Philanthropy

Jamie Lei and Kenneth Nosaka, air quality measurement tools in hand, were surprised by the readings inside a local fast food restaurant during lunch hour. The numbers were even worse than those taken from a nearby freeway overpass. “I was not expecting that,” Nosaka said.

With the Digital Reporting Tool, GRI has taken its first step toward making sustainability data available and accessible in digital format. As we drive innovative formats in corporate sustainability reporting beyond PDFs, what can we learn from the path the music industry took as they evolved from vinyl to CDs to digital streaming?

Hess Corporation’s 2017 Sustainability Report provides a comprehensive review of how the company is addressing sustainability issues and integrating sustainable business practices into its strategy and goals. The company’s 21st annual sustainability report has been prepared in accordance with the Core level for sustainability reporting under the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards.

Fourteen-year-old Abby Blunt hardly knows what the world was like before smartphones — but technology is helping her with that. During a recent trip to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., Abby roamed the “Tower of Faces” section of the main exhibition, smartphone in hand, eyes glued to her screen.

The 2017 fall semester was about to start, but Lillian Copeland was still uncertain about how she was going to pay her college tuition. The rising sophomore and Washington, D.C., native had been accepted as a transfer student at Spelman College in Atlanta, but she needed more money.

As children, we are taught the value of helping others, doing what is right and looking out for one another. In business, these values can be demonstrated through corporate social responsibility (CSR), a term used to describe how a company shares its business’ culture, values and ways of giving back.

Long gone are the days of disengaged consumers, whose allegiance is garnered merely through coupons and loyalty programs. Today’s customers are increasingly sophisticated and selective. They like to keep their finger on the pulse of the companies with which they have chosen, or are thinking of choosing, to do business. Does the business align with their values? Is it engaged with the community, and what is it doing for the greater good?

Registration is open for the July 27-28 homebuyer event in Kansas City. Down payment assistance grants and homebuyer education are available for eligible homebuyers in three Missouri counties (Cass, Clay and Jackson), with special parameters for teachers, military, veterans and first responders.

Many microfinance organizations often talk about their success in terms of scale and big picture numbers: how many borrowers do they reach? How big has the loan portfolio grown? But MFIs need to answer a different set of questions to develop a more granular understanding of their impact on a household level.

During the month of June, Smithfield Foods’ hunger relief initiative, Helping Hungry Homes®, visited six communities to donate more than 630,000 pounds of protein—the equivalent of more than 2.5 million servings—to those in need. Celebrating the 10-year anniversary of Helping Hungry Homes® this year, Smithfield has provided more than 100 million servings of protein to food banks, disaster relief efforts, and community outreach programs since the program’s inception.