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	<title>Charities at Work</title>
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	<description>Broadening the opportunity to give</description>
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		<title>Cross Sector Partnerships: Creating Shared Value through Cultural Collaborations</title>
		<link>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2012/04/cross-sector-partnerships-creating-shared-value-through-cultural-collaborations/</link>
		<comments>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2012/04/cross-sector-partnerships-creating-shared-value-through-cultural-collaborations/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 17 Apr 2012 04:11:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Carren</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[2012 Meeting]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Member Charities]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.charitiesatwork.org/?p=3457</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Connecting People Successful partnerships across sectors connect people across sectors. At JPMorgan Chase, we are lucky to have many strong cross sector partnerships that are vibrant and ongoing. The key to these successes is empowering people to be creative in caring for and nurturing our community involvement. In our firm we don’t limit the leadership of our community partnerships to just our community relations team, we open them up to our employees. In many instances this leads to more creative and localized solutions to problems but in all cases this leads to employee ownership of our collective actions and creates clear investment of all of our human capital resources (read, real people). This is the natural outcome of a commitment on the part of all partners to establish a true cultural collaboration. It&#8217;s All in the Translation The joke about how the United Kingdom and the United States are separated by a common language occurs to me more and more these days when I am in conversations about partnerships across corporate and nonprofit sectors. Undoubtedly the importance of these partnerships is at its highest level since anyone can remember; there is more need in communities and corporations are more serious, focused and committed to social action and responsibility than ever before. However, the challenges we all face in making these partnerships come together are also more significant than ever before. But the challenges don’t have to be. Success across sectors means translating the goals and missions of organizations on both sides of the partnership into tangible actions, that not only benefits the community being served, but also play against the strengths of and capitalizes on the cultures of all collaborating organizations. This translation from intention to action &#8212; and from action to impact demands the development of shared expectations of partners and the truthful acknowledgement of each cooperating party’s strengths, limitations and modes of doing business. Cultural Collaboration The alignment of the cultures of collaborating organizations, both for-profits and nonprofits, is key to partnership success. This means that partnerships must first focus on sharing and understanding the ways that all parties involved run their businesses, the constituencies that are important to both and perhaps most importantly, what tangible assets each group wants to bring to the table. These assets include brand, funds, human capital and areas of operational excellence. It is amazing how much you learn from a partner when you ask questions like: Who are your most important customers? What products or services are most important to you right now? What demographics use, need or want to be served by your organization? Who wants to serve with you in your efforts? And partnerships become even stronger and more informed when we ask deeper questions like: What have been the largest stumbling blocks of your past work with others across sectors? What role does personal and professional development of your employees or other constituents play in your work with other organizations across sectors? How do you balance your customer, employee...]]></description>
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		<title>The Changing Face of Recruitment &amp; Volunteerism</title>
		<link>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2012/04/the-changing-face-of-recruitment-volunteerism/</link>
		<comments>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2012/04/the-changing-face-of-recruitment-volunteerism/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 17 Apr 2012 04:03:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kristin Buckley</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[2012 Meeting]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Member Charities]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.charitiesatwork.org/?p=3453</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[You may have heard the chatter, read the articles and, in some cases, experienced firsthand the ‘changing’ work environments that affect both recruitment and retention of a quality workforce. Everything from the different approaches and needs of a new generation, to the difficulty of finding skilled staff with academic training in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and the pervasive global economic uncertainty has contributed to this change. For us, this is a new and interesting challenges: With nearly a century of experience delivering management and technology consulting services to clients, Booz Allen Hamilton has built, and regularly refines, a culture of engagement to weather such changes. The Changing Face of Recruitment As a consulting firm, our people are our product, and we give the greatest care to cultivate employees, involving them in innovative ways so that they remain connected and engaged. Our community partnerships program plays a crucial role in our internal employee engagement initiatives and are often cited as one of the primary reasons by candidates for choosing Booz Allen as their employer of choice. 