EF announced that Cisco and Silver Spring Networks are this year's recipients of the Company of the Year (COTY) award. The awards were presented at the twelfth annual "Powered by EF" recognition reception at Sharon Heights Country Club in Menlo Park on September 28, 2011. Other award winners include Slide Rocket andVocera who received the Aspiration-Inspiration Award. Deloitte, the Motorola Solutions Foundation andSalesforce.com received the EF Luminary award. In addition to the award presentation, EF featured a panel discussion with Cisco, entitled, "The Evolution of a Leading Corporate Social Responsibility Program."

EF's CSR awards are given annually to firms and companies within the network that best represent the mission of EF: to engage companies in corporate citizenship and philanthropic efforts so that new and leveraged resources are generated for community benefit.

2011 Companies of the Year
EF is delighted to present Company of the Year Awards (COTY) to Cisco and Silver Spring Networks. The Company of the YearAwards are given to companies that, through their activities and partnerships during the previous calendar year, clearly demonstrate a strong commitment to philanthropic and community involvement programs as part of their core business values. COTY award winners are admired for their innovation, leadership and dedication and are representative of outstanding comprehensive approaches to corporate social responsibility.

Cisco, Inc.
EF is recognizing Cisco for the company's ongoing dedication to the communities in which it operates and for its strategic CSR programs that leverage corporate assets for social benefit. The award is in honor of the outstanding commitment Cisco has made by integrating CSR throughout all levels of the business. The commitment not only allows for significant impact to be felt in the community, it demonstrates how companies can do well while doing good. Cisco’s programs set a high standard to which other companies strive. The award is also intended as further recognition for the executive team at Cisco, whose ongoing commitment to the community has been felt worldwide and has allowed CSR to become integral to the corporate culture.

"We are honored to be recognized by EF for the work that Cisco has done to positively impact the Silicon Valley community and beyond," says Sandra Wheatley, director, global community affairs, Cisco. "We are proud of the leadership and generosity that our executives and employees have demonstrated in the community, and we are grateful for the innovative work that our nonprofit partners are doing to ensure that the Bay Area remains a vibrant place to work, live, play and learn."

Silver Spring Networks
Silver Spring Networks has partnered with EF to help develop their corporate foundation through equity as well as in the development of their philanthropic programs. The goal of Silver Spring Networks' Foundation is to achieve social impact through technology, education programs and employee involvement. The company is achieving these goals through the work of their community and green teams who are focused on the development of the company’s community initiatives. As a private company, Silver Spring Networks has taken significant steps to establish the Silver Spring Networks Foundation that is comprehensive, thoughtful and strategically aligned to business goals. 

"At Silver Spring, we are dedicated to building a company culture that encourages employees to adopt sustainable practices and to make Silver Spring a role model of what it is to be a truly strong corporate citizen," said Eric Dresselhuys, EVP and CMO of Silver Spring. "By engaging employees to join either the “Community” or “Green” teamand working on a local level, Silver Spring hopes to harness the passion in each participant for making a difference in the community and in the world."

2011 Aspiration-Inspiration Award
The Aspiration-Inspiration Award is given to companies dedicated to a culture of philanthropy and corporate citizenship. Through a commitment of pre-IPO equity, these companies aspire to be future corporate philanthropic leaders. They inspire other companies to incorporate philanthropy and community engagement at an early stage in the company’s life cycle so that the community is a stakeholder in the company’s success early-on.

Vocera
Vocera is leveraging the value of the company's equity to pre-fund the Vocera Foundation now so that the Vocera Foundation will have multiple years of funding already in place. Additionally, Vocera has traditionally had an active community involvement program focused on employee engagement in volunteering activities. Vocera is demonstrating that creative models for funding important CSR and community engagement programs, such as using equity, can make significant impact on corporate programs and social issues.

"Vocera is pleased to create an official Community Giving program by establishing the Vocera Foundation. Since the inception of Vocera, employees have been actively involved in the community with the Red Cross, Second Harvest Food Bank, Habitat for Humanity, Leukemia Foundation, the Lupus Foundation and various other organizations we believe in. Partnering with The Entrepreneurs Foundation to put this in place was an easy decision, as they have helped so many other companies incorporate community giving into their business. We are proud of our affiliation with EF and look forward to working with them to do even more," stated Bob Zollars, CEO of Vocera.

SlideRocket
The CEO of SlideRocket, Chuck Dietrich, knew that he wanted the community to be a stakeholder in the company’s success from day one. Prior to receiving Series A funding, SlideRocket granted equity to EF to pre-fund the company's foundation. Now recently acquired by VMWare, that equity has become liquid and is being utilized to support employee led grants to community organizations to which employees choose to contribute. Additionally, SlideRocket employees are continuing to volunteer at organizations such as Habitat for Humanity.

