Social Impact & Volunteering

UPS Employees Focus on Communities, Environmental Sustainability During Annual Global Volunteer Event

Company also Awards $2.2 Million In Environmental Grants
Oct 3, 2012 11:30 AM ET
Campaign: Global Volunteer Month

(3BL Media) Atlanta, GA - October 3, 2012 - Since its founding in 1907, UPS (NYSE:UPS) has established a strong legacy of support to the communities it serves. The company’s commitment is especially evident during its annual Global Volunteer Month, which begins October 1. This year, which marks the 10th anniversary of Global Volunteer Month, UPS is encouraging its nearly 400,000 employees to pledge 195,000 volunteer hours during the month with a focus on making their communities more environmentally sustainable. In support of this goal, UPS is awarding $2.2 million in grants to a variety of environmentally-focused organizations.

Spearheaded by The UPS Foundation, which leads corporate citizenship and philanthropic programs for the company, Global Volunteer Month mobilizes thousands of UPS employees from every hemisphere in a wide range of volunteer events and activities. For the 2012 campaign, employees will be encouraged to share their personal volunteer stories through Twitter and Facebook to aid in raising awareness of the importance of hands-on community engagement.

“Our company is comprised of individuals who recognize our personal and collective obligation to help others through service.  Whether the activity is tree planting, teaching safe driving skills or volunteering to help a community devastated by disaster, The UPS Foundation is committed to empowering our people to make the world a better and more sustainable community for all.” said Eduardo Martinez, president of The UPS Foundation.

Some of the volunteer activities in which UPS employees will participate during Global Volunteer Month include: 

  • Madrid - planting trees with Reforesta, a nonprofit environmental organization
  • United States – partnering with the Miami Dade County Parks and Recreation department to plant trees in   community recreational areas
  • United Kingdom – beautifying the garden at Eden Valley Hospice
  • South Africa – creating outdoor play areas at the Protea Child Care Centre

In 2011, UPS launched a new environmental initiative with funding to help plant, protect, and preserve trees in urban and rural areas in the U.S. and around the world. A key component of this initiative is to provide financial grants and employee volunteer support for specific projects.

In October, The UPS Foundation is awarding $2.2 million in grants to multiple organizations in support of this forestry initiative, including DonorsChoose.org, the Earth Day Network, Keep America Beautiful, Inc., National Arbor Day Foundation, National Council for Science and the Environment, National Parks Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, Student Conservation Association, The World Resources Institute and World Wildlife Fund Inc.

To date in 2012, The UPS Foundation has contributed almost $700,000 to 38 community-based environmental programs around the globe, which also are supported by locally-based UPS employees.

The forestry initiative closely aligns with UPS’s business operations, which are keenly focused on carbon emissions reduction.  Beginning this month, The UPS Foundation will kick off a year-long effort to support employee volunteer activities to plant more than 1 million trees worldwide, commencing with tree-planting initiatives in China, Canada, Haiti, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Uganda and the U.S. by the end of 2013. 

To view a special message about Global Volunteer Month from Eduardo Martinez and The UPS Foundation, please visit http://blog.ups.com/2012/10/01/ups-celebrates-global-volunteer-month/. Please visit the UPS Facebook community at https://www.facebook.com/ups. To join the conversation on Twitter, follow UPS at https://twitter.com/UPS.

To learn more about The UPS Foundation’s environmental grants and volunteer initiatives as well as UPS’s sustainability efforts, please read the UPS 2011 Corporate Sustainability Report at www.ups.com/responsibility.

About The UPS Foundation

UPS (NYSE: UPS) is a global leader in logistics, offering a broad range of solutions including the transportation of packages and freight; the facilitation of international trade, and the deployment of advanced technology to more efficiently manage the world of business. Since its founding in 1907, UPS has built a legacy as a caring and responsible corporate citizen, supporting programs that provide long-term solutions to community needs.  Founded in 1951, The UPS Foundation, which celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2011, is responsible for facilitating community involvement to local, national, and global communities. In 2011, UPS and its employees, active and retired, invested more than $93.5 million in charitable giving around the world. The UPS Foundation can be found on the web at UPS.com/foundation. To get UPS news direct, visit pressroom.ups.com/RSS.