Volunteering & Community

n February 7, 2019, Tetra Tech received the City of Houston Office of Business Opportunity (OBO) Goods and Services Prime Contractor of the Year Award at the 6th Annual Champions of Diversity Awards Ceremony.

Last year, Common Impact worked with IMPACT2030 and Social Venture Partners Boston to demonstrate the power of cross-sector collaboration and skilled volunteerism by piloting the first-ever Skills for Cities Boston, hosted at The Boston Fed. Skills for Cities, a one-day cross-company skilled volunteer event, included more than 80 volunteers from 14 corporate participants to support capacity-building projects at 15 Boston-based nonprofits to advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Ecolab Inc. continued its long-standing commitment to supporting communities in 2018 through several initiatives, including corporate giving, grants to nonprofit organizations, in-kind product donations and employee volunteerism, with a total impact of nearly $17 million.

Wells Fargo increased its philanthropic impact in 2018 by donating $444 million to nearly 11,000 nonprofits to help communities and people in need. The company has been committed to local communities throughout its 167-year history and has increased its philanthropy 25 times over the past 28 years.

Wells Fargo increased its philanthropic impact in 2018 by donating $444 million to nearly 11,000 nonprofits that help communities and people in need, surpassing its $400 million goal. The company has been committed to local communities throughout its 167-year history and has increased its philanthropy 25 times over the past 28 years.

With one out of every six children in the United States living with hunger each day, young people are leading the fight to end child hunger to make sure their peers have access to healthy meals. To celebrate the role of young people in addressing this critical issue, Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation and Generation No Kid Hungry proclaim February 21 National Youth Day.

It has become a concern, of course, for most companies to face their social responsibility on a global as well as on a local level. Whereas this often happens by supporting social initiatives with generous donations, progressive corporations have long before started to engage more actively within their communities. Instead of only giving money to social causes, they want to lever their resources even more. More specifically: the time and talents of their employees. The emerging trend of corporate volunteering shows that for companies applying a holistic approach to corporate social responsibility, it is no longer a question of whether but rather of how to engage their employees.

As we settle into the new year, we find ourselves reflecting on the state of corporate pro bono, the exciting ways in which the field has evolved over the last year, and what's ahead in 2019. Taproot's Advisory Services team recently conducted an inaugural study of companies doing pro bono as a way to understand industry-wide trends and share out key observations.

In this episode of Pro Bono Perspectives, Leigh Phillips, CEO of EARN, shares more about her work using technology to empower low-income Americans to take charge of their financial lives. Leigh discusses the importance of bridging the savings divide and her career to date tackling issues of wealth inequality.