Co-Winner: ESPN Inc. – RISE UP - Give Back!
ESPN wanted to build a unique program that goes beyond a classic “reveal” effort for its new original series RISE UP, which told the story of four communities coming together to renovate their local high school’s athletic facilities: Wellston, Ohio; Chicago, Boston and Seattle. Team ESPN—in conjunction with corporate partners—activated volunteers in each market, including high school athletes, school administrators and coaches to renovate three local play spaces per city. ESPN utilized relationships with ESPN talent, local professional athletes and outside celebrities to raise media interest. In addition, special round table discussions for the athletes and coaches were created to reinforce citizenship messaging and athlete safety and preparedness. —BM
Fast Fact: Over 6 million viewers were reached through the project, and in the four different locations, over 1,000 children were the benefactors of improved play spaces.
Co-Winner: WellPoint Inc. – Community Service Day
To provide healthy food to a wide range of organizations and individuals, WellPoint organized volunteer efforts on April 30 to help provide a meaningful and positive impact in communities across the country. Nearly 4,000 WellPoint volunteers—a 28% increase since 2008—planted 150 trees and 55 gardens, beautified more than 47 acres of green space, painted 15 classrooms and 13 murals, sorted more than 54,200 pounds of food and prepared 23,000 pounds of medical supplies for distribution overseas. —BM
Honorable Mentions:
Crystal Cruises – You Care, We Care Volunteerism Program: To help the port communities it visits around the world, Crystal’s employees participated in a range of volunteer initiatives. Onboard daily papers featured clips about the project, and photos were posted on Facebook.
Mars Inc. – Mars Ambassador Program: The employee volunteer initiative gives up to 100 Mars associates each year the opportunity to spend up to six weeks of fully-paid leave while participating in projects with NGO partners across the markets where Mars operates.
University of Phoenix – “Road to the Gulf”: A Program of the HandsOn Network: The school’s CSR team traveled to enlist volunteers from University of Phoenix campuses and individuals and companies in seven cities to refurbish schools and parks, pack school supply kits, assemble ecology kits and more.