We are completely heartbroken over the tragic bombings at the Boston Marathon this Monday. Like you, our thoughts are with the victims and families. 

If you're looking for ways to help, we’ve created the following action list:

•    Support Boston Marathon runners and their charities.  You can learn more about the John Hancock nonprofit program and donate to runners’ fundraisers here. 

•    Make an appointment to donate blood. While the Red Cross is not currently soliciting funds or blood for the Boston area, the organization asks anyone interested in donating blood to make an appointment to give in the coming months.  You can learn more here.

•    Follow #BostonHelp on Twitter to learn about additional ways to volunteer.


Additional information on the giving response:

•    Massachusetts and Boston officials have announced the formation of The One Fund Boston to raise money to help those families most affected by the tragic events. The fund is currently awaiting 501c3 status and Network for Good will be able to process donations once their status is confirmed.  Boston Marathon sponsor John Hancock has pledged $1M to the fund.  You can learn more at One Fund Boston. 

•    The Association of Grant Makers in Boston will meet via webinar on Thursday to discuss a larger philanthropic response.  More information about the event is available here.

Image via CNN : Students from the Clifden Academy hold an American flag and candles during a vigil on April 16 in Dorcester, Massachusetts, in honor of 8-year-old Martin Richard, who was killed in the bombings.

By Kate Olsen

We at Network for Good would like to take a moment during this busy time of year to salute the incredible impact our partners generated this year.  Our partners made a difference for thousands of nonprofits, not to mention all those in need who benefit from those nonprofits’ programs.  We salute their efforts to give back with the We Did Good Awards for cause marketing, disaster relief giving, employee engagement, rewards & loyalty, social good platform and volunteering.  You can see all the award winners here.

We would also like to share a few highlights from 2012 to illustrate our partners’ commitment to doing good in partnership with Network for Good:

JANUARY

Warner Bros. & DC Entertainment launched the We Can Be Heroes campaign to support famine relief in the Horn of Africa with donations equally benefiting the International Rescue Committee, Mercy Corps, and Save the Children.  Donations have reached $1 million, which DC Entertainment matched 100%.

FEBRUARY

The second annual Generosity Day took place on February 14.  The inaugural Generosity Day, on Valentine’s Day 2011, was hosted by Sasha Dichter, CIO of the Acumen Fund, Scott Case, former CEO of Malaria No More and current CEO of StartUp America Partnership, Ellen McGirt of Fast Company, and Katya Andresen, COO & CSO at Network for Good.  This year, the campaign was hosted on Causes.com, where participants could make a pledge to say ‘yes’ to being generous for 24 hours, recruit their friends and family to participate and share their acts of kindness. 

MARCH

Yahoo! News launched ‘Remake America,' an original video series chronicling the lives of six American families as they struggle to achieve ‘The American Dream’.  ‘Remake America’ teamed up with U.S. charities to aid the six families that appear on the series and others like them. Through these charities, viewers had an opportunity to find resources and expert advice, as well as support other families in similar situations across the U.S. through embedded donation links in the content.

APRIL

More than 22,000 runners participated in the Boston Marathon, sponsored by John Hancock. Each year, John Hancock provides local non-profit organizations with guaranteed entries into the race and the tools and support to help their runners raise money to for their missions.  More than 1,000 runners set up fundraisers on CrowdRise, the official fundraising partner, raising millions for charity.    

MAY

Network for Good launched a new version of our donation processing web service featuring PayPal payments, making it simple for Network for Good's partners to add PayPal to their sites, products and mobile applications and collect donations.

JUNE

Kevin Bacon, actor, musician and founder of SixDegrees.org (in partnership with Network for Good) headlined at the National Conference on Volunteering and Service in Chicago.  Kevin shared the story of how he came to found SixDegrees.org and challenged us all to become a celebrity for a cause close to our hearts.

