Education, Philanthropy, McKinsey Social Initiative, generation, youth unemployment, youth employment, India, skills, World Youth Skills Day, skills gap, unemployment, united nations, USAID, career, McKinsey & Company, Training, skills training, skills development, Employment, Rajat Gupta, Saipriya Sarangan


'He Named Me Malala' Earns Five Emmy Nominations, 21CF Backs Girls Education Through Malala Fund

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SOURCE:21st Century Fox

DESCRIPTION:

Of 21st Century Fox's combined 103 nominations for the 68th Emmy Awards, five belong to He Named Me Malala, the powerful documentary from Fox Searchlight and National Geographic chronicling the life of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai. In February, the National Geographic Channel aired the global broadcast premiere of the film commercial-free and ran a social media campaign with 21CF to raise funds for Malala's work to ensure young women and girls have access to quality secondary education. 21CF and its employees donated more than $125,000 to Malala Fund to provide education for Syrian refugee girls living in Jordan and Lebanon.

He Named Me Malala's five Emmy nominations include:

  • Outstanding Production Design for a Variety, Nonfiction, Event or Award Special: Alexander Fuller, Production Designer; Lori West, Art Director 
  • Outstanding Cinematography for a Nonfiction Program: Erich Roland, Director of Photography 
  • Outstanding Directing for a Nonfiction Program: Davis Guggenheim
  • Outstanding Picture Editing for a Nonfiction Program: Greg Finton, ACE, Editor; Brian Johnson, Editor; Brad Fuller, Editor 
  • Outstanding Sound Editing for a Nonfiction Program (Single or Multi-Camera): Skip Lievsay, Supervising Sound Editor; PK Hooker, Sound Editor; Susan Dubek, Dialogue Editor; Bill Bernstein, Music Editor 

"This incredible and critically acclaimed film left movie audiences applauding this young woman's journey and left them wanting to make a difference," said Courteney Monroe, CEO, National Geographic Global Networks. "We are extremely proud and honored to have dedicated National Geographic's collective resources to bring awareness of Malala's advocacy for girls' education to our global audience."

21CF's fundraising efforts around the film, which included an employee donation matching campaign, have helped empower young women in war torn regions by supporting Malala Fund's educational partnerships across the Middle East. The Kayany Foundation in Lebanon completed construction of a school in May to serve 200 Syrian refugee girls ages 14-20. The Middle East Children's Institute in Jordan will expand its Girls Clubs programs to an additional 100 girls ages 13-17. Malala Fund partnered with The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on their Walking to School Initiative, where adults in the Azraq refugee camp accompany girls to school, and Malala Fund and Save the Children partnered to establish computer labs and IT literacy courses for 150 girls ages 13-24 living in the Za'atari Refugee Camp in Jordan.

Keep reading at impact.21CF.com. 

Tweet me:HE NAMED ME MALALA scored 5 Emmy noms! See how 21CF supports girls education http://bit.ly/29Wfcu3 @21CF_Impact @NatGeoChannel #withMalala

KEYWORDS: Education, Corporate Social Responsibility, 21st century fox, fox searchlight, National Geographic, Davis Guggenheim, he named me malala, Malala Yousafzai, emmys, girls education, Syria, refugees, education centers, social media campaign, Jordan, lebanon

Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption: Finding Forever Families for Children in Foster Care

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SOURCE:Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption

DESCRIPTION:

Scott came into the foster care system when he was six years old and remained in foster care for 10 years. During that time he had seven placements and fell behind in school. His Wendy's Wonderful Kids recruiter saw his potential and his special story and knew she could find the right family. Through diligent research, she was able to find Scott's older sister who was living with her foster family as an adult. After approaching this family, they were more than happy to meet Scott and realized that he was the missing piece to make their family complete. Not only did they adopt Scott, but they also adopted his sister.

Read more Foundation adoption stories here or consider donating to help us find forever families for children waiting in foster care.

Tweet me:After 10 years in #fostercare, we helped Scott find his forever family. Read his story: http://bit.ly/29VZfE4 #DTFA #adoption

KEYWORDS: Philanthropy, adoption, parents, foster care, family, Wendy's, Dave Thomas, foundation, stories

#WomensMotorcycleMonth: Cox Automotive's Janet Barnard Supports Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America

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SOURCE:Cox Enterprises

DESCRIPTION:

July is Women’s Motorcycle Month, and Janet Barnard, Cox Automotive’s president of inventory solutions, is no stranger to a bike. Earlier this year, she helped support the Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America. Sponsored by Manheim, this is one of the most successful and popular charity rides in the country that raised more than $1 million through its 22nd anniversary motorcycle trek The ride benefits Victory Junction, a camp dedicated to providing life-changing camping experiences for children with chronic or life-threatening illnesses.

Former NASCAR driver and NBC Sports racing analyst Kyle Petty led 200 bikers on a 2,150-mile route, traveling from Palm Springs to Biloxi on April 30 to May 6, to raise funds and awareness for the camp.

As a result of this year’s Ride alone, 100 children will attend Victory Junction at no cost to their families. The camp has served as the Ride’s primary beneficiary since its establishment by Petty and his family in 2004 in honor of his late son, Adam.

Celebrities, ride sponsors, motorcycle enthusiasts, fans and local communities all generously came together to raise funds and awareness for the camp. Since 1995, more than 7,950 riders have logged more than 11.6 million cumulative motorcycle miles and raised $17.5 million for Victory Junction and other children’s charities.

Learn more about the ride.

