Lip-Sticking

Top 7 corporate citizens

By Amanda Ponzar @LivingUnited

Many organizations publish top 100, top 50, top 10 lists. So here are my top 7.

United Way Worldwide –- the largest privately funded nonprofit in the U.S. and the world –- just announced its highest national awards for philanthropy, volunteer engagement and community impact. Companies that are #1 when it comes to corporate citizenship. The awards process is very competitive with corporate judges and local United Ways pouring over detailed applications, reviewing financial numbers and volunteer hours, analyzing the education, income and health impact of the company's partnerships and programs, etc. so this is the real deal.  

Check out the 2013 winners -- 7 top corporate citizens:

3M (NASDAQ: MMM): 3M’s focus is encouraging innovation through STEM (science, technology, engineering, math). In 2012, 3M donated $56.6M in cash and in-kind to education, health and human services, arts and the environment. Education programs supported by 3M reach over 7.6 million young people each year; programs include science fairs and Generation Next that are closing the achievement gap of low-income and minority students. More than 1,700 3M employees volunteer to support education, including 500 employees serving as mentors in the company’s headquarters of St. Paul, increasing graduation rates in focus schools. 3M is the first company to earn an Excellence in Mentoring in America Corporate Leadership Award.

Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA, CMCSK) invested more than $334 million in programs and partnerships in 39 states and Washington, DC in 2012, including $9.5 million of cash and in-kind support to United Way agencies around the country, with $2.5 million in value of in-kind support
airing public service announcements. Last year, Comcast employees volunteered more than 454,000 hours, unleashing another $1.5 million in Comcast Foundation matching funds for nonprofits. One of Comcast’s signature programs is Internet Essentials, the nation’s largest and most comprehensive broadband adoption program, which provides low-cost Internet access, computers and free digital
literacy training to struggling families to help close the digital divide. More than 60 United Ways across the country support this program.

 

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and its employees celebrated a major milestone in 2012:  $1 billion in employee giving and matching funds to more than 31,000 nonprofit organizations around the world since the employee giving program began in 1983. In 2012, Microsoft donated more than $900 million in cash and software to more than 62,000 nonprofits worldwide. Microsoft also provides a $17/hour match for employee volunteer hours –- 450,000 hours logged in 2012 -- generating more than $7.5 million in volunteer matching funds to U.S. nonprofits last year alone. Microsoft’s citizenship focus is creating opportunities for youth through innovative programs that leverage Microsoft’s software and skilled employees. Microsoft YouthSpark is a company-wide global initiative, which aims to create opportunities for 300 million youth in more than 100 countries during the next three years, and includes programs such as Technology Education and Literacy in Schools (TEALS), Partners in Learning, Imagine Cup and more.

 

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) and its employees raised more than $30.5 million through the United Way campaign, once again as a top 10 national partner. In addition, bank employees volunteered 1.5 million hours globally, including 1,500 employees leveraging their financial expertise at volunteer
tax assistance sites. Since 2006, Bank of America has invested $8 million in Financial Stability grants with United Way, especially around free tax preparation and assistance, and was the first financial institution to nationally support this important work. In 2012, the bank donated $200 million
to nonprofit organizations serving community needs as part of its 10-year $2 billion philanthropic goal. 

 

General Motors  (NASDAQ: GM) -- The GM Foundation in December 2010 pledged $27.1 million to United Way of Southeastern Michigan to create a “Network of Excellence” within seven metro Detroit high schools and increase graduation rates from 50% to 80% over five years. Attendance rates at all seven schools improved last year -- an early indicator for improved graduation rates. Last year, GM employees contributed more than $5.8 million through the company’s United Way campaign, plus teamGM Cares Volunteers provided nearly 1,200 hours of service to the Network of Excellence schools.