JULY

Network for Good initiated our inaugural monthly Companies for Good Twitter chat (#C4Gchat) with a theme of patriotic cause marketing.  The chat featured AT&T’s Helping Heroes Home campaign (part of on the company’s Connect for Good platform on Causes.com) to support Cell Phones for Soldiers – a nonprofit organization that provides American troops serving overseas cost free methods to stay connected with their families back home.   Additionally, the chat highlighted the Got Your 6 partnership to advance the successful reintegration of the more than 1 million veterans returning back into civilian life over the next five years. 

AUGUST

Network for Good launched the new ‘How to Help’ microsite, a secure, branded campaign tool for collecting donations for charities speeding relief to disaster victims. In the wake of natural disasters, Network for Good powers giving for companies such as Adobe, AOL, Emtec, LinkedIn, Time Warner, and Zuora.

SEPTEMBER

YourCause, innovator of CSRConnect - an all-inclusive online employee engagement platform for volunteering and giving, hosted its annual CSRWorks client summit with the theme "Innovation through Collaboration".  Participants gained insights on the latest trends in employee engagement and learned about best practices from peers.

OCTOBER

Capital One associates participated in “One Week,” a dedicated week of community service to improve lives and strengthen communities. One Week activities focused on the areas of education, financial literacy, affordable housing and economic development – the four pillars of Capital One’s Investing for Good community relations platform – with events across the country. Capital One also hosts the No Hassle Giving Site where cardholders can donate cash or rewards to over 1 million charities.  Capital One generously covers all transaction fees so 100% of donations reach the recipient charities.

NOVEMBER

LinkedIn launched a Superstorm Sandy relief campaign to benefit nonprofit partner Covenant House.  LinkedIn leadership matched the first $100,000 in donations to double the impact for homeless youth in Atlantic City who were displaced by the hurricane and subsequent flooding.

DECEMBER

Inspired by the threat facing the polar bear and its habitat, Coca-Cola and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) have joined forces to help protect the polar bear's home. As part of the Arctic Home effort, currently underway, Coca-Cola committed $2 million over 5 years and has agreed to match up to $1 million of consumer donations made during the Winter 2012-2013 campaign.

We thank our partners and all our Companies for Good friends for your pledge to give back with customers and employees.  We look forward to even more impact in 2013.

By Kate Olsen

Last week, I had the pleasure of attending The US Chamber of Commerce’s Business Civic Leadership Center (BCLC) 2012 Corporate Citizenship Awar..., known as “The Citizens”. The nominees were narrowed down to 4 or 5 companies for each of 4 categories (winners in bold below).  What struck me about the pool of nominees and their programs, was that most companies were being recognized for programs that align with their core business capabilities.  It’s heartening to see the field of corporate social responsibility (CSR) evolving to a point were corporate savvy and philanthropic dollars go hand in hand to address social issues while building business.  CSR is coming for age!

Take GM for example.  The company spent the past 5 years turbocharging its recycling program through the GM ‘Saving Green by Thinking Green’ program and learned just how much sustainable practices can reduce waste, enhance productivity and efficiency, and improve quality.  In 2011, GM recycled or reused more than 2.6 million metric tons of waste materials in plants worldwide, avoiding 10 million metric tons of CO2 emissions.  That’s smart business.

Or Google.  Google’s ‘Get Your Business Online’ program helps small businesses get a free website, domain and Web hosting, as well as the expertise businesses need to build a good Web presence.  Google is ensuring that small businesses don’t get left behind with advancing technology and helping grow its search, advertising and other business lines.  That’s ‘good’ business.

Or Capital One.  Capital One’s ‘Investing for Good’ program targets community investments in four areas: affordable housing, education, small business and workforce development, and financial literacy.  While the market for community development loans decrease 45% during the recession, Capital One’s increased 270%, proving that responsible lending, paired with guidance and oversight can create opportunity even in tough economic times.  Through the initiative, Capital One not only helps communities in need, but also builds its own loan portfolio and customer base.  That’s responsible business.

