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CVS Caremark Charitable Trust "Surprises" Non-Profits with $4.3 Million in Funding

02.07.2012 - 04:45PM

Today representatives of the CVS Caremark Charitable Trust, a private foundation created by CVS Caremark Corporation (NYSE: CVS), kicked off a “Day of Giving” by surprising several deserving non-profits, with the grant funding they had requested.

The emotional visits, hosted by several of the company’s executives, were timed to coincide with the announcement that $4.3 million has been awarded in grants to 98 non-profit organizations across the country in 2011, which includes multi-year grants from previous years.

"What a pleasant surprise to see CVS Caremark colleagues at our doorstep with a large check for the amount of funding we had requested,” said Betty Vohr M.D., Woman & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island. “We want to extend a heartfelt thank you to the CVS Caremark Charitable Trust for recognizing the positive impact non-profit organizations nationwide make in their local communities.”

The new grant recipients were chosen through the CVS Caremark Charitable Trust's annual grant cycle in which awards range from $10,000 to $50,000 for one-year support. These grants align with the CVS Caremark Charitable Trust’s efforts to improve the quality of health and well-being of underserved populations and also align with the CVS Caremark All Kids Can, a signature program of the CVS Caremark Charitable Trust and CVS Caremark that is committed to supporting children with disabilities.

“We are so excited to help these non-profit organizations start 2012 in a positive way with much-needed funding,” said Eileen Howard Boone, Vice President, CVS Caremark Charitable Trust. “All of the non-profit organizations we support share our commitment to providing greater access to health care and medical services and improving the lives of children with disabilities. The CVS Caremark Charitable Trust is honored to work with all of its non-profit partners to help people on their path to better health.”

Non-profits that received a surprise visit and grant check during today’s Day of Giving include:

Keogh Health Connection (Phoenix, AZ)
University of Miami (Miami, FL)
Illinois Maternal and Child Health Coalition (Chicago, IL)
Health Care Centers in Schools, Inc. (Baton Rouge, LA)
Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center (Worcester, MA)
Children’s Hospital Medical Center of Akron (Akron, OH)
Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island (Providence, RI)

Funding from the CVS Caremark Charitable Trust supported the following key areas:

Children with Disabilities

More than $3 million in funding was awarded in new and multi-year grants to organizations that support programs designed to help improve the quality of life for children with disabilities. The grants will support services and programs such as screenings, testing, early intervention, tracking developmental milestones, promoting inclusion, communication devices, recreation and fitness, legal advocacy, innovation, and parental education.

Uninsured and Underserved

Programs which provide communities greater access to health care and medical services and underserved populations were another focus area of funding. New grants totaling approximately $1.3 million will finance a wide range of initiatives and programs, including purchasing new information technology systems, focusing on improved patient care, disease control and management, mobile health clinics, and school-based clinics.

The complete list of new non-profit organizations awarded CVS Caremark Charitable Trust grants as part of today's Day of Giving include:

Alabama

The Arc of Shelby County, Inc.

Arizona

Banner Health Foundation
Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Scottsdale
Keogh Health Connection

California

Central Valley Children’s Services Network
Direct Relief International
Family Health Centers of San Diego, Inc.
Public Counsel
Vista Community Clinic
Warmline Family Resource Center

Connecticut

Education Connection
Project Access of New Haven, Inc.

District of Columbia

Girl Scout Council of The Nation's Capital
SOME, Inc.

Florida

American Diabetes Association Inc., Tampa-Orlando Area
Broward Children's Center, Inc.
Goodwill Industries of Southwest Florida, Inc.
Health Council of South Florida, Inc.
University of Miami

Georgia

Auditory-Verbal Center, Inc.
Visiting Nurse Health System, Inc.

Illinois

El Valor Corporation
Family Health Partnership Clinic
Illinois Maternal and Child Health Coalition

Hawaii

Waikiki Health Center

Indiana

Turnstone Center for Disabled Children and Adults, Inc.

Kansas

Arc of Sedgwick County, Inc.
Families Together, Inc.

Kentucky

Children’s Hospital Foundation

Louisiana

Health Care Centers in Schools, Inc.

Massachusetts

Cerebral Palsy Council of Greater New Bedford, Inc.
CLASS, Inc.
Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center
Lowell Community Health Center, Inc.
Mattapan Community Health Center, Inc.
Partners Healthcare System Inc. (Mass General Hospital)
Reach Out and Read, Inc.
Tufts Medical Center Parent, Inc.
UMASS Memorial Health Care, Inc. Children's Medical Center
Women of Means, Inc.

Maryland

The Benedictine School for Exceptional Children, Inc.
University of Maryland, Baltimore Foundation, Inc.

Michigan

Oakland School Education Foundation

Minnesota

Fremont Community Health Services
Gillette Children’s Specialty Health Care
Portico Healthnet

Missouri

Ozarks Medical Center
St. Louis Children’s Hospital Foundation

North Carolina

May Institute, Inc.
Voices Together

New Jersey

ARC of New Jersey, Inc.
Homefront Inc.
Trinitas Health Foundation

Nevada

Communities in Schools of Nevada
Goodwill Industries of Southern Nevada, Inc.

