Most Civic-Minded Companies Show Community Engagement Linked To Corporate Success

WASHINGTON, June 28, 2016 /3BL Media/ – America’s largest corporations are increasingly turning good intentions into sound business practices. That’s the promising bottom-line from an analysis of the 2016 Civic 50, the annual Points of Light initiative that recognizes and honors the 50 most community-minded companies in America.  In the continuing shift to go beyond checkbook philanthropy, this year’s Civic 50 honorees affirm the trend that companies are supporting community engagement through policies, core business functions, and incentives that indicate sustainable long-term commitment to addressing community challenges.

“We are at the beginning of a boom in corporate social responsibility,” said Neil Bush, chairman of the board of Points of Light, the largest organization in the world dedicated to volunteer service. “Corporations are putting policies in place that prioritize connection with communities. They’re seeing a positive effect through meaningful engagement with community members, increases in employee satisfaction and morale, and positive feedback from consumers.”

“This year’s Civic 50 honorees demonstrate how much they value the relationships they have with the communities in which they do business, and truly understand how important purpose is to both their employees and consumers,” said Tracy Hoover, CEO of Points of Light. “They are as results oriented in their corporate citizenship as they are in their bottom line: 78% are measuring the social impact of their community involvement and 90% solicit community feedback through focus groups or community meetings.”

Key highlights from the 2016 Civic 50 include:

• A combined 10,300,000 volunteer hours and $1,800,000,000 contributed to communities around the country from the 2016 Civic 50 companies
• One out of every four volunteer hours in 2016 were skills-based
• 90% of all Civic 50 companies actively solicited feedback through focus groups or community meetings
• 56% included community engagement in employees’ performance reviews
• 74% used community engagement to support their diversity and inclusion goals

The 2016 honorees will be recognized at an awards luncheon in Detroit, Michigan, during the Points of Light Conference on Volunteering and Service. The Civic 50 honorees for 2016, in alphabetical order, are:

• AbbVie
• Adobe Systems Incorporated
• Aetna Inc.
• Alcoa
• Altria *Consumer Staples Sector Leader
• Apollo Education Group
• AT&T *Communications Sector Leader
• Baxter International Inc.
• Caesars Entertainment
• Capital One
• Citi
• Comcast NBCUniversal
• Comerica Incorporated
• CSAA Insurance Group, a AAA Insurer
• Deloitte
• Dr Pepper Snapple Group
• Eli Lilly and Company
• Entergy
• FedEx Corporation
• Ford Motor Company
• Freeport-McMoRan *Materials Sector Leader
• General Mills
• Hasbro, Inc. *Consumer Discretionary Sector Leader
• Health Care Service Corporation
• Hewlett Packard *Technology Sector Leader
• IHS
• Intel Corporation
• KeyBank
• KPMG LLP *Industrials Sector Leader
• MGM Resorts International
• Motorola Solutions, Inc.
• Pacific Gas and Electric Company *Utilities Sector Leader
• PIMCO
• Prudential Financial Inc.
• PwC
• Raytheon Company
• S&P Global
• SAP
• State Street Corporation
• Steelcase
• Symantec Corporation
• The Hershey Company
• Time Warner Inc.
• Toyota Financial Services *Financials Sector Leader
• TSYS
• UnitedHealth Group *Health Care Sector Leader
• UPS
• Valero Energy Corporation *Energy Sector Leader
• Verizon
• Wells Fargo

Now in its fourth year, The Civic 50 survey evaluates participating companies based on four dimensions: investment, integration, institutionalization, and impact.

Trends from the 2016 Civic 50 include:

• The 2016 Civic 50 companies are translating good intentions into sound business practices. They achieve this by shaping strategies and policies to prioritize meaningful engagement with communities. In fact, the most growth in this year’s Civic 50 cohort was in the dimensions that emphasize connecting community engagement with core business functions (Integration), creating a culture of community engagement (Institutionalization), and measuring impact (Impact), while the Investment dimension remains strong.
• Civic 50 companies are increasingly connecting purpose with profit. The top five business functions that Civic 50 community engagement programs support are: diversity and inclusion, marketing/PR, skills development, stakeholder relations and employee engagement. 74% of Civic 50 companies have a formal strategy that uses community engagement to support diversity and inclusion goals, an increase from 62% in 2014. 50% use community engagement to support skill development for employees, an increase from 46% in 2014.
• Companies are building a culture of community engagement. Civic 50 companies are doing the hard work of building more community-minded companies by adopting policies, systems and incentives to support community engagement. For example, 56% of Civic 50 companies included community engagement as a formal written component of employees’ performance reviews to emphasize community engagement as a key value. This is an increase from 50% in 2014.  Additionally, 90% of Civic 50 companies have a formal, structured effort to actively solicit community feedback such as a survey, focus group or community meeting.
• Companies are using time and talent to accelerate social impact through skills-based volunteering. Recognizing the value of contributing time and talent to community organizations, Civic 50 companies are increasingly maximizing the impact of community engagement through skills-based volunteering. Nearly 25% of employee volunteer hours at Civic 50 companies is skills-based, an increase from 20% in 2014.
• Measuring impact is the key to ensuring impactful and sustainable community engagement programs. Companies continue to evaluate community engagement programs by measuring what matters: business and social impact. 78% of Civic 50 companies formally measure the social impact of at least one aspect of their community engagement. 40% measured the outcome of their volunteer programs, an increase from 36% in 2014. 50% measure the business impact of their community engagement work on diversity and inclusion goals, and 42% measure the impact on employee engagement.

Points of Light has published a report with full analysis of the 2016 Civic 50 data, best practices and thought-leader essays. The report, titled The 2016 Civic 50: Turning Good Intentions into Sound Business Practices, and a corresponding infographic, are available at www.Civic50.org

Any company with annual revenue of $1 billion or more is invited to participate in The Civic 50. A panel of academic advisors partnered to strengthen Civic 50 survey content, questions and evaluation. The survey was administered by True Impact and analyzed by VeraWorks.

The Civic 50 is an alphabetical listing but this year’s survey also ranked the top scoring companies across 10 sectors: communications, consumer discretionary, consumer staples, energy, financials, health care, industrials, materials, technology and utilities. Sector leaders are marked above.

About Points of Light
Points of Light, the world’s largest organization dedicated to volunteer service, mobilizes millions of people to take action that is changing the world. Through affiliates in 250 cities and partnerships with thousands of nonprofits and corporations, Points of Light engages four million volunteers in 30 million hours of service each year. We bring the power of people where it’s needed most. For more information, visit www.pointsoflight.org.

About True Impact
True Impact provides web-based tools and consulting support to help organizations measure the social, financial, and environmental return on investment (ROI) of their programs and operations. For more information, visit www.trueimpact.com.

About VeraWorks
VeraWorks is a global consulting firm that helps managers and companies offer employees the opportunity to do societal good through their everyday jobs. For more information, visit www.veraworks.com.