Participate in EF's CSR Study

The Entrepreneurs Foundation is looking for participants for a study to "gauge the current state of corporate social responsibility and sustainability efforts at companies." If you are employed by a company or know someone who may be, click here to find a link to the study on the Entrepreneurs Foundation home page.

Reconnecting McDowell - Creating a village through partnerships

"It takes a village to raise a child" is an age-old saying that, quite frankly, often seems to be the opposite of what's seen in American society these days.  In fact, a study commissioned by State Farm in late July of last year revealed that only 25% of Americans surveyed knew their neighbors names. This says a lot about the depth of relationships that Americans have with the people that live the closest to them(1).

If McDowell County was one of the few areas that fostered the "village mentality", then Reconnecting McDowell is elevating it to a new level to solve the major challenges in this West Virginia county. McDowell County is ranked last in education in the state and 72% of its students live in households without gainful employment(2). Reconnecting McDowell's aim is to "make educational improvement in McDowell County the route to a brighter economic future"(2). Their approach has been to partner with the business, philanthropic, government, nonprofit, and labor sectors to tackle "poverty, underperforming schools, drug and alcohol abuse, housing shortages, limited medical services, and inadequate access to technology and transportation"(2). Click here to learn more about Reconnecting McDowell.

Reconnecting McDowell has shown just what partnerships can do - create "villages" - a community where everyone feels a sense of responsibility to make sure that the children and adults alike are doing well. In McDowell County, although they face tough challenges, there is hope in collective problem solving. The problems of society cannot be solved alone. Their complexities require collaboration amongst many sectors. Of course, Community Optimization will be paying attention to this effort and share its progress.


References:
(1) CBS Los Angeles. "Love Thy Neighbor? Most Americans Don’t Know Next-Door Names"
(2) Reconnecting McDowell website http://www.reconnectingmcdowell.org/

The Today Show's "Holiday Toy and Gift Drive" works with charities and businesses to make sure kids have gifts to open on Christmas

Now in its 18th year, the Holiday Toy and Gift Drive has raised $285 million in donations since its inception in 1994. The Today Show's Charitable Foundation works with charities and businesses to collect and provide gifts for needy children. This year, they were able to raise nearly $35 million in donations and provide gifts to 200 charities resulting in 4 million children being helped. For more information about the drive, click here to visit the drive's webpage. 

Holiday drives are always good ways to carry out the giving spirit. Many children were provided for this season thanks to the drive and the amazing charities and generous businesses that participated and people that donated. Although I would hope that so many families weren't in need, I'm sure that the 2012 Holiday Toy and Gift Drive will provide more opportunities to give.

SeatGeek partners with Bloomberg Philanthropies to enhance New York City's arts

Bloomberg Philanthropies is partnering with SeatGeek, a New York based tech start-up and ticket search engine, to help people enhance their New York cultural arts experience. The Discover New York Arts (DNyA) pilot project utilizes  SeatGeek's search technology to help promote live shows and events from over 30 New York City arts organizations. Here's what Michael R. Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City and philanthropist said about the partnership, “Our arts program at Bloomberg Philanthropies is driven by a deep commitment to enabling art to be a driving force in enriching communities and providing economic opportunity. This collaboration takes our programs a step further, offering a significant business partnership for our grantees with a leading New York tech company.” You can read the full story at prweb.com SeatGeek Partners with Bloomberg Philanthropies to Unlock New York City’s Great, Undiscovered Arts Experiences

What a great idea for a partnership. It makes it easier to discover shows and other cultural arts opportunities that benefit the community.

Chase honors charities with $2 million in grants

On Saturday, December 10 at 8pm EST, Chase's first-ever "celebrity tribute" to community heroes, the American Giving Awards, airs on NBC. What's at stake is a total of $2 million to be shared among five featured charities - 1st place: $1 million, 2nd place: $500,000, 3rd place: $250,000, and 4th & 5th place: $125,000. Chase is allowing the public to participate in the voting process in two ways - by liking the Chase Community Giving Facebook page or voting at Chase.com. Voting is from December 1, 2011 through December 8, 2011. Visit the American Giving Awards website for more information.

Despite whatever opinion you have of Chase, credit should go to whom credit is due. Chase has taken it upon themselves to give back to communities in a big way and they should be commended for that.  

Clorox: "Powering a Bright Future" with a $50,000 grant

Clorox Company is chipping in for a third year to help fund school programs - best of all, their letting us participate. Since October 24, 2011 people have gone to the Power A Bright Future Program website to vote for their favorite school program. All of the schools are competing for four $25,000 and one $50,000 grant. Voting ends December 9, 2011 and the winners will be announced in January 2012.
Click here to get in your vote.

