Points of Light Announces Top 50 Community-Minded Companies

SEATTLE, June 21, 2017 /3BL Media/ - Yesterday evening, Points of Light, the world’s largest organization dedicated to volunteer service, announced the 50 most community-minded companies in the United States. The Civic 50 provides a national standard for superior corporate citizenship and showcases how companies can use their time, skills and other resources to improve the quality of life in the communities where they do business.

The Civic 50 winners were announced at the Points of Light Conference on Volunteering and Service in Seattle, where leaders in volunteerism and civic engagement are gathering to discuss social innovation, cross-sector collaboration and citizen engagement can drive change.

“In the fifth year of honoring the most community-minded companies in the nation, The Civic 50 truly highlights the commitment to community and civic engagement of America’s leading brands. This year’s honorees contributed more than $1.4 billion and 10.1 million volunteer hours in their communities around the country,” said Jennifer Lawson, president of networks at Points of Light. “Encouraged by calls for responsible citizenship from shareholders, employees and customers—but also driven by a desire to build trust and define their brands—Civic 50 companies are putting communities at the center of business.”

The Civic 50 winners are public and private companies with U.S. operations and revenues of $1 billion or more, and are selected based on four dimensions of their U.S. community engagement program:

• Investment: How extensively and strategically does the company apply its resources to community engagement in the United States, including employee time and skills, cash, in-kind giving and leadership?
• Integration: How does the company integrate their U.S. community engagement programs into key business functions, including employee engagement, marketing/PR, diversity and inclusion, recruiting, stakeholder relations and skill-development?
• Institutionalization: How does the company support community engagement in the United States through organizational policies, systems and incentives?
• Impact: How does the company measure the social and business impact of their U.S. community engagement program?

The 2017 Civic 50 Honorees

• AbbVie
• Adobe Systems Inc.
• Aetna
• Allstate
• Altria Group Inc.
• AT&T*
• Baker Hughes Inc.
• Banfield Pet Hospital
• Baxter International Inc.
• Caesars Entertainment*
• Capital One
• Charles Schwab & Co. Inc.
• Citigroup, Inc.
• Comcast NBCUniversal
• Comerica Incorporated
• CSAA Insurance Group, a AAA Insurer
• CVS Health
• Dell
• Deloitte
• Dr Pepper Snapple Group*
• Ecolab
• Entergy Corporation
• Exelon Corporation*
• FedEx Corporation
• Food Lion
• Freeport-McMoRan Inc.*
• General Mills
• Hasbro Inc.
• Health Care Service Corporation
• The Hershey Company
• The Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company
• IBM Corporation*
• KeyBank*
• KPMG LLP
• MGM Resorts International
• Motorola Solutions Inc.
• Pacific Gas and Electric Company
• PIMCO
• Prudential Financial Inc.
• Raytheon Company*
• Regeneron Pharmaceuticals
• Steelcase
• Symantec Corporation
• Tata Consultancy Services
• Toyota Financial Services
• TSYS
• UnitedHealth Group
• UPS
• Valero Energy Corporation*
• WellCare Health Plans Inc.*

*Companies with an asterisk next to their names are sector leaders.

The 2017 Civic 50 Sector Leaders

• Consumer Discretionary: Caesars Entertainment
• Consumer Staples: Dr Pepper Snapple Group
• Energy: Valero Energy Corporation
• Financials: KeyBank
• Healthcare: WellCare Health Plans Inc.
• Industrials: Raytheon Company
• Information Technology: IBM Corporation
• Materials: Freeport-McMoRan Inc.
• Telecommunications: AT&T
• Utilities: Exelon Corporation

Key Statistics and Highlights from The Civic 50 2017 Honorees

• Being a community-minded company is about better engagement, not more. Companies are adopting strategic practices to accelerate impact in communities. Skills-based volunteering, multi-faceted investment and matching gifts are on the rise, and companies are taking on leadership roles to advance social issues.
  • The most community-minded companies in the country realize they can make a bigger impact in communities and harness the talents of their employees by contributing time and talent to critical causes. The average percentage of skilled volunteer time at Civic 50 companies increased from 20 percent in 2014 to 26 percent in 2017.
  • The average percentage of grants from The Civic 50 companies providing additional support through volunteers, in-kind goods or multi-year pledges increased from 38 percent in 2016 to 43 percent in 2017.
  • Total giving for employee matches and Dollars for Doers grants increased, up from $135 million in 2016 to $146 million in 2017. This demonstrates how companies can support and empower employee giving and volunteering, and it sends a message to employees that the causes they care about are important to the organization.
  • Companies continue to use their voice to take leadership positions on social issues by promoting public awareness or behavior change. Companies are stepping into new and uncharted roles as leaders and advocates in social action, policy and community-building. In 2017, 62 percent of Civic 50 companies took a leadership position on four or more national public education and/or policy advocacy efforts. 
• Companies are taking to heart the adage of “doing well by doing good” and putting it at the center of business. Civic 50 honorees use community engagement to drive key business functions, including employee engagement (88 percent), diversity and inclusion (84 percent), marketing and PR (84 percent), and skill development (72 percent).
• Civic 50 companies are building community values into their business and empowering changemakers to be a powerful force for change.
  
  • 100 percent of Civic 50 companies seek input from community leaders on local needs and their community engagement programs, and 74 percent have formal efforts that actively solicit community feedback through surveys, focus groups or community meetings.
  • 62 percent of Civic 50 companies include community engagement as a formal component of employees’ performance reviews, emphasizing its importance to organizational culture. This is up from 50 percent in 2016.
  • 64 percent of Civic 50 companies offer employees volunteer time off to support their service to the community.
  • 78 percent of Civic 50 companies list community engagement on department or business unit scorecards, creating incentive and accountability structures around community goals.
  • At nearly 70 percent of Civic 50 companies, executive leaders support community engagement by participating in community activities at least once a month.
  • At nearly 80 percent of Civic 50 companies, executive leaders encourage employees to participate in community activities at least once a month.
• Civic 50 companies are demonstrating their impact by measuring what matters—social and business outcomes. While storytelling and volunteer recognition are important, Civic 50 companies are also using robust measurement practices to evaluate and demonstrate how they are making an impact.
  
  • 76 percent of Civic 50 companies measure the social outcomes of their volunteer programs, going beyond measuring outputs, and 76 percent measure the outcomes of their social advocacy work.
  • Recognizing that doing good also helps the business bottom-line, 68 percent of Civic 50 companies measure the outcomes of their community engagement programs on marketing/PR, 66 percent measure business outcomes related to employee engagement, and 64 percent measure outcomes related to diversity inclusion.

The Civic 50 survey is administered by True Impact, a company specializing in helping organizations maximize and measure their social and business value, and analyzed by VeraWorks. The survey instrument consists of quantitative and multiple-choice questions that inform The Civic 50 scoring process. The Civic 50 is the only survey and ranking system that exclusively measures corporate involvement in communities. A full report of 2017 findings will be released in September 2017.

For more information, please visit www.civic50.org.

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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 4 million volunteers in 30 million hours of service each year. We bring the power of people to bear where it’s needed most. For more information, go to 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.