"The SlideRocket team had a great experience working at the Daly City Habitat for Humanity site. Our team typically spends the workday building online presentation software, so when it came time to build an actual wall or fit siding to the building exterior, we got to experience a new dimension of teamwork. We finished a hard day's work with the knowledge that our Habitat work would immediately impact the lives of real families - an experience that is less tangible in the software world. The SlideRocket team has so much respect for the Habitat mission and we're honored to be a part of this project," said Chuck Dietrich, CEO of Slide Rocket.

2011 EF Luminaries
The Luminary Awards are given to companies that demonstrate superior leadership in building a movement of corporate community involvement and philanthropy. They are beacons for other companies to follow as their exemplary programs represent the best practice in their field.

Deloitte
Deloitte is being presented with the 2011 EF Luminary award for its pro bono initiative, which is often cited as a model for companies looking to establish similar programs. Deloitte recently reached a major milestone – the fulfillment of its organization-wide commitment to deliver $50 million in pro bono services to leading nonprofit organizations by 2011. Pro bono projects were completed by professionals from all four of the organization’s business subsidiaries - Audit & Enterprise Risk Services, Consulting, Financial Advisory Services and Tax. Over the past three years, Deloitte has completed more than 275 pro bono engagements helping numerous pro bono clients increase organizational efficiencies, allocate resources more effectively, manage risk and strengthen expansion plans, among many other outcomes. For Deloitte, the achievement of the $50 million pro bono pledge is only the beginning.

According to Evan Hochberg, national leader of Deloitte’s community involvement initiative, "Looking ahead, our people are extremely energized about continuing to contribute their skills and knowledge to organizations about which they are passionate and to using their professional experience to make a difference."

Motorola Solutions Foundation
The Motorola Solutions Foundation is being presented with the 2011 EF Luminary award for its commitment to grants and giving. The Motorola Solutions Foundation is a leader in philanthropic grant makingandis making a difference in the moments that matter. The Motorola Solutions Foundation focuses its funding on public safety, disaster relief, employee programs and education, especially science, technology, engineering and math programming. In 2010,Motorola Solutions and the Motorola Solutions Foundation gave more thanUS $21 million to nonprofits worldwide. Motorola Solutions Foundation’s giving programs are a key component to Motorola Solutions’ CSR program.

“At Motorola Solutions, we help people be their best in the moments that matter,” said Matt Blakely, director, Motorola Solutions Foundation. "From our worldwide grant programs to our dedicated employees who donate their time, talents and finances to volunteer organizations, we strive to make a difference in the communities where we live and work."

Salesforce.com Foundation
Salesforce.com Foundation is being presented with the 2011 EF Luminary award for their commitment to sharing the Salesforce.com Foundation model with companies worldwide. Salesforce.com Foundation is often the first place that aspiring corporate philanthropists turn to learn how to set up a foundation with pre-IPO equity. Their 1:1:1 model has become a standard philanthropic model for emerging companies to follow as it is easy to replicate, integrate and scale in any high growth company.

"EF's CSR Awards demonstrate that companies, no matter how large or how small, can create impactful and meaningful programs that benefit society and meet business goals. The EF network of companies is representative of companies of all stages and maturity and the EF CSR Awards proudly reflect the diversity the network and innovative approaches that companies take to create social impact and business value," stated Diane Solinger, executive director of EF.

About EF
EF is a non-profit public charity on a mission to encourage, empower and enhance corporate philanthropy and corporate social responsibility programs. EF encourages companies to be philanthropic by providing guidance and expertise to companies that haven’t yet adopted a community or philanthropy program; empowers companies to be philanthropic by providing open sourced resources, tools and best practices and on-line and in-person forums to make it easy for companies to learn on their own or from each other; and EF enhances corporate philanthropy by providing direct services to companies who have programs in place but need strategic or tactical support to make their programs better.

Entrepreneurs’ Foundation of SVCF

Entrepreneurs’ Foundation of SVCF

About Entrepreneurs’ Foundation of SVCF
Entrepreneurs’ Foundation of SVCF is a non-profit organization dedicated to engaging companies in corporate citizenship and philanthropic efforts so that new and leveraged resources are generated for community benefit. For more information about Entrepreneurs’ Foundation of SVCF, visit www.efcsr.org. Press contact: Dipti Pratt at (650)-575-2202 or dpratt@siliconvalleycf.org

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