These are but a few snapshots of innovative and generous projects making a difference for communities and businesses alike.  If you want to read more about the 2012 Citizens nominees and winners, check out the BCLC website.

Best Corporate Steward

• Capital One Financial Corporation*
• DSM
• IBM Corporation
• UnitedHealth Group

Best Business Neighbor

• The Dow Chemical Company
• General Motors Company
• Google Inc.*
• National Football League
• UPS

Best International Ambassador

• Alcoa Foundation
• FedEx
• GlaxoSmithKline
• Qualcomm Inc.
• Xylem

Best Partnership (People’s Choice Award)

• Caterpillar and First Response Team of America
• Hilton Worldwide and Global Soap Project
• Intel Corporation and World Vision
• General Mills, Merck & Co., Inc. and CARE
• WellPoint and Boys and Girls Club of America

*Network for Good Partner

Photo Credit: Capital One Financial Corporation

http://bclc.uschamber.com/sites/default/files/Awards/cap%20one%201.jpg

The National Conference on Volunteering and Service never fails to excite and inspire and the 2012 edition is no exception.  From moving first-hand accounts of what volunteering means on the frontlines of service, to empowering keynotes by heavies like Kevin Bacon (SixDegrees.org), Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Second Lady Jill Biden and J.R. Martinez to new models of impact from social entrepreneurs like Lauren Bush Lauren (FEED Projects), the convention hall is abuzz with ideas and conversation.  But I think former First Lady Barbara Bush stole the show – or at least the Opening Plenary – with her wit and sincere remarks about the power of civic action and her husband’s indelible impact on service in America.  

The theme this year is ‘Turning Point’ and the agenda really highlights a redefinition of citizenship not constrained by traditional definitions of service, but empowered by new models and accelerated pathways to change.  Discussions of skills-based and pro bono volunteering abound, as do conversations about digital engagement and the power of technology.  

What has impressed me most this year, is a new focus on cross-sector knowledge transfer.  I’ve never seen so many sessions that feature corporate and nonprofit partners sharing joint learnings from long-term initiatives – partnerships such as Chase and World Vision, which teamed up to enable disaster relief or Capital One, Points of Light Institute, Common Impact and Taproot Foundation, which teamed up to deliver a new pro bono volunteering resource (http://readinessroadmap.org/) to the sector.  Additionally, there are several sessions that feature corporate practitioners sharing trade secrets to their nonprofit counterparts.  A session titled “What Nonprofits can Learn from Corporate Social Media Managers” with representatives from Edelman, Dell, McDonald’s and the City of Chicago was particularly effective in illuminating social media best practices, but also in reassuring nonprofits that companies struggle with the same things.  

In my opinion, social challenges are best solved when collaboration brings the right resources together in the right way at the right time irrespective of in which sector (nonprofit, private, government) those resources may originate.  I’m encouraged to see the lines between sectors blurring and a true common purpose emerging – at least here where everyone has ‘drunk the Kool-Aid’ and understands how such an approach can make a difference.  

My favorite take-away from the event comes from Mark Hoplamazian, CEO & President of Hyatt, who spoke at the Business Track Opening.  According to Mark, successful corporate responsibility strategies succeed when you have an authentic application paired with a clarity of purpose.  By ‘authentic application’, Mark means that you’ve enlisted the hearts and souls of your audience and they have made a genuine commitment to the cause of their own accord.  By ‘clarity of purpose’, Mark means that you have defined an objective that everyone can relate to and embody.  For example, in the 1960s, if you asked anyone at NASA what his job was, he would reply that he was working to put a man on the moon - it didn’t matter if he was a machinist on the line or an astrophysicist.  For Hyatt, the clarity of purpose is to ‘provide authentic hospitality by making a difference in the lives we touch every day’.  

What’s your company’s clarity of purpose?  And how do you apply it authentically?

You can follow the #NCVS chatter on Twitter here.  You can access a live stream and videos from the conference here.