New Hampshire

Families First of The Greater Seacoast

New York

Autism360 Inc.
Brooklyn Public Library
Harlem United: Community Aids Center, Inc.
March of Dimes Foundation
Soaringwords

Ohio

Children’s Hospital Medical Center of Akron

Pennsylvania

Community Care Behavioral Health Organization
Misericordia University
Pennsylvania Assistive Technology Foundation

Puerto Rico

Universidad Central Del Caribe, Inc.

Rhode Island

Children's Friend and Service
The Highlander Charter School
Local Initiatives Support Corporation
Ocean Community YMCA
Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra & Music School
Thundermist
Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island

South Carolina

Camp Good Times, Inc.
Medical University Hospital Authority

Tennessee

East Tennessee Technology Access Center, Inc.

Texas

Brighton School, Inc.
Houston Ear Research Foundation
Peoples Community Clinic, Inc.

Virginia

National Alliance on Mental Illness

Wisconsin

Madison Community Health Center, Inc.
Milwaukee Center For Independence

West Virginia

Children's Therapy Clinic

To follow Day of Giving activities, search for #CVSTrustGivingDay on Twitter. For more information on the CVS Caremark Charitable Trust please visit http://info.cvscaremark.com/community/our-impact/charitable-trust.

About the CVS Caremark Charitable Trust

The CVS Caremark Charitable Trust, Inc. is a private foundation created by CVS Caremark Corporation (NYSE: CVS). CVS Caremark is the largest pharmacy health care provider in the nation. The Trust's mission is to provide funding for health care, education and community involvement initiatives in CVS Caremark communities. General information about CVS Caremark is available through the Investor Relations portion of the Company's Web site at http://investor.cvs.com, or through the Web site's press room at www.cvs.com/pressroom.

New Evidence That Chevron Used U.S. Professors to Defraud Ecuador Court In $18 Billion Environmental Lawsuit

02.07.2012 - 12:50PM

Chevron is refusing to deny that it defrauded Ecuador's courts by altering a key document to induce U.S. academic "experts" -- including a prominent professor at Rice University in Houston -- to endorse fake testing methods to hide the presence of massive quantities of cancer-causing toxins at the company's former well sites in Ecuador's Amazon rainforest.

"We have smoking gun evidence that proves Chevron used U.S. professors as part of a failed plan to hide the presence of massive amounts of life-threatening toxic contamination from the courts of Ecuador," said Karen Hinton, the U.S. spokesperson for the 30,000 Ecuadorians who brought suit against the oil giant.

The U.S. professors hired by Chevron to defraud the Ecuador court, Hinton said, are Dr. Pedro J. Alvarez currently the chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rice University, and Dr. Douglas Mackay, an adjunct professor at the University of California, Davis.

Alvarez was called on to disavow the report in a letter sent by Aaron Page, a representative for the rainforest communities that was also copied to David W. Leebron,

the President of Rice. Other letters were sent to Mackay and Dr. Robert Hinchee of Integrated Science and Technology, Inc., who also signed a statement based on the altered report.

The three professors, in a joint statement in response to the letters apparently approved by Chevron's legal team, defended their report but curiously refused to address the fraud issue or the documents that show they based their opinion on an altered report. See here.

Despite Chevron's scheme to hide the contamination, the Ecuador court in 2011 found the company liable for dumping billions of gallons of toxic waste into the rainforest. The court relied on scientific evidence from the plaintiffs, third-parties, and even Chevron itself, which bungled its own plan early in the trial by submitting soil and water samples that showed illegal levels of contamination.

The Ecuador court found that Chevron's deliberate dumping of toxic waste poisoned streams and rivers relied on by local inhabitants for their drinking water, decimated five indigenous groups, and caused dramatically higher rates of leukemia. The $18 billion judgment was affirmed on appeal on January 3.

Chevron operated in Ecuador under the Texaco brand from 1964 to 1992.

The documents, which were ordered released by a U.S. federal court in Colorado during a discovery proceeding, suggest that Chevron's legal team concocted a plan to guarantee the company would find only "clean" soil samples from dozens of contaminated well sites inspected by the court while "dirty" samples would be sent to a secret laboratory where they would not be disclosed.

Chevron's technical team carried out the scheme by secretly visiting dozens of company well sites in the rainforest where they would mark spots where they could find "clean" soil and water samples, usually located uphill from contaminated waste pits. The plan to defraud the court was written up in a Chevron document called the "Judicial Inspection Playbook" that contained a summary table outlining the company's sampling and testing program. See here and here.

After Chevron's secret pre-inspections, Chevron's technical experts miraculously would discover only "clean" soil and water samples during the official court inspections days later. Based on these samples, the company would "report" to the court that there were no detectable levels of contamination at a particular site despite the visible presence of oil waste.

When the obviously deceptive sampling practices came under attack by the plaintiffs, Chevron hired Professors Alvarez and Mackay to defend the company.

Their report submitted to the court concluded that there was "no foundation" for allegations that Chevron's sampling program "deliberately hides or minimizes the existing contamination."

The problem, though, is that the professors based their opinion on a doctored version of the "Judicial Inspections Playbook" that omitted the explicit instructions to lift only "clean" samples. The doctored version instead altered language in eight places to make it appear that the company was doing a valid environmental assessment at the well sites.

A document comparing the original "Playbook" with the eight changes in the doctored version given to Alvarez and Mackay can be seen here.

