Skills-based volunteering is one of those loosely defined areas of our practice that can sometimes confuse people. I have spoken to several practitioners about their definition of skills-based volunteering and the answers are all over the map. It made me think that if we’re going to advance this practice, we’d better agree on some basics.

“I think I always thought I might be in the insurance business,” said Dan Amos, CEO of Aflac. “My family had been in it and it was just something I thought I might like.”

Working at Aflac since he was 14 years old, Amos and his company have been named a World’s Most Ethical Company by the Ethisphere Institute for 12 straight years. Dan, himself has been named by Harvard Business Review as one of the 100 Best Performing CEOs in the World for four consecutive years. So we sent Chloe, an 11-year-old pediatric cancer survivor, and a national ambassador for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals® to interview Amos for a new video series, Tough Questions.

Over the next five years, Timberland has pledged to create or restore at least 500,000 square feet of green space in cities across the U.S. – equivalent to 11 acres and nearly four times the amount of urban space greened through its most recent effort.

Whether you’re joining us in New York or online, you can be part of the BSR Conference 2018 action. Here's how.

3BL Media, the world’s leading communications partner for purpose-driven organizations, has appointed Robbie Lock as executive director of the 3BL Association. Formerly the Corporate Responsibility (CR) Association, the 3BL Association builds peer-to-peer collaboration to support and elevate corporate responsibility and sustainability leadership, through professional development and sharing best practices.

Circulate Capital, the investment management firm dedicated to incubating and financing companies and infrastructure that prevent ocean plastic, today announced that it expects to receive US$90 million in funding for its strategy to combat ocean plastic from several of the world's leading consumer packaged goods and chemical companies, including PepsiCo (NASDAQ: PEP), the first investor; Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), Dow (NYSE: DWDP), Danone (EPA: BN), Unilever (NYSE: UN) and The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO). Circulate Capital anticipates formalizing definitive agreements with these parties by early 2019.

The Amgen Foundation today announced the expansion of the Amgen Scholars Program, a hands-on research program that allows undergraduates to spend a summer at one of many of the world’s premier research institutions. The new four-year, $21 million commitment brings the program to a total of 24 elite institutions across the U.S., Europe, Asia and, for the first time, Australia and Canada. Over the next four years an additional 1,500 undergraduates from hundreds of colleges and universities will have the chance to engage in research opportunities in biomedical and biotechnology fields.

Globally, disasters and humanitarian crises are on the rise. In the last 10 years, disasters have caused US$1.4 trillion in damage and affected 1.7 billion people. In the last two months alone, the United States has been hit by Hurricanes Michael and Florence, and Indonesia has been devastated by earthquakes and tsunamis.

Technology has the power to unlock amazing new possibilities for our customers and the world. Through pro bono service learning, we translate the incredible potential of digital transformation from the corporate sector to our communities. Recently, I was fortunate to see this potential unfold—and watch a community transform.

The Curiosity Cube™ mobile science lab recently visited Alexander B. Bruce School in Lawrence, Massachusetts