 

The Mosaic Company (NYSE: MOS), its employees and The Mosaic Company Foundation contributed $25.4 million in community investments worldwide in 2012 -- including in-kind gifts totaling $3.7 million and $4 million raised through the company’s annual United Way campaign. Mosaic employees contributed expertise and volunteer time to execute campaigns across its North American operations. To achieve its mission to help the world grow the food it needs, Mosaic helps farmers worldwide produce more food through crop nutrients and science-based agronomy. Its unique The Mosaic Villages Project also helps smallholder farmers move beyond subsistence farming and improve their livelihoods through increased crop production and sustainable agricultural practices.

 

Wells Fargo (NASDAQ: WFC) is United Way’s #1 national campaign for four years in a row. Team members raised $60.7 million in 2012 — a 23% increase over 2011—resulting in over $75.3 million with the corporate gift. Wells Fargo team members volunteered 1.5 million hours in 2012, plus the company offers a unique Volunteer Leave Program; it awarded fully paid leave to more than 21 team members in 2012 to work on a significant project for up to four months. Wells Fargo also announced a new $5 million national partnership with United Way to provide financial counseling for low-moderate income households. Wells Fargo promotes significant skilled volunteering, through its free Hands on Banking® program, focused on money management. Last year, Wells Fargo invested $315.8 million in 19,500 nonprofits.

 

The Spirit of America and Summit Awards program is United Way’s highest national honor for a corporation, recognizing outstanding United Way Global Corporate Leaders. Join @UnitedWay and congratulate the winners on Twitter: @3Mgiving & @3MNews, @BofA_Community, @Comcastdreambig, @GM, @Microsoft & @msftcitizenship, @MosaicCompany and @WellsFargo.

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Finding our strength: the more we give, the better we get

by Amanda Ponzar (@LivingUnited)

The Boston Marathon tragedy showed us once again how strong we really are, how we can pull together and encourage each other during the darkest times. It showed us that there is good in the world; something worth fighting for (see Lord of the Rings video clip). After 26 miles, Boston Marathon runners kept running to donate blood. Medical professionals, fire fighters, police, EMTs and more came to the rescue. People tore off their own clothes for tourniquets. This is the kind of country I'm proud to live in. We may not agree on every political issue, but we are united when it comes to helping others.

Although it's often buried and barely covered, there's more good news and good people who deserve recognition for helping others:

1.) This week, United Ways  from around the world are meeting to get energized, work better together for collective impact and scale change. Plus, United Way will be awarding our highest honors -- Spirit of America awards -- to seven incredible companies tomorrow. Check it out.

2.) Peter Dudley (@dudleyPJ), young adult fiction author and CSR leader at Wells Fargo, writes some great posts on employee volunteer programs and workplace campaigns for Charities at Work. One of his recent posts discussed how to get company managers on board with volunteering.

Girlfriend, file your taxes free.

By Amanda Ponzar (@LivingUnited)

We all know women possess the power of the purse, commanding consumer spending decisions (85% of purchases). But what about when it comes to taxes? Are women empowered? Are you? (Check out interesting tables on gender and tax return data from the IRS.) 

One way you can take charge of your financial future is through your taxes –- making sure you don’t pay too much (or anything) to prepare and file, plus getting the full refund you deserve. 

One of the most rewarding projects I’ve worked on for the past few years is MyFreeTaxes.com –- this nonprofit partnership provides free federal and state tax preparation and filing services for individuals and families who earned $57,000 or less in 2012. MyFreeTaxes offers a toll-free phone line or chat pod so you can get help to file online, or you can get help in-person at a community-based tax site -– still free. 

Why does this matter for women? Because truly free tax preparation and filing (some providers offer a free federal return but make you pay for state) means you don’t have to use a paid tax preparer (saves you about $200), plus ensures you receive the maximum refund, including all the credits you qualify for –- earned income tax credit (EITC), child tax credit and more. Plus, ensures you're getting good advice from trusted nonprofit partners who can help you find other programs and services too.  

It doesn’t matter if you’re single or married, head of household or not, a grandmother or a college
student. If you made less than $57,000 and haven’t filed your taxes, you probably qualify. Last year, more than 1.4 million taxpayers used MyFreeTaxes either online or in person to file their taxes free
and got back an average of nearly $1,300 each. With the $200 saved on tax prep costs, that could be $1,500 more in your pocket -- or your friend’s -- so spread the word. When women have more money, they pay bills, take care of basic needs, help their families and make the world a better place.