Tweet me:.@CoxAutomotive's Janet Barnard supports @KPCharityRide #WomensMotorcycleMonth http://bit.ly/2a3apXv

KEYWORDS: Philanthropy, Janet Barnard, Cox Automotive, Manheim, kyle petty charity ride across america

 

Sears & Rebuilding Together: Heroes At Home - Denver VFW

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SOURCE:Rebuilding Together

DESCRIPTION:

Sears has launched its ninth annual Heroes at Home campaign with Rebuilding Together to raise funds and assist military families facing hardship by making necessary repairs, improvements or modifications to their homes. The program, which has raised more than $18 million over the past eight years thanks to donations from Shop Your Way members, customers and associates, has funded more than 1,500 home rebuilds.

Learn more @ http://www.sears.com/en_us/dap/heroes-at-home.html

Tweet me:Become a #Hero! Shop @Sears this summer & help rebuild the homes of #veterans with @RebldgTogthr https://youtu.be/3cFK570B8gQ #HeroesAtHome

KEYWORDS: Volunteerism & Community Engagement, Corporate Social Responsibility, Veterans, Heroes, military, Homes, rebuilding together

Three Steps to Effectively Measure Philanthropic Impact

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By: Burt Cummings, CEO

SOURCE:Versaic

DESCRIPTION:

According to The Council on Foundations (COF) Report, Increasing Impact & Enhancing Value, corporate philanthropy is as vital as ever to business and society. And yet corporate leaders are under increasing pressure to connect the value of their programs with performance drivers that matter in the business. They must demonstrate that their philanthropic investment is both effective and aligned with business outcomes. Quantifying results is not always easy and many leaders struggle to measure the social impact of their programs. While they’ve often identified broad focus areas for their program, they can find it difficult to create clear social impact metrics that can bridge their philanthropic outcomes to their business strategy.

There are no universally accepted metrics for measuring either the social impact of philanthropy or the Return On Investment (ROI) of philanthropic initiatives. Each company is unique in both their social impact goals and in their requirements for how to demonstrate the ROI. It can be difficult to translate the large-scale vision of what they hope to achieve into tangible success measures.  They struggle to find effective ways to track changes in behavior or condition for the nonprofits and community members they serve.

Versaic client Starwood Hotels & Resorts is an example of an organization committed to investing the time and resources necessary to put a corporate philanthropy program in place that delivers significant value to the community as well as to the company and its employees. Starwood worked with Versaic and The Rensselaerville Institute (TRI) to develop a results-focused approach and implementation plan for their corporate philanthropy initiatives. Starwood’s primary objective was to employ new tools that would automate the process and improve their ability to track, quantify and evaluate impact. Their system is now live, and as a result, their philanthropy team has freed up time and gathered better data so they can have more productive interactions with grantees and effectively measure the results of their programs .

Here are some of the key things we learned about how to design and implement a successful program from our journey with Starwood and TRI: 

1) Create a strategic focus area(s): To identify focus areas that would address the most pertinent needs of the community while capitalizing on Starwood’s strengths, the Social Responsibility team looked internally for guidance. After multiple stakeholder interviews, focus groups and strategy sessions evaluating different aspects of the business, the team identified five focus areas that align community development objectives with Starwood’s strategic goals:

  • Workplace Readiness
  • Community Vitality
  • Conservation
  • Disaster Relief
  • Human Rights

2) Formulate a Plan: With the focus areas in place, Starwood developed a framework to plan and assess the effectiveness of their giving. TRI helped Starwood shift its mindset from acting as a ‘funder’ to acting as an ‘investor’ in order to seek the highest human gain for the available dollars. With that perspective, the foundation staff created a strategic results framework to clarify goals for their signature program grants.

Here are some basic questions to ask when establishing a result framework:

  • What changes do we want to see for the people or places we want to support?
  • What are the predictive changes in behavior or condition that indicate those people and places are on their way to success?
  • What types of programs and services will we invest in to get the end result?
  • What type of investments will we make to affect the change we seek? Will our portfolio include programmatic, capacity building and systemic change grants?

3) Design an Effective System: For Starwood it was essential to make their team and systems as streamlined and efficient as possible. They knew they needed to automate the process, and wanted an automation partner who could integrate their results framework throughout the system workflow. They needed a system flexible enough to track the specific outcome data points they required.

Starwood’s application process and communication system process addresses the following needs:

  • Educate grantees on the company’s philanthropic objectives
  • Clearly communicate their criteria for support
  • Help potential partners understand how they can engage with the organization.
  • Collect all relevant information required to make funding decisions
  • Collect necessary data to assess ROI and support impact reporting

By taking the time up front to design the right questions, Starwood now collects all the necessary information from charitable partners, from initial proposal through impact data collected post-grant. As a result, the team can demonstrate how their investments in local non-profits focused on building employments skills have resulted in a much better pool of potential employees. This is a clear win for Starwood and for the communities where they do business. 

Conclusion:

If you’re daunted by the prospect of putting an impact-focused program in place, start by asking yourself, your team and your stakeholders questions about what you want to accomplish in your business and community. Use those answers and the three steps outlined above to develop a process that will deliver the results you want to accomplish. Be prepared to adapt as you go because even with the best plan in place your programs will continually evolve, just as the needs of your business and community change. Connecting and reporting social impact with ROI requires refinement as you learn from experience.

When you take this approach, you’ll respond more effectively to the needs of your community partners, your stakeholders and your social investing team while at the same time increase your impact. It certainly worked for Starwood. Read the full story of Starwood’s journey, Going From Strategy to Impact to learn more.

Tweet me:Three Steps to Effectively Measure Philanthropic Impact @Versaic http://bit.ly/29Tjnqb

KEYWORDS: Philanthropy, Business & Trade

 

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