1. Employee-Centric Funding At the most basic level, the decision to support a nonprofit is often based on whether there is existing employee involvement (or high potential to grow involvement) with that organization. We call it an employee-centric approach to funding. Recent employee surveys indicate that close to 60 percent of respondents volunteered with a nonprofit organization within the past year. With a limited amount of funds available, this employee-focused approach helps ensure our employees are fully committed to the organizations we support. Time and again we see that this works out better for the nonprofits as well as our employees because knowing that their firm supports their initiatives helps them go above and beyond basic fundraising and volunteer activities. 2. Extending Impact to Friends &#038; Family The next level of employee engagement through community partnerships involves team-based activities and the involvement of family and friends in volunteer activities. The past few years have seen a dramatic increase in incoming requests for assistance in building community involvement activities. Often, teams will invite nonprofits to come speak to them about their missions and the needs in the community, and will then tie-in a community involvement-focused team building activity to their meeting. Recent examples include making care packages for deployed troops, assembling brown bag lunches for the homeless, or even constructing bicycles for disadvantaged children. All of these can be tied to a game or exercise that strengthens relationships, and fosters teamwork. In 2011, 9,300 employees reported volunteering 32,455 hours for firm-sponsored volunteer and philanthropic activities. When adding in friends and family, those hours and numbers grow significantly higher. Since Booz Allen does not provide time during the workday for our employees to volunteer, we look for opportunities where individuals can participate with their friends and family. We’ve had employees who have brought skilled plumbers and carpenters in their extended family to assist in rebuilding houses, children in need of community service credits for school...]]></description>
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		<title>Workplace Giving, Beyond The Numbers</title>
		<link>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2012/03/workplace-giving-beyond-the-numbers/</link>
		<comments>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2012/03/workplace-giving-beyond-the-numbers/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 29 Mar 2012 13:46:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Peter Dudley</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[2012 Meeting]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.charitiesatwork.org/?p=3437</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There’s nothing like a competitive, achievement-oriented culture to get results. The trick: to make sure you’re aiming for the right results and measuring the right metrics the right way. The Largest Workplace Giving Campaign in the Country For the past three years, Wells Fargo’s workplace giving campaign has been the biggest in the country according to United Way Worldwide. There are lots of ways to measure being the “biggest,” and in workplace giving terminology, most measurements amount to a permutation of “total dollars raised.” Our 2011 campaign raised over $43 million, and when you add in the donations our team members made during the rest of the year, we pledged a hefty total of nearly $64 million to charity. We’re collecting over $1 million per paycheck in 2012. Results worth celebrating. The trick, however, with breaking your own record year after year is that the pressure builds to keep growing. And pressure to hit a certain number can distract your focus from where it really needs to be. Beyond the Dollars: Focusing on Culture We’ve grown our campaign over the past ten years by fostering a culture of grassroots involvement. Through communications and volunteer activities, we: Educate our team members about the community’s need for their support Enable them with online tools, templates, and guidelines; Protect them by monitoring compliance issues; and Empower them to tell their own stories and make the kind of difference they want to make. This culture, not a focus on the numbers, is what has led to our incredible results. We all know that “what gets measured, gets managed,” so it’s important to have cultural measures that can complement and explain the more in-your-face measurements of total dollars and participation rate. Those will always be important outcome metrics, but it’s equally important to measure the culture you’re creating. Measuring Culture In our 2009 campaign survey, for example, we discovered an uptick in team members concerned about privacy and a growing pressure to participate in the campaign. Not exactly what we wanted to see. We have always had a strong privacy policy and talked about participation as a choice, but it was clear that we needed to reinforce those messages for our managers and campaign leaders. So for the 2010 campaign, we published an updated privacy policy, tightened our reporting controls, and added extra emphasis on leadership education. We also made sure that special recognition events celebrating campaign success were held later – weeks or months after the campaign instead of right after the solicitation period. The measures worked and our survey showed a dramatic reversal in the feeling of being pressured that following year. Strength in Data We invest a lot of time and thought into refining the survey every year, making sure it gets high visibility in our communication efforts (we need to get a healthy mix of participants and non-participants in order to get real results), and analyze the results like crazy. I firmly believe that it’s the focus on these measurements that...]]></description>
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		<title>North Korean Hospitality</title>
		<link>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2011/12/north-korean-hospitality/</link>