An illustration of how Chevron's fraudulent sampling scheme in Ecuador worked can be seen in this photo of Shushifindi 38, a Chevron well site closed in the 1980s that is still polluting soils and groundwater. During the trial, Chevron reported to the court that it found no "detectable contamination" at the site by lifting soil samples from a dense forest up-gradient from the obviously contaminated pit in the photo.

Pablo Fajardo, the lead lawyer for the rainforest communities, said the documents ordered released by the U.S. court "clearly prove Chevron engaged in a meticulous planning process to defraud the Ecuador court during the judicial inspections process, which was the central part of the entire trial."

Fajardo said: "Chevron's fraud is ongoing in that the report signed by Alvarez and his colleagues is part of the official trial record now being relied on by the appellate court. It's outrageous that Chevron does not withdraw this report."

Chevron's deceptive sampling plan is also consistent with previous statements made by an Ecuadorian contractor for the company, Diego Borja. Borja told a friend that while working for Chevron he would swap out contaminated soil samples collected during the judicial inspections with clean samples from other locations, which would be submitted to the court. Borja also said in a taped conversation that the laboratory Chevron used during the trial was not independent as the company claimed.

Chevron has long been accused of using fraudulent junk science in Ecuador. In the mid-1990s, it used a deceptive laboratory test (called the TCLP) that guaranteed it would only find a tiny fraction of actual toxins in the soil as part of a sham clean-up effort required by Ecuador's government.

In the meantime, Chevron's legal position in the historic litigation continues to weaken. Not only did the company lose the trial in Ecuador, it recently suffered a setback when a U.S. federal appellate court reversed a trial court decision that issued a worldwide injunction barring the Ecuadorians from trying to enforce their judgment. Further, the credibility of Chevron's technical experts is diminishing rapidly in light of the obvious fraud they were committing in Ecuador, said Hinton.

Chevron has stripped its assets from Ecuador in anticipation of an adverse judgment, forcing the plaintiffs to consider standard collection actions against Chevron in other countries should the trial judgment become enforceable.

Martinez To Lead The UPS Foundation

02.07.2012 - 11:00AM

Eduardo Martinez, a 35-year UPS veteran and currently the program director for The UPS Foundation, has been named president of UPS’s philanthropic arm.

Martinez, 52, will succeed Ken Sternad, who is retiring after a 35-year career with UPS that saw him direct the company’s global Public Relations function as well as The UPS Foundation.

“For the past three years, Ed Martinez has played a critical role in working with Ken Sternad to hone The UPS Foundation’s priorities and critical initiatives,” said Allen Hill, UPS’s senior vice president for human resources and chairman of The UPS Foundation. “His elevation to the post of president means our Foundation can proceed with its critical support of such things as urgent humanitarian relief and environmental sustainability without missing a beat.”

Martinez, a native of Havana, Cuba, who emigrated with his family to the United States in 1960, joined UPS in 1976 as a package handler in UPS’s South Florida operation. He advanced into management two years later and then moved through a series of operational jobs while earning a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Miami.

In 1989, after assignments in industrial engineering and as national risk manager with UPS’s truck leasing unit, Martinez was promoted to the Corporate Risk Management Department, then moved through assignments in Corporate Finance & Accounting and earned a law degree. He served as a corporate counsel in the UPS Legal Department before accepting his current position in 2007.

In addition to his corporate responsibilities, Martinez represents UPS and chairs the World Economic Forum’s Logistics Emergency Team. He also serves as vice chair of the Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Disaster Management. He is a member of the Corporate Advisory Board for The National Council of La Raza as well as the Points of Light Institutes’ Corporate Service Council. He serves as the chair of the Corporate Development Council for the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts and sits on the International Association for Volunteer Effort (IAVE) Global Corporate Volunteer Council.

Sternad, a native of Norwalk, Conn., earned a bachelor's degree in journalism and political science from Ohio Wesleyan University. He joined UPS as a communications supervisor in 1977 and was promoted into public relations in 1982. After a two-year assignment in UPS package operations in Baltimore, he was named head of the Corporate Public Relations Department in 1990.

In 1997, he was promoted to vice president of global public relations, assuming responsibility for worldwide media relations, reputation management and executive communications. In that role, Sternad oversaw many pivotal events in UPS’s evolution, including the company’s strategic expansion into logistics, its Initial Public Offering in 1999 and the company’s complete rebranding in 2003. He then was named president of The UPS Foundation in 2009.

The UPS Foundation, which just celebrated its 60^th anniversary, is responsible for facilitating UPS involvement in local, national and global communities. In 2011, UPS and its employees invested more than $93 million in charitable giving and 1.6 million hours of volunteer service around the world.

Over the past three years The UPS Foundation has refocused its philanthropy to areas that more closely align with UPS's strengths, skills and interests. These include urgent humanitarian relief, road safety, environmental sustainability, diversity and volunteer capacity building for the non-profit sector. The UPS Foundation can be found on the web at UPS.com/foundation.

UPS (NYSE: UPS) is a global leader in logistics, offering a broad range of solutions including the transportation of packages and freight; the facilitation of international trade, and the deployment of advanced technology to more efficiently manage the world of business. Headquartered in Atlanta, UPS serves more than 220 countries and territories worldwide. The company can be found on the Web at UPS.com and its corporate blog can be found at blog.ups.com. To get UPS news direct, visit pressroom.ups.com/RSS.

