12.21.2004 ET

(CSRwire) BETHESDA, Md. - Calvert (www.calvert.com), the nation's largest family of socially responsible mutual funds, announced today that Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) and Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) have become the first global corporations to formally endorse The Calvert Women's Principles, a comprehensive code of corporate conduct focused on promoting gender equality and women's empowerment. By endorsing the Women's Principles, Starbucks and Dell have committed to taking proactive steps to implement the Principles, where applicable, in their business practices and operations. The Calvert Women's Principles are published on the Calvert Website at http://www.calvertwomensprinciples.com.

"This is a significant milestone for The Calvert Women's Principles--and all of the women, corporations and investors they serve," said Calvert President and CEO, Barbara J. Krumsiek. "Corporations can play a vital role in promoting gender equality and unleashing women's economic capacity. Starbucks and Dell will be leaders in translating these ideals into action."

The Calvert Women's Principles were launched in June 2004 at an event co-hosted by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). They focus on business corporations as vehicles for addressing gender inequities and advancing the global empowerment of women. The Principles provide companies with goals they can aspire to and measure progress against in areas such as wages and benefits; health, safety and violence; discrimination in the workplace; civic and community engagement; and management and governance. The Principles also provide investors with tools for assessing corporate performance on gender equality issues.

"The Calvert Women's Principles provide a concrete set of indicators for tracking the progress of gender justice in the corporate community," said Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director of UNIFEM. "Increasing corporate business accountability with regard to gender equality is a high priority for UNIFEM because it is fundamental to women's economic security options and opportunities."

"Starbucks enthusiastically supports The Calvert Women's Principles because we see a strong business case for gender equality and women's empowerment," said Sandra Taylor, senior vice president for Corporate Responsibility at Starbucks. "Starbucks is committed to leading in this area, and we look forward to working with Calvert, UNIFEM and others to develop strategies for integrating the Women's Principles into our business and supply chain practices."

"The Calvert Women's Principles provide a concrete set of indicators for tracking progress on women's rights and gender equity," said Pat Nathan, director of Sustainable Business at Dell. "Dell is committed to understanding and responding to the challenges women face in the workplace. We are always looking for opportunities to gain insight about ways we can enhance our efforts to recruit, retain, and advance the best and brightest women in our industry. Our endorsement of The Calvert Women's Principles is a reflection of that commitment and our belief that our employees are our greatest strength."

Although there are well-established labor and human rights norms and standards affecting women, to date there has been no systematic effort to apply those standards directly and specifically to corporate conduct. The Calvert Women's Principles represent the first comprehensive attempt to do so. What distinguishes the Women's Principles from other initiatives is their focus on business corporations as key vehicles for addressing gender inequities and advancing the global empowerment of women.

"As a result of gender inequities, women remain, to some degree in all parts of the globe, an untapped economic resource and an under-utilized economic asset," said Calvert's President and CEO Barbara J. Krumsiek. "The Calvert Women's Principles recognize that women are economic actors and productive assets, and that empowering women is a key to sustainable development and greater prosperity around the globe."

About Starbucks
Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) is the leading retailer, roaster and brand of specialty coffee in the world, with more than 8,700 retail locations in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and the Pacific Rim. The Company is committed to offering the highest quality coffee and the Starbucks Experience while conducting its business in ways that produce social, environmental and economic benefits for communities in which it does business. In addition to its retail operations, the Company produces and sells bottled Frappuccino(R) coffee drinks, Starbucks DoubleShot(R) coffee drink, and a line of superpremium ice creams through its joint venture partnerships. The Company's brand portfolio provides a wide variety of consumer products. Tazo Tea's line of innovative superpremium teas and Hear Music's exceptional compact discs enhance the Starbucks Experience through best-of-class products. The Seattle's Best Coffee(R) and Torrefazione Italia(R) Coffee brands enable Starbucks to appeal to a broader consumer base by offering an alternative variety of coffee flavor profiles. For more information, see www.starbucks.com.

About Dell Inc.
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) is a premier provider of products and services required for customers worldwide to build their information-technology and Internet infrastructures. Company revenue for the past four quarters totaled $47.3 billion. Dell, through its direct business model, designs, manufactures and customizes products and services to customer requirements, and offers an extensive selection of software and peripherals. Information on Dell and its products can be obtained www.dell.com.

About Calvert
Calvert is the nation's largest socially responsible mutual fund firm with approximately $10 billion in assets under management. Calvert offers twenty-nine funds that allow individual and institutional investors to pursue a broad range of investment objectives within a single fund family. Calvert also has an extensive lineup of tax-free and taxable fixed income investments. For more information on Calvert, click on www.calvert.com.

Calvert mutual funds are underwritten and distributed by Calvert Distributors Inc., member NASD, a subsidiary of Calvert Group. (12/04, 5257)

Contact: (and see below)
Dell
Pat Nathan
512-728-1279
Pat_Nathan@Dell.com

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