MyFreeTaxes.com is powered by the Walmart Foundation, in cooperation with Goodwill Industries International, National Disability Institute and United Way Worldwide. 

Check out videos.

Check out media coverage in Forbes, Fox Business, MSN Money and more.

Do yourself a favor and check out www.MyFreeTaxes.com or @MyFreeTaxes on Twitter.

 

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Microsoft lights a fire for youth

By Amanda Ponzar @LivingUnited (Check out the end of this post for FREE Microsoft tools.)

Let’s be clear, I’m a BIG fan of Microsoft. Why? Their corporate citizenship team (whom I’ve worked with for five years) is great. These talented tech experts are committed to changing the world by leveraging Microsoft’s significant resources. I recently attended two Microsoft store grand openings plus their innovative Imagine Cup where students dream up crazy apps or solve major medical mysteries using Microsoft technology. On February 13, I attended Microsoft’s YouthSpark event, their newest powerhouse initiative designed to “close the youth achievement gap in education, employment, and entrepreneurship” (Twitter: @msftcitizenship & @MicrosoftIPC, #YouthSpark).

Microsoft convened nearly 100 Washington, DC government officials, nonprofits, students and more to focus on empowering youth through education and technology. Here’s what you should know and why you should care:

Get motivated and get moving toward your goals.

By Amanda Ponzar (@LivingUnited)

Motivation is everything. It's what drives athletes to train, compete & win; it's what keeps our brain churning in the middle of the night with flashes of brilliant insight when we're excited about a new project; it's what causes us to sacrifice time, money and more for a great cause.

It's the difference between ordinary and extraordinary, between mediocrity and the "movers and shakers" who change the world.

I've posted on this before "How to improve your motivation & performance."

So today, stop for a second and ask yourself -- what motivates you?

• Meaningful/important work
• Making a real impact, helping someone
• Using your gifts/talents
• Making money (and getting raises, bonuses, etc.)
• Getting promoted, being on the fast track, climbing corporate ladder, etc.
• Being recognized publicly, winning awards, etc.
• Earning respect, achieving status as an expert in your field
• Solving problems, resolving issues, completing projects
• Learning new skills
• Tackling new challenges
• Working with energized, fun, committed people (great team)
• Inspirational leadership
• Flexible work schedules/good work life balance
• Something else?

Once you figure out what motivates you, determine how best to tap it to keep yourself going strong. We are all capable of great things -- I was reminded of that again when our office of 200+ people blew our goal out of the water and raised more than $437,000 in our United Way campaign last month -- we just need to determine what drives us and use it to achieve our goals. 

 

Have you forgotten who you are?

By Amanda Ponzar

Have you ever heard the quote: “Tell me who you love, and I will tell you who you are?” There’s some truth to that, but it’s more WHAT you love to do that tells you who you are.

Side note: you are more than your job or even all the hats you wear (mother, wife, daughter, friend, sister, employee, volunteer, etc.).

I noticed this the other day when someone asked me what my hobbies were. HOBBIES?! I found myself saying “Well, I used to…[fill in the blank].”

I USED to be a singer, artist, jogger, poet, creative writer, volunteer, beauty queen, academic scholar, great reader, etc., etc. So what does that make me now? Hollow like those disappointing chocolate Easter bunnies with nothing inside?

Yes, I am a nonprofit director and communications professional, I love what I do, and I’m good at it. However, that's not everything. What I used to love to do is also who I am. Those gifts and talents and passions are not dead, they’re just buried because I’m busy. So, I dug out some old poems and artwork and began my own Renaissance –- started sketching again, even got out the watercolors & paint brushes.

And then yesterday, this Wordsworth poem I’d memorized in college came back to me:  “The world is too much with us, late and soon, getting and spending, we lay waste our powers. Little we see in nature that is ours. We have given our hearts away...”