CDC Development Solutions' 3rd Annual ICV Conference

02.07.2012 - 10:00AM

On April 11 and 12, 2012, CDC Development Solutions will host the Third Annual International Corporate Volunteerism Conference, which will focus on this increasing area of corporate citizenship among businesses of varying sizes, including several from the Fortune 500. Recently cited by the Wall Street Journal for its fast growth, International Corporate Volunteerism (ICV) has companies as diverse as Dow Corning, Accenture, Telefonica, GlaxoSmithKline, IBM, Ernst & Young, and PepsiCo sending employee teams into emerging markets to volunteer their professional skills on short term assignments for local nonprofits, government departments, social enterprises and NGOs. Over the past several years, companies from Fortune 500s to small businesses increased the number of employees sent abroad by seven times. Reasons cited for this increase include business benefits derived from the program – leadership and talent development, partnerships in emerging markets, product innovation, and positive media exposure. In the international development arena, ICV programs build the capacity of local organizations, while providing professional skills they would not otherwise have access to.

As part of the Third Annual ICV Conference, CSR and human resource leaders from 150 companies, from Fortune 500s to small businesses, will join the U.S. State Department, U.S. Agency for International Department (USAID) and other public sector leaders to look at how ICV is now used to address some of the world’s most pressing problems, including education, water supply, the environment, and jobs creation. The conference will look at what lies ahead in this growing area of CSR, including measurement and ROI, impact for host organizations, and creating shared value for broad business strategies from CSR, to human resource to R&D and innovation and more.

One of the interactive conference sessions will include GlaxoSmithKline’s PULSE Volunteer Partnership, which focuses on addressing a few ambitious global health challenges through their strategic initiative, ‘PULSE Pillars’, and is also furthering the discussion around cross-corporate teams. Emerging World, a leadership development consultancy, will facilitate a session on what companies can do to strengthen their programs’ learning and development proposition. Speakers from PepsiCo, IBM, Dow Corning, Business Civic Leadership Center (BCLC) and others will also share how their recent 2011 ICV programs contribute to business strategies in the areas of business development, product innovation, leadership and talent development, and employee engagement.

In addition, CDC Development Solutions will release its 2012 International Corporate Volunteering Benchmarking Survey, which will reveal statistics on the growth and increase in ICV investment levels, as well as the reasons that drive these investments. Other conference topics will include linking ICV to core business strategies, new and emerging ICV models and a panel of returned volunteers highlighting the impact that participation had on their professional and personal lives.

Focusing on the theme of shared value and development impact, the event will also feature a session on the Center of Excellence for International Corporate Volunteerism (CEICV) and the Global Health Fellows II Program. Launched in 2011, the CEICV is a first of its kind Global Development Alliance between IBM, USAID and CDC Development Solutions. This virtual center provides best practices and expertise from each of these organizations to companies looking to embark on ICV programs and link them to US development strategy. The Global Health Fellows II Program is implemented by Public Health International (PHI) and places health professionals in developing countries to provide health organizations with policy and technical expertise to more effectively combat pressing health challenges. The U.S. Agency for International Development administers the U.S. foreign assistance program providing economic and humanitarian assistance in more than 120 countries worldwide.

Last year’s International Corporate Volunteerism Conference drew a rare cross-section of leaders from Fortune 500s, government agencies, and some of the world’s largest NGOs and nonprofits. This year expects to draw an even larger and more diverse set of participants. Addressing the intersection of corporate citizenship and development through volunteering, the Third Annual International Corporate Volunteerism Conference is sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline, Emirates, Business Civic Leadership Center (BCLC), Emerging World, USAID, Dow Corning, IBM, Jones Lang LaSalle Americas, Inc., CSRWire, 3BL Media, Devex, and the International Business Leaders Forum.

About CDC Development Solutions
www.cdcdevelopmentsolutions.org

Providing market-driven solutions, CDC Development Solutions empowers individuals, businesses and governments in emerging markets to lead economies towards self-sustainable growth. CDC Development Solutions implements International Corporate Volunteer programs for more than a dozen companies including IBM, Dow Corning, PepsiCo, Deloitte, John Deere, and Pfizer through designing and managing all aspects of these programs from on-the-ground implementation and support to strategic planning.

Contact
More information about the Conference can be found here at the Third Annual International Corporate Volunteer Conference.

Wyndham Worldwide Again Named Among Top 50 Companies for Executive Women

02.07.2012 - 09:19AM

(Marketwire) - Wyndham Worldwide (NYSE: WYN), one of the world's largest hospitality companies, has been once again named among the Top 50 Companies for Executive Women by the National Association for Female Executives (NAFE). The list recognizes organizations whose policies and practices encourage women's advancement and whose numbers at the highest levels of leadership demonstrate that commitment.

A newly released report conducted by Working Mother Research Institute showed that at the NAFE Top Companies, women hold nearly one in four positions overseeing divisions with more than $1 billion in revenue, and hold 23% of all board of director seats compared with 16% across the Fortune 500. At Wyndham Worldwide, women represent 54% of its total U.S. workforce, 35% of all director-level and above positions, and 28% of its board of directors.

"We are proud of this recognition because it speaks to our culture, which appreciates diverse backgrounds and experiences at all levels of our company, and values the ideas and contributions of each associate," says Mary Falvey, executive vice president and chief human resources officer at Wyndham Worldwide. "There is an opportunity for the entire business community to continue making strategic decisions to increase diversity in thought, background, and expertise through increased women participation in leadership positions, and champion future women leaders to maintain a strong pipeline of qualified talent."

