Dr Pepper Snapple Group Named to The Civic 50

Nov. 9, 2012 /3BL Media/ - Dr Pepper Snapple Group (NYSE:DPS) has been named to The Civic 50, coming in at No. 39 on the list of the 50 S&P 500 companies that best use their time, talent and resources to improve the quality of life where they do business. The survey was conducted by the National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC) and Points of Light, the nation’s definitive experts on civic engagement, and published in the Nov. 9 issue of Bloomberg Businessweek. The award comes on the heels of DPS recently being named one of the top one-third sustainable companies in the food, beverage & tobacco sector in Newsweek’s annual Green Rankings.

“In less than five years as an independent, public company, we’ve come a long way in developing and implementing meaningful philanthropic and civic engagement programs that make a difference in the communities where we live and work,” said Tina S. Barry, DPS executive vice president of corporate affairs. “We are proud The Civic 50 has noted our efforts and look forward to building upon our progress.”

Dr Pepper Snapple Group has channeled its philanthropic efforts into ACTION Nation, a focused program with a mission to foster physically active, engaged and sustainable communities where DPS employees, customers and consumers operate. The program targets four areas:

• Fit and active lifestyles: DPS launched its Let’s Play initiative in 2011 to get kids and families active nationwide. Through a three-year, $15 million commitment to KaBOOM!, DPS will build or improve 2,000 playgrounds by the end of 2013, giving 5 million children across North America access to a great place to play.
   
• Environmental initiatives: DPS’s $200,000 partnership with the Student Conservation Association (SCA) helped create sustainable communities through a series of conservation service events and enabled the SCA to provide opportunities for high school and college students to complete internships in conservation and environmental services that restore and preserve public lands nationwide. This year, DPS also teamed up with The Nature Conservancy on a four-year, $1 million partnership to support environmental stewardship projects designed to protect vital water resources in Texas.
   
• Emergency relief: In 2011, DPS completed the first year of its $1 million, four-year commitment to the American Red Cross and the organization’s Annual Disaster Giving Program (ADGP). As a flagship partner, DPS helped respond to 131 disasters nationwide, provide 6.7 million meals and snacks to those in need, supply 2.6 million relief items and open more than 1,000 shelters.
   
• Hometown giving: The United Way (UW) campaign is the company’s largest employee giving program, allowing DPS the flexibility to address common, fundamental societal issues that are important to local communities. The company raised more than $4.1 million between 2008 and 2011 in support of the nonprofit. This October, DPS raised a record-breaking $2.17 million and was one of 105 major national and global companies named to the nonprofit’s Global Corporate Leadership program.

  To further drive support among its employees for United Way, the company has encouraged its work sites to each donate 50 volunteer hours for a $1,000 grant to apply toward their site’s United Way fundraising goal. With this incentive, DPS employees collectively donated more than 3,200 volunteer hours this year, contributing to the more than 60,000 total volunteer hours logged by the company since 2010 – which is more than halfway to its goal of 100,000 hours by 2015.

“The results of The Civic 50 show that what is good for business can also be good for the community,” said Michael Weiser, Chairman of NCoC, and Jackie Norris, executive director of Points of Light Corporate Institute, in a joint statement. “Rather than passively write checks to charities or philanthropies, the top corporations are actively aligning their resources and professional skills with the needs of community partners. The Civic 50 reveals which companies are truly innovative, and we are hopeful that these examples will inspire other companies to make a difference in communities.”

DPS was evaluated on several elements, including leadership, measurement and strategy, design, employee civic health, community partnerships, cause alignment and transparency. To learn more about The Civic 50 survey as well as the importance of civic engagement in corporate America, please visit http://ncoc.net/civic50.