		<comments>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2011/12/north-korean-hospitality/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:28:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Global Impact</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Global Impact]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Member Charities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Success Stories]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.charitiesatwork.org/?p=3116</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[North Koreans have harvested almost 4 million tons of food-not nearly enough to adequately feed a nation. They plant crops everywhere-from flood-recovered fields to rooftops to rocky hillsides. Children spend 12-hour days following harvesters in search of fallen grain. Despite damaging cuts in livestock feeding and heroic personal sacrifices, the food stored in North Korea&#8217;s granaries will only last for seven months. As part of a food-monitoring consortium, a Global Impact member agency spent three months in North Korea. Team members tell stories of quiet deprivation, sickness, and desperation: &#8220;Standing on a bridge, overlooking a muddy little stream was a skinny boy of about 7 years inching along, catching minnows with his hands and holding his prize of three tiny fish skewered on a stick held firmly between his teeth. That evening, when we visited a home in the nearby village, which we knew to be doing pretty badly, we were amazed to find at least 15 different dishes laid out for us, each holding a tiny portion of food. Everyone in the village had chipped in what they had, including those three tiny minnows lying on a plate.&#8221; Where food aid reached, daily intake rose from an average 3.5 ounces to between 8.75-14 ounces per person-still well under the recommended daily minimum of 15 ounces per person, but enough to make a significant difference in people&#8217;s resistance to prolonged deprivation. Visitors to North Korea stress that international aid has been a deciding factor in preventing a disastrous, full-blown famine.]]></description>
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		<title>Circle of Life in Appalachia</title>
		<link>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2011/12/circle-of-life-in-appalachia/</link>
		<comments>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2011/12/circle-of-life-in-appalachia/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:28:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Global Impact</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Global Impact]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Member Charities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Success Stories]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.charitiesatwork.org/?p=3114</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The idea of day care is still pretty new in Appalachia. There are big extended families and family ties mean everything. But divorce is becoming more common, and people have to work longer hours to make ends meet. Even when families are intact, there&#8217;s need here-kids are hungry and cold. An Global Impact member agency runs a daycare center in Appalachia and the most they charge is $11 a day-many families can&#8217;t even afford that. The daycare&#8217;s primary job is to make sure that the kids are warm and fed. But the program forms a foundation in learning and self-esteem that lasts a lifetime. Hallie&#8217;s thin, exhausted-looking mother brought her to daycare one winter day; Hallie&#8217;s hair was unclean and matted. She didn&#8217;t say a word and looked about three years old. Hallie&#8217;s mother and father were divorced, she had very little money, and she didn&#8217;t have the strength to raise a small child alone. Hallie was bathed and bundled in some warm clothes that first day, and was bathed and clothed whenever necessary. She ate warm, nutritious food. Once she was cleaned up, warm and fed, she came to life. From a timid little mouse who kept to her self and didn&#8217;t seem to know simple, three-year-old things, she blossomed into a sweet girl who&#8217;s learning her ABCs and numbers. The philosophy behind the program believes that all life is a circle: self, family, community, country, world, and universe. Every one of us is important because we are part of a bigger whole. And we are all responsible for what happens in our world. Teach this to a child who has nothing and you help create a mature, contributing adult.]]></description>
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		<title>Estella Can Fix Anything</title>
		<link>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2011/12/estella-can-fix-anything/</link>
		<comments>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2011/12/estella-can-fix-anything/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:27:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Global Impact</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Global Impact]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.charitiesatwork.org/?p=3112</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Estella is known locally as someone who can fix anything. She repairs items found in the nearby city dump and resells them for a steady income, but she lacks collateral. Considered a &#8220;high risk&#8221; borrower by local banks, she has difficulty obtaining credit for loans. Yet with the help of a Global Impact member agency and a local church organization, Estella&#8217;s business prospects are good. The reason: she is not alone. Estella and her friends, Olga Gomez, Raquel Parrales and Candida Davila, can secure small loans when they pledge to guarantee one another&#8217;s businesses. The four women help each other with labor and credit. If one falls behind in payments or has trouble, the others are responsible to help her. As partners, they refer clients and regularly check up on each other. One time, Candida took out a loan to expand her business, but then fell ill and had to use some of the money for medical bills. While she recovered, her partners and her daughter stood beside her. The Global Impact member charity stood beside them as well.]]></description>
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		<title>A Familiar Fear</title>