Grant programs are another example of how companies can and have been helping communities. The Power A Bright Future Program is great because it helps fund a cause that is vital - education. Another plus is that it allows everyday people to vote compared to having the company's staff give their opinion on the best program. Letting communities vote really helps the schools increase or start to create an environment of support. If it takes a village to raise a child, then the more collaborations there are that let community members participate, the better.  

Harvesting Hope with Stater Bros. Supermarket and Coca Cola in Southern California

Throughout the months of November and December, Stater Bros. Supermarket is collecting non-perishable food items to give to those in need. To participate, place your food items in the Harvesting Hope barrels located at the front of each store or give a monetary donation at a check stand.

This is a great way to give back to Southern California communities. Patrons of Stater Bros. Supermarket can feel good knowing that the money they spend is invested back into the community.

Collaboration between the philanthropic, business, and government sectors leads to $30 million in aid in Connecticut

A collaboration of state officials, the business community, and the nonprofit sector resulted in a whopping $30 million in aid. The collaboration sought this funding for economic development efforts in Connecticut's urban areas which have suffered as a result of the recession. For more on this story, which was featured in the Hartford Business Journal Online, click here.

This is one example of how collaborations truly pay off. There is strength in numbers - well in this case expertise and resources.  If you have a goal and you are able to gather everything (e.g. resources, expertise) that you need to accomplish that goal, then you are more likely to succeed because you have everything that you need.

The results are in on Microsoft's "Elevate America" state voucher program

From February 2009 to August 2010, Microsoft partnered with states and the District of Columbia to provide free computer skills training to help the unemployed get the training they need to get back to work and under-skilled workers get more training as part of their Elevate America Initiative. In the end, Microsoft distributed more than 800,000 training and certification vouchers to the states and the District of Columbia who then distributed the vouchers to these individuals.

Overall this program had many successes and helped many people across the nation. Like all great things, there's always room for improvement and  Microsoft details their lessons learned, including the policy implications of the program, in their report titled Elevate America’s State Voucher Strategy to Promote Employability Lessons Learned.

ABC's "A Better Community" partners with Feeding America

How can you provide for a family in need in a few clicks? If you "like" ABC's "A Better Community" on Facebook, they'll donate two meals to a family in need through Feeding America.

This partnership is simple and made easy for the people already using social media sites like Facebook. Now you can help someone anywhere you are without putting hardly any effort. Who doesn't love that.

Starbucks and the Opportunity Finance Network partner to "Create Jobs for USA"

Ever wondered what you could do to help put Americans back to work? Well Starbucks Coffee and the Opportunity Finance Network (OFN) have thought of one great way that you can. Purchase an "indivisible" wristband for a minimum of $5 in one of Starbuck's company-operated stores or online at createjobsforUSA.org and 100% of your money will go towards the "Create Jobs for USA Fund" at  OFN. OFN will award these funds to community development financial institutions (CDFIs) that help finance community businesses.

Definitely a great partnership that will help address one of this issues contributing to unemployment in this economy - lack of banks lending to small businesses.  Americans can feel good about contributing because that small amount can really help create and sustain local jobs. We won't know the true impact of the program for a while but in the meantime, check out success stories on createjobsforUSA.org.

Dannon and the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc. have teamed up to support women in communities

Up until December 31, 2011, people can take part in funding early cancer detection and post-diagnosis support efforts through a partnership between Dannon® and the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc. (NBCF). Anyone may participate by purchasing a qualifying Dannon® or Stonyfield Activia product and entering the code (found under the lid) at cupsofhope.com.

This collaboration is for a great cause and can potentially benefit the lives of many women living in our communities.

Colossal collaboration between DonorsChoose.org, the Wasserman Foundation, Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), and Starbucks Coffee to support cash strapped classrooms

The households of LAUSD students (starting this month) and customers of Los Angeles Starbucks Coffee shops (beginning later this winter) will receive gift cards which will be used to fund projects in LAUSD schools’ classrooms through DonorsChooseLA.org. How did this happen you ask?  The Wasserman Foundation, which has a long history of philanthropy in the education arena, donated $4 million dollars over the next 2 years towards the effort. Half will go towards gift cards and the other half will be in the form of a challenge grant in which the foundation will match donations to projects through the DonorsChooseLA.org website.

This idea is a very innovative and will likely bring much needed supplies to LAUSD classrooms. What’s so unique about this partnership, is allowing the community to participate through giving out gift cards. The whole project brings about the much needed “It takes a village to raise a child” mentality, one that has been lacking in today’s society.