Yes, family and work are important, but so are the gifts we’ve been given that bring us (and often others too) joy. Let's not get lost in the hustle and bustle and harried shuffle of everyday life, living that same Ground Hog day over and over and over again.

So, who are YOU? Remember what you love to do -– gardening, cooking, traveling, drawing, hiking, writing, sailing, fixing cars, scrapbooking, working with animals, advocating for a great cause, volunteering for your favorite charity –- and do more of it!

(Photos of my artwork, copyright Amanda Ponzar)

Thanks, NFL: You think you know a guy

This week I (Amanda Ponzar) am giving a voice to my friend & colleague, Tracey Holmes to share about Team NFL (I wrote about Riley Cooper a few weeks ago). Take it away, Tracey!

*********

By Tracey Holmes
Director, NFL Partnership
United Way Worldwide

It is human nature to generalize, stereotype, define people based on our own experiences to date. But every once in a while, people surprise you in ways that blow your expectations out the window and your aspirations to the moon.

Some thought it was too much to ask of an NFL player. Three days of their vacation time to hang out at American University with students from challenged high schools from across the country...eating college food, hanging out in college dorms. Wake up calls at 6:00 a.m. followed by long days of learning, sharing, brainstorming and interviews.

Not just present in their attendance but present in their participation. Actively taking notes, sharing their perspectives, leading discussions, developing presentations. An earnest effort to learn and develop ways to engage more people as volunteer readers, tutors and mentors so more of our kids graduate high school on time and prepared for success.

So if your definition of NFL players is based solely on salacious news clips, the actions of a few loud voices or reality TV, I encourage you to add this perspective to the mix. And when you think of them as heroes on the field of play, know that they are heroes off the field as well because they are making a difference in the lives of our kids. You can too by pledging to become a volunteer reader, tutor or mentor.  Join the team!

Big SHOUT OUTS to the following TEAM NFL players who made the 2012 United Way Youth Empowerment Summit a GREAT success:

National Team Captain, NNAMDI ASOMUGHA, Philadelphia Eagles; CALAIS CAMPBELL, Arizona Cardinals; VONTA LEACH, Baltimore Ravens; CAM NEWTON, Carolina Panthers; VINCENT REY, Cincinnati Bengals; JOSHUA CRIBBS, Cleveland Browns;BRANDON CARR, Dallas Cowboys; VIRGIL GREEN, Denver Broncos; CLIFF AVRIL, Detroit Lions; GREG JENNINGS, Green Bay Packers; GLOVER QUIN, Houston Texans; ANTOINE BETHEA, Indianapolis Colts; EBEN BRITTON, Jacksonville Jaguars;CHRIS CANTY, New York Giants; D’BRICKASHAW FERGUSON, New York Jets; MICHAEL HUFF, Oakland Raiders; RILEY COOPER, Philadelphia Eagles; and CHARLIE BATCH, Pittsburgh Steelers.

5 Signs of Strength

By Amanda Ponzar

1. Callouses -– three on my left palm, rough from carrying the baby’s car seat all over creation.
2. Scars –- c-section and more, marring a previously unblemished body.
3. Bruises –- from rocking baby and carrying kids, car seats and bags galore every time I leave the house (book bag, diaper bag, bottle bag, work bag, purse, lunch, etc.).
4. Fine wrinkles and occasional puffy eyes –- from waking in the night and early morning to care for two of the most precious little people on the planet; from working hard, from laughing, smiling, even a little worrying.
5. Gray hairs -– only a few to date, thank God, but they indicate I’m aging, and with that, presumably, comes wisdom, but definitely experience and expanded bandwidth. I can do more, bear more, be more.

Would I go back to the glory days of my teens and twenties? Never. Not unless I could take what I know now, who I am now, back with me. For all the wonder and physical perfection of youth, there’s something missing when we are young –- naïve, immature, inexperienced, easily infatuated, occasionally arrogant, unbroken, untested, uncontrolled. With trials, with suffering, with children, with time, come a deeper joy, a sense of knowing, inner truth about who you are and confidence in the experiences you’ve had and what you’re capable of. As the days become weeks, months and years, true strength is found in constancy, who you are for the long haul.