		<link>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2011/12/a-familiar-fear/</link>
		<comments>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2011/12/a-familiar-fear/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:27:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Global Impact</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Global Impact]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.charitiesatwork.org/?p=3110</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When Mrs. Yong Eng stepped on a land mine, she lost one leg and injured the other. &#8220;Sometimes, forgetful of my maimed state, I spring to catch my little child,&#8221; she says, &#8220;and then I fall to the ground, the bones of my leg aching.&#8221; Her story is all too familiar in Cambodia. One out of every 236 Cambodians has stepped on a landmine. In the wake of war, millions of mines still lie buried, waiting to ambush villagers working in fields, gathering firewood, or herding livestock. Fear of being killed or maimed by the mines keeps many farmers from planting food for their families and many children from playing near their homes. An Global Impact member program works to clear mines in a rural area north of Phnom Penh. The mine clearance benefits 15,000 displaced people by allowing them to resume farming their land.]]></description>
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		<title>A Cow is a Treasure</title>
		<link>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2011/12/a-cow-is-a-treasure/</link>
		<comments>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2011/12/a-cow-is-a-treasure/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:25:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Global Impact</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Global Impact]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.charitiesatwork.org/?p=3108</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;Give me a cow,&#8221; said old Halil. &#8220;That&#8217;s all I need. If we had cows, we could take care of ourselves again.&#8221; So a Global Impact member agency encouraged a group of 24 displaced families living in Slatina, outside of Sarajevo, to put together a plan. With funding from the Global Impact member, four veteran farmers of the group went to the area livestock market. They returned with 10 hearty cows, nine of which were pregnant. Families with the greatest need received the cows, and the others receive a share of the milk and cheese. In addition, the group made an &#8220;in-kind&#8221; payback by providing milk and cheese to a local group for distribution to Sarajevo&#8217;s neediest. Amir, chair of the Cow Committee who saw his 11-year-old son killed by a grenade put it this way: &#8220;Now I feel like a human being again,&#8221; he says seriously and with his head held high, &#8220;because now I can help others who are even worse off than we are.&#8221;]]></description>
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		<title>Natural Resources Defense Council and Audubon Society</title>
		<link>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2011/12/natural-resources-defense-council-and-audubon-society/</link>
		<comments>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2011/12/natural-resources-defense-council-and-audubon-society/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 19 Dec 2011 02:18:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>EarthShare</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.charitiesatwork.org/?p=3089</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Both organizations recently renovated their headquarters buildings in New York City to be &#8220;green&#8221; buildings. These are energy-efficient structures that aim to limit environmental impact through the use of design techniques and choice of materials. Their example has helped to set a trend that other developers are now following. For example, the Durst Organization Inc.&#8217;s new office tower at Four Times Square will be a more environmentally friendly skyscraper. It will include gas fired heating and cooling systems, which rely on natural gas rather than electricity generated by burning of fossil fuels, larger windows to allow for reduced use of interior lighting, and dedicated disposal shafts for ease of recycling. Other elements will improve air quality to avoid the &#8220;sick building&#8221; syndrome. Click here to visit the Natural Resources Defense Council website Click here to visit the Audubon Society website]]></description>
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		<title>American Farmland Trust</title>
		<link>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2011/12/american-farmland-trust/</link>
		<comments>http://www.charitiesatwork.org/2011/12/american-farmland-trust/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 19 Dec 2011 02:14:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>EarthShare</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.charitiesatwork.org/?p=3087</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[American Farmland Trust, which promotes farmland preservation, released a study in 1998 showing that farmland in a region including Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Delaware was among the most vulnerable in the nation to suburban growth and development. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, between 1982 and 1992, 1.1 million acres of farmland in both Virginia and Pennsylvania were developed, while Maryland lost 334,000 acres and Delaware lost 666,000. In an effort to combat this trend, American Farmland Trust has sponsored and helped to create a Farmers&#8217; Market at Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C. This allows local area farmers to sell fruits and vegetables without having to give up profits to the middleman. The Trust for Public Land&#8217;s motive is to put more money in the pockets of local farmers so they have an economic incentive to maintain their land &#8211; and keep it from real estate developers. The market is a great success and benefits both the farmers and customers.]]></description>
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