The NAFE Top Companies also lead corporate America in recruiting, retaining and advancing women. Some findings from this year's research include:

22% of executive officers at the NAFE Top Companies are women compared with 3.6% at the Fortune 500
Women hold 19% of revenue-generating P & L jobs -- the pipeline to the CEO position
All NAFE Top Companies offer management or leadership training to women
CEOs at 92% of Top Companies review succession plans for gender equity

"The NAFE Top 50 Companies are major employers that are committed to hiring, retaining and promoting executive women," says Carol Evans, president of Working Mother Media and CEO, NAFE. "They represent a cross-section of companies that go way beyond lip service in helping succeed. Almost seven out of 10 companies require their managers to receive training on how to hire, advance or manage women. Manager accountability is the main ingredient for success."

Methodology: The 2012 NAFE Top 50 Companies application includes more than 250 questions on topics including female representation, hiring, attrition and promotion rates, access and usage of key retention and advancement programs. The application draws particular attention to the number of women at the highest ranks and those with profit-and-loss responsibility. To be considered, companies must have a minimum of two women on their board of directors as well as at least 500 employees in the U.S.

About Wyndham Worldwide

As one of the world's largest hospitality companies, Wyndham Worldwide offers individual consumers and business-to-business customers a broad suite of hospitality products and services across various accommodation alternatives and price ranges through its premier portfolio of world-renowned brands. Wyndham Hotel Group encompasses approximately 7,370 hotels and resorts with approximately 634,000 rooms worldwide. Wyndham Exchange & Rentals offers leisure travelers, including its 3.7 million members, access to approximately 100,000 vacation properties located in approximately 100 countries. Wyndham Vacation Ownership develops, markets and sells vacation ownership interests and provides consumer financing to owners through its network of over 160 vacation ownership resorts serving over 813,000 owners throughout North America, the Caribbean and the South Pacific. Wyndham Worldwide, headquartered in Parsippany, N.J., employs approximately 27,800 employees globally. For more information about Wyndham Worldwide, please visit www.wyndhamworldwide.com.

About NAFE

The National Association for Female Executives (NAFE), founded in 1972, serves 20,000 members nationwide with networking, tools and solutions to strengthen and grow their careers and businesses. NAFE magazine publishes the annual Top Companies issue and the annual Women of Excellence issue. NAFE.com provides up-to-date information, community for women in business and access to member benefits. NAFE is a division of Working Mother Media and Bonnier Corporation.

Novo Nordisk Reports Solid Financial, Social And Environmental Performance In 2011

02.07.2012 - 09:00AM

Novo Nordisk’s eighth annual integrated report, now online, reports on the company’s very positive financial, social and environmental performance for 2011. Download the Annual Report 2011 at annualreport2011.novonordisk.com.

Sales increased by 11% (in local currencies) and by 9% in Danish kroner compared to 2010.
Operating profit increased by 22% (in local currencies) and 18% in Danish kroner compared to 2010.
Significant clinical development progress was made during the year, including regulatory filing for two ultra-long-acting insulins, Degludec and DegludecPlus.
More than 835,000 healthcare providers were trained by Novo Nordisk or Novo Nordisk sponsored programmes, an increase of 123% compared to 2010.
Diversity in senior management teams increased to 62% at the end of 2011, compared to 54% at the end of 2010.
CO₂ emissions from production fell by 2% compared to 2010, for an absolute reduction of 56% compared to 2004 levels.

Novo Nordisk’s 2011 Annual Report includes a detailed account of 2011 accomplishments, an outlook for 2012, and an overview of the company’s management approach, corporate strategy and business segments. It features consolidated financial, social and environmental statements.

The Annual Report 2011 includes updated information for financial and environmental targets.

Novo Nordisk’s integrated reporting

Novo Nordisk manages its business using the Triple Bottom Line principle to ensure that decision-making balances profitability with longer-term societal interests. Material and business-critical information is reported in the Annual Report. The company reports additional information for specific stakeholder groups at annualreport2011.novonordisk.com. Novo Nordisk values feedback and welcomes questions or comments about its reporting and performance at annualreport@novonordisk.com.

About Novo Nordisk

Novo Nordisk is a global healthcare company with nearly 90 years of innovation and leadership in diabetes care. The company also has leading positions within haemophilia care, growth hormone therapy and hormone replacement therapy. Headquartered in Denmark, Novo Nordisk employs more than 32,000 employees in 75 countries, and markets its products in more than 190 countries. Novo Nordisk's B shares are listed on the NASDAQ OMX Copenhagen (Novo-B). Its ADRs are listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NVO).

Novo Nordisk strives to conduct its activities in a financially, environmentally and socially responsible way. The strategic commitment to corporate sustainability has brought the company onto centre stage as a leading player in today's business environment, recognised for its integrated reporting, stakeholder engagement and consistently high sustainability performance. In 2012, Novo Nordisk receive top ranking on Corporate Knight’s list of Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations. Novo Nordisk is listed in the 2010/2011 Dow Jones Sustainability Indices with a gold class rating. For more information, visit novonordisk.com/sustainability.