“Love…is an ever-fixed mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken…love alters not with his brief hours and weeks but bears it out even to the edge of doom.” Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116

And although this body is in some ways showing wear, by Hollywood’s standards perhaps now less
beautiful, my soul and spirit are eternal, and through continual sacrifice, service and love, can become stronger and more magnificent every day.

UPS leverages celebrity clout for charity

By Amanda Ponzar

One of the best parts of my job is working with some of the world’s top corporate citizens, including UPS. For the fourth year in a row, UPS is partnering with United Way on a charitable auction with new items available every week through September 3.

As part of its corporate social responsibility and philanthropy, UPS is leveraging its celebrity connections by providing a round of golf with world champ Lee Westwood, NCAA® tickets, sports collectibles including race-worn items from NASCAR driver of the No. 99 UPS Ford Carl Edwards as well as other items from Roush Fenway Racing, and a variety of products from UPS partner LIVE NATION, including Ticketmaster gift cards and unique photographs of artists who have toured sustainably with UPS, including Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam.

All this –- more than 80 total items -– will be available on eBay, with all funds raised benefiting United Way Worldwide. UPS even donates free item shipping to winning bidders.

UPS knows celebrity athletes, stars and politicians (the auction includes autographed George Bush & Condoleezza Rice books) can raise more awareness and more funds to improve lives and communities. It’s one thing to auction a football; it’s another to auction a football autographed by a star. (Similar to my post last week “Riley Cooper rocks congress -– for kids.")

Multinational corporations and celebrities have a responsibility to do more good with the incredible resources and talents they’ve been blessed with. And many do. But that doesn’t get any of us off the hook. Each of us can do something with what we have -- give your time, money, influence, goods, help, etc.

Over 30 years, UPS and its employees have donated more than $1 billion to improve lives in partnership with United Way. This auction is just one small piece of their incredible commitment to building sustainable communities. Go UPS!

Read the press release.

NCAA® is a registered trademark of the National Collegiate Athletic Association

Riley Cooper rocks congress -- for kids

By Amanda Ponzar @LivingUnited

If you think all Philadelphia Eagles Wide Receiver Riley Cooper  (#14) does
is catch footballs, then you missed him in action on Capitol Hill this week.

Riley volunteered with United Way in the sweltering, oppressive 100-degree heat and humidity –- during his “off season” vacation –- participating in United Way's first Youth Empowerment Summit with National Football League (NFL) players from across the country and then advocating before members of congress during United Way’s annual Day of Action on June 21.

Riley recently joined TEAM NFL —a core group of college-educated, civic-minded NFL players committed to helping United Way recruit one million volunteer readers, tutors and mentors. (NFL is a long-term United Way partner.)

It’s all about caring adults who can help students hang in there and graduate, creating a brighter future for all of us.

We met with Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey, Representative Chaka Fattah, and Senator Toomey’s office.

Pittsburgh Steelers’ Charlie Batch and his beautiful wife (check out their Best of the Batch Foundation  focused on education) joined our team for the senate visits.

While in Florida, Riley mentored three young guys and helped increase their GPAs from 2.0 to As & Bs. He invested a ton of quality time and shared that real-life mentoring experience with members of congress, encouraging them to recruit volunteer mentors from their constituents, as well as volunteer themselves.

And Riley hung out with and encouraged the students who participated. Now that's keeping it real.

“Team Riley” also included two high-performing high school students from Philadelphia’s most challenged schools. Both were mentored and are mentors now -– paying it forward.

One was his high school’s last salutatorian before it closed due to lack of funding (he graduated and will be attending Lincoln University) and another, through a mentor program at her school, is going to Harvard this summer!

Touch down!

It’s ALWAYS good to see celebrity athletes using their star power to help others.

Riley Cooper took action. Now you can too. Get involved with Team Riley –- check out unitedway.org/TeamRiley, take the volunteer pledge, recruit your network to volunteer, spread the word and give Riley a shout-out on Twitter @RileyCooper_14! Riley Lives United. Now how are you going to? Go Eagles!