Setting the Standard for Corporate Civic Engagement

By Ashley Savageau

It’s award season for sustainability and corporate responsibility professionals across the globe! Symantec was recently listed on CR Magazine’s 100 Best Corporate Citizens list, named a “Win-Win Company” by JUST Capital, named to Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index for the eleventh consecutive year, and included in the 100 U.S. Companies Supporting Healthy Communities and Families.

As the manager of Community Relations, I couldn’t be more proud to announce that today Symantec has also been named to The Civic 50 for the fourth consecutive year. The Civic 50 is run by Points of Light, an organization committed to empowering, connecting and engaging individuals and organizations to be a force for social good.

The list recognizes the 50 most community-minded companies in the United States, and showcases how companies can use their time, skills and resources to partner with and help improve the communities where they do business. Honorees are selected based on four dimensions of their U.S. community engagement program including investment, integration, institutionalization, and impact.

Symantec’s model for community investment is strategic and aligned to our business priorities, and our philanthropic focus areas include STEM education, diversity, online safety, and environmental responsibility. This enables us to maximize our impact through strategic partnerships with leading nonprofits, monetary and product donations, and by mobilizing employees’ time and talents.

Highlights of our community relations program include:

• Symantec Service Time provides employees the opportunity to take up to five paid working days for volunteering each calendar year.
• Volunteering makes a difference in the organizations being served, while also contributing to our business by strengthening collaboration and leadership skills, and helping to make our company a better place to work. Our new volunteer recognition program honors individuals who have logged a minimum of five volunteer hours.
• Each year we host Global Service Week, a full week of service that encourages employees to commit to at least one hour (and up to eight hours) of community service with a nonprofit or charitable project of their choice. In 2018, more than 2,100 employees logged 9,579 volunteer hours at 138 team events across 19 countries in just one week.
• With Dollars for Doers grants, Symantec makes a monetary contribution to organizations where employees volunteer their time. We donate $15 for every hour of volunteer service that an employee contributes, up to $1,000 per calendar year.
• We encourage our employees to join nonprofit boards through our Nonprofit Board Service Leadership Development program, and couple their volunteer service with a cash grant to the nonprofit of $1,000 per year. Recently enhanced, all employees now have access to an on-demand training certificate program offered through BoardSource, which includes helpful materials and an “ask an expert” service.
• Choosing Green in 2019 is our yearlong employee campaign of environmental sustainability awareness, challenges, and initiatives. A focus on the environment not only supports Symantec’s business objective to create a secure and sustainable future—it contributes to the urgent action needed to combat global climate change and other pressing environmental challenges.
• Product donation is Symantec’s largest mechanism to support the nonprofit community and help nonprofits fulfill their missions. Since launching the software donation program with TechSoup in 2002, Symantec has helped more than 102,000 nonprofits and public libraries in 206 countries worldwide, solve today’s biggest security challenges and protect against the ever-evolving threat landscape.

“We’re honored to receive this distinction for our continuing efforts to connect our business values to the needs of the communities where we live and work,” said Scott Taylor, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Symantec. “Corporate responsibility at Symantec supports both our community and business goals, and we’re proud to be recognized as a leader in setting the standard for corporate civic engagement in America.”

According to Natalye Paquin, President and CEO of Points of Light, “Businesses are an important driver of social good in communities through the power and passion of employees and strategic investment in causes that matter. Companies like Symantec are powerful examples of how companies can build and sustain purpose in their brands.” With a purpose to make the world a better, safer place, we couldn’t agree more.

To learn more about The Civic 50 visit www.Civic50.org and to learn more about Symantec’s Community Relations efforts visit our website.