Edelman has joined the #GivingTuesday initiative as part of their global citizenship program. The company also announced the results of a broader such initiative launched earlier this year, the 603 global citizenship initiative to support hunger and poverty alleviation as a way of celebrating its 60th anniversary. From July 16 through September 13, the company’s employees in over 60 offices worldwide were involved in 60 days of professional and general volunteerism and fundraising. Edelman managed to contribute USD 1,047,352 in monetary and in-kind donations to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and over 70 hunger and poverty nonprofit organizations worldwide.
Edelman employees contributed 10,946 hours of volunteerism, equivalent of USD 938,412 by citizenship industry standards. The company managed to raise USD108,940 for WFP and the 70 NGOs, including a USD50,000 gift to the WFP from the Daniel J. Edelman Family Foundation. Each employee received four hours of paid time off to participate in local volunteerism efforts, which were very different, from hosting training sessions to developing and launching communications campaigns, and even cooking food in soup kitchens and aiding in food distribution. Also, the company’s employees fundraised to support local nonprofit organizations and WFP‟s “school meals” program.
The 603 initiative is part of Edelman’s broader global citizenship commitment. Following in its spirit, the world’s largest public relations firm joined the #GivingTuesday initiative, a campaign aimed to create a national day of giving at the start of the annual holiday season. To show its support for the initiative, approximately 45 of the company’s employees in Chicago are volunteering at Habitat for Humanity home-building locations in two local communities.
“There is no better way to honor our 60th anniversary and my father, Dan Edelman‟s, legacy of giving back to the community than through a focused global citizenship initiative,” said John Edelman, managing director of Global Engagement and Corporate Responsibility, Edelman. “I am proud of our employees worldwide for demonstrating citizenship as our 6th value and truly „walking the talk‟ to make a meaningful impact on hunger and poverty alleviation through our 603 volunteerism and fundraising.”
Other important results from Edelman 603 include:
- Edelman Tokyo supported Second Harvest Japan by serving 819 meals to the hungry
- Edelman Canada helped 13 NGOs focused on hunger and poverty in a span of 48 hours through building gardens, moving furniture, cleaning playgrounds and serving breakfasts
- Edelman Milan offered the WFP staff a training session on digital communication, blogger relations and social media and employees donated rice to WFP through an inter-office competition playing online trivia on freerice.com
- Edelman Miami provided pro bono support to Camillus House and helped serve meals to the homeless
- Edelman New York and Edelman Washington D.C. led a training seminar on private sector engagement for WFP communications and partnership leads
- Edelman Chicago worked with Chicago Cares to help make 3,200 snack kits for children in Chicago Public Schools
With these results of the initiative and the participation in #GivingTuesday, Edelman’s shows the importance of giving back to the society and taking part in programs with visible results. You can find out more about Edelman’s global citizenship program here.