GTREE(TM) Set To Revolutionize Sustainable Label Offerings

02.07.2012 - 07:00AM

Following years of research, testing and development, G3 Enterprises is now offering GTREE™ – an environmentally sustainable, high-performance wine label paper which was developed for use on all bottling lines, including those utilizing high-speed and mobile bottling application equipment.

Manufactured from 100% Post-Consumer Recycled Fiber (100% PCW), GTREE™ has one of the greenest environmental footprints of any label stock currently offered. The GTREE™ label contains true recycled fiber consisting of sorted office paper that has had at least one useful life before being recycled. G3 Enterprises teamed with family-owned Monadnock Paper Mills, which is also known as a global environmental steward, to research and develop a 100% PCW label stock that could meet the rigors of bottling including tensile and tear strength, brightness, embossing and scuff resistance that is equal to or better than current paper stocks. Additionally, the GTREE™ label paper is specially designed with a unique formulation which results in increased resistance to water absorption allowing GTREE™ to maintain its premium appearance and high quality print aesthetics even when exposed to ice bucket conditions for prolonged periods.

“We are very excited to begin exclusively offering the GTREE™ label,” said Tom Gallo, Vice President of Strategic Development of G3 Enterprises. He added, “Not only will the label be visually appealing to all consumers, we know that it will easily meet the needs of both eco-conscious consumers and wineries.”

Among the many environment attributes, GTREE™ label stock is manufactured using 100% renewable electricity, is processed chlorine free, and is manufactured carbon-neutral. In addition, the fiber waste created during the manufacturing process is captured, processed and reused as compost for crops and bedding for livestock.

"The collaboration of two multigenerational family-owned businesses resulted in the development of the most cost effective, environmentally sound labels of the 21st century," said Richard Verney, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Monadnock. He added, "This is one great sustainable solution from two notable family trees."

Throughout an extensive research and field testing period, GTREE™ label has proven consistently reliable having been tested using all current labeling methods and systems and has the ability to run exceptionally well on today’s high speed bottling lines. GTREE™ is manufactured under certified ISO 9001 and 14001Quality and Environmental Management Systems.

“GTREE™ is a cost-competitive bright white, uncoated stock which offers excellent embossing and hot foil stamping performance,” said Fred Dale, G3’s Label Division’s senior manager for technical service and quality control. He added, “At G3, our commitment to quality and performance ensures that our GTREE™ label offerings meet and exceed our customers’ requirements for every application.”

For more information about GTREE™, visit www.G3Enterprises.com or come by G3 booth#443 at the Unified Wine and Grape Symposium on January 25-26 at Sacramento Convention Center.

About G3 Enterprises:

G3 Enterprises was founded by the third generation of the Gallo Family to serve the wine and spirits industry with quality packaging products and supply chain solutions. With a talented team of experts offering customers a variety of creative solutions and outstanding customer service, G3 Enterprises offers a wide range of supply chain assistance including labels, closures, transportation, warehousing, winery services and mobile bottling. For more information about G3 Enterprises Label division, visit: www.G3Enterprises.com or call 1-800-321-8747.

About Monadnock Paper Mills:

Monadnock Paper Mills is the oldest continuously operating paper mill in the United States. Owned and operated by the Verney family for the past 64 years, the company has received numerous awards for responsible environmental practices. The company is renowned for producing premium printing and packaging papers for many of the world’s leading consumer brands.

Leadership for Sustainability: 5th EuroCharity Yearbook Update

02.06.2012 - 10:35AM

The forthcoming EuroCharity Yearbook on "Leadership for Sustainability" is rapidly gaining momentum. The 5th EuroCharity Yearbook is a highly-respected, international multi-stakeholder album with a global audience of key stakeholders and distribution in over 50 countries. This timely, English-language Yearbook will be published in June this year, just in time for the Rio+20 Summit.

EuroCharity is expecting a total of 40 guest authors (leading CEOs, top policy makers and world-renown experts) and 25 participating corporations (sustainability leaders in their line(s) of business) from around the world to confirm their space in the new EuroCharity Yearbook.

Some of the confirmed international guest authors to date (EuroCharity is anticipating to be receiving more confirmations in the next few days), include, in alphabetical order:

Center for Leadership in Sustainability (CLS) (United States):
The Center for Leadership in Sustainability is a registered non-profit organisation managing a diverse range of projects, including the Sustainable Leadership Forum, the Sustainable Business Incubator, and the Sustainable Haiti Coalition. www.sustainabilityleadershipcenter.org
European Business Ethics Network (EBEN) (Belgium):
Founded in 1987 as a non-profit association, EBEN is a cross-national network dedicated to the promotion of business ethics, broadly defined, in academia, business, public sector and civil society. www.eben-net.org
Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative Foundation (GRLI) (Belgium):
GRLI's vision is a worldwide network of companies and learning institutions characterised by vast action and thorough exchange of learning. GRLI's mission is to "develop a next generation of responsible leaders" through collective and individual actions. www.grli.org
Great Place to Work® Institute (United States):
The Great Place to Work® Institute is a global research, consulting and training firm that identifies, creates and sustains great workplaces by developing high-trust workplace cultures. www.greatplacetowork.com
Green Growth Leaders (GGL) (Denmark):
GGL is a global alliance of cities, regions, countries and corporations, sharing a vision of building prosperous, green economies and communities -- and a better tomorrow for their citizens. GGL represents the world's leading green growth economies and is fronted by a council. www.greengrowthleaders.org
Institute for Sustainable Leadership (ISL) (Australia):
ISL identifies and promotes the principles of sustainable leadership. These principles are derived from observations in successful firms and consistent with published research. ISL views sustainable leadership as being far broader than the "triple bottom line", and leadership as systemic, going beyond the deeds of heroic individuals. www.instituteforsustainableleadership.com
Leaders for Economic Change programme (The Netherlands):
The Leaders for Economic Change programme has been developed by CREM B.V. together with Amsterdam Bright City (a joint initiative of VU University Amsterdam and ABN AMRO Bank) and the University Student Council of the VU University. Participants are presented with an intensive teaching and training programme, focusing on learning, understanding, interaction and experience. Leaders of today, including Prof. Dr. Herman Wijffels, share their vision, inspiration and passion and hand on the torch to the participants. www.amsterdambrightcity.nl/zuidas/nl/thema?thema=1083
Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD) (United Kingdom):
LEAD equips emerging leaders from around the world with skills for sustainable decision-making and provides them with a network of their peers to help them address sustainability challenges. www.lead.org
Narayana Hrudayalaya Foundation (India):
Dr. David Prasad Shetty, a leading cardiologist and Indian philanthropist, strives to make sophisticated healthcare available to all, regardless of their economic situation or geographic location. He founded the Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospital (NH) in Bangalore in 2001 and previously co-founded the Asia Heart Foundation (AHF). www.narayanahospitals.com
PwC Center for Corporate Responsibility, Graduate School of Management (Russia):
The Center was established in 2008 as a successor to the Program of the Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility at the Institute of Management Research at SPbSU (Saint Petersburg State University). www.gsom.spbu.ru/en/research/csr
The Sustainable Leadership Forum (United States):
The Sustainable Leadership Forum is a network of leaders; a vehicle for dialogue and conversation; and an instrument for collaboration. Its mission is "to deepen our awareness and understanding of the challenges facing the world and the development of creative and enduring solutions, and to support the leaders of the emerging sustainability revolution." www.sustainableleadershipforum.org

In addition to the above-mentioned organisations, leading sustainability-driven multinationals, innovative SMEs, visionary CEOs and best practices from around the world will be presented in this year’s prestigious, global EuroCharity Yearbook, which for the first time will be certified as a "carbon-neutral publication".

Expression of Interest: (Year)book your place among Sustainability Leaders world-wide!

To be able to secure your CEO's message, corporate profile, best practice or article in the EuroCharity Yearbook entitled "Leadership for Sustainability," please contact us at info@eurocharity.org (the deadline for expressions of interest has been extended to February 20, 2012). Following your expression of interest, your material (text and images) for the 160-page Yearbook may be submitted to us in early March.

For further information and/or clarifications, please contact EuroCharity on +30 210 927 1110 or visit www.eurocharity.eu/en/yearbook.

About the 5th EuroCharity Yearbook

Now in its fifth year, the EuroCharity Yearbook aims at highlighting critical issues and helping galvanise public opinion into positive action. EuroCharity chose this year's theme, "Leadership for Sustainability," because leadership, more than ever, is needed to create a more just, sustainable, economically viable and thriving world. In challenging times such as these, where the world is changing, and changing fast, leadership for sustainability cannot be considered a "luxury" but a necessity. Each sector of the global economy and each corporation and organisation, regardless of its size or geographic reach, needs to provide for the next generations to come.

The 5th EuroCharity Yearbook will profile leading CEOs, corporations and organisations who/that are leading the way when it comes to sustainability. It will also provide a platform to leading decision-makers, visionary entrepreneurs, royal family members active in sustainability and leadership, Nobel Laureates, top university professors, gurus and other specialists to share their views and vision in this unique, 160-page international publication.

With a global distribution and readership, the "EuroCharity Yearbook 2011: Leadership for Sustainability" is an extremely timely and important international publication that will be published and publicly presented in June 2012. Further details of the official presentation date and precise venue will be announced in due course.

4th EuroCharity Yearbook testimonials -- "The Future of Responsible Investing"

"Very interesting body of work -- great to have so many high-profile people sharing their perspectives and particular interests." – Bloomberg (EuroCharity Yearbook participant)

"I was impressed by the many big names that contributed to the book. This enhances the quality a lot and I'm glad the DJSI is in your book as well." -- Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI), SAM (EuroCharity Yearbook participant)

"Many thanks for the copy of your book -- very impressive collection of articles! Much appreciated." -- United Nations (EuroCharity Yearbook participant)

Colgate-Palmolive Releases Sustainability Report and Strategy Through 2015

02.06.2012 - 09:12AM

Colgate-Palmolive has released its online sustainability report, “Giving the World Reasons to Smile.” The new report details Colgate’s long-standing commitment, achievements, accomplishments and challenges to sustainability and social responsibility. Committed to People, Performance and Planet, the focus globally is on:

Promoting Healthier Lives

Contributing to the Communities Where We Live and Work

Delivering Products that Delight Consumers and Respect our Planet

Making Every Drop of Water Count

Reducing Our Impact on Climate and the Environment

Colgate’s strategy is supported by commitments and goals, including promoting health and wellness to reduce employee health risks by 15 percent; expanding the Company’s global flagship oral health education program, Colgate’s Bright Smiles, Bright Futures®, projected to reach one billion children by 2020; increasing the sustainability profile in Colgate products; reducing water and energy consumed in the manufacture of products by 40 percent and 20%, respectively; and requesting that all key suppliers measure and disclose climate change information and overall transparency. Details are available in the report.

A few recent sustainability performance highlights covered in the report:

Reached over 650 million children in 80 countries since Colgate’s Bright Smiles, Bright Futures®, the Company’s oral health education program, began in 1991;

Reduced per-ton manufacturing-related greenhouse gas emissions by 21 percent, water use by 44 percent, and wastewater loading by 31 percent between 2002 and 2010;

Achieved a 95 percent improvement in total recordable accident rate from 1990 to 2010; and

Expanded Colgate’s Code of Conduct certification and training program to reach 100 percent employees

“Long before many businesses began talking about sustainability and social responsibility, Colgate recognized that how we do business is just as important as what we do,” says Colgate's President and Chief Executive Officer Ian Cook. “At Colgate, sustainability is not just a project or initiative — it’s built into and about business decisions every day.”

The web site, including the 2011 sustainability report and videos of sustainability in action at Colgate, is available at www.colgate.com/sustainability.

About Colgate-Palmolive Company

Colgate-Palmolive is a leading global consumer products company, tightly focused on Oral Care, Personal Care, Home Care and Pet Nutrition. Colgate sells its products in over 200 countries and territories around the world under such internationally recognized brand names as Colgate, Palmolive, Mennen, Softsoap, Irish Spring, Protex, Sorriso, Kolynos, elmex, Tom's of Maine, Sanex, Ajax, Axion, Soupline, and Suavitel, as well as Hill's Science Diet and Hill's Prescription Diet. For more information about Colgate's global business, visit the Company's web site at www.colgatepalmolive.com. To learn more about Colgate's Bright Smiles, Bright Futures®, Colgate’s flagship global oral health education program, please visit http://www.colgatebsbf.com.

InterContinental Miami goes 100% Green with Wind Power

02.03.2012 - 01:02PM

Luxury hotel InterContinental Miami today announced that it has partnered with Greenlight Energy to purchase 15,467,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of wind power in 2012. The purchase is part of a broader corporate-wide sustainability strategy and makes InterContinental Miami the largest green power purchaser in Florida to be named to the most recent 100% Purchaser’s List maintained by the EPA’s Green Power Partnership. The purchase also earns the luxury hotel membership in the Partnership’s prestigious Leadership Club.

The EPA's Green Power Partnership is an industry-government partnership that helps increase the use of green power among leading U.S. organizations. Currently, there are over 1,300 EPA Green Power Partners that are collectively buying nearly 21 billion kWh of green power annually.

Beyond the use of renewable energy, InterContinental Miami has a broader sustainability focus that covers design, operations and technologies that reduce energy, water and waste, cut carbon emissions, improve guest health and comfort, reduce operating and maintenance costs and raise guest and staff awareness of sustainability issues.

“Our decision to go green was another way to reduce the environmental impacts associated with conventional electricity”, says Robert Hill, InterContinental Miami’s General Manager. “Our Hotel has a reputation as an active member of the community and part of that social responsibility lies in making green and sustainable operating decisions that set an example for others to follow.”

InterContinental Miami has partnered with New York-based green power supplier Greenlight Energy to provide renewable energy certificates (RECs) sourced from wind farms across the U.S. Because RECs are not tied to the physical delivery of electrons, they allow organizations to purchase green power from suppliers other than their local electricity provider. RECs help overcome a major barrier to renewable energy development - the fact that the best renewable resources may not be located close to population centers.

“We commend InterContinental Miami’s environmental leadership,” says Kelly Bennett, CEO of Greenlight Energy. “InterContinental Miami not only has incredible amenities and accommodations, but now they should be known as a hotel of choice in south Florida and in the U.S. for anyone with a focus on sustainability,” adds Bennett. All of the wind supplied by Greenlight Energy is certified by Center for Resource Solutions’ Green-e Energy certification program, ensuring that the purchase is sourced from new renewable generators that meet strict environmental and consumer protection standards.

The EPA estimates that InterContinental Miami’s purchase avoids an estimated 10,665 metric tons of carbon dioxide, which is the equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions from 2,091 passenger vehicles each year or the carbon dioxide emissions from the electricity use of 1,330 average American homes for one year.

About InterContinental Miami
Celebrating 25 years as an icon of the Downtown Miami skyline, the InterContinental Miami is located at the crossroads of Miami's Business and Arts & Entertainment districts. A beacon for business and leisure travelers alike, the hotel rises 34 stories over the city with breathtaking views of the Atlantic Ocean, Biscayne Bay and the Port of Miami. The hotel features 641 luxury guest rooms, including 34 suites; 33 meeting rooms with over 101,000 square feet of meeting and exhibition space, including a spectacular Grand Ballroom and a 196-seat theater; 3 restaurants, including Table 40, the only Chef's Table in Downtown Miami; full-service fitness center and spa at mySpa Miami; and rooftop pool deck with gardens. The InterContinental Miami is a proud corporate citizen of the Miami-Dade community, invested through its annual InterContinental Miami Make-A-Wish Ball, Chefs With A Purpose, and other charitable events. For more information or to make reservations, contact the InterContinental Miami, 100 Chopin Plaza, Miami, Florida 33131, at 305-577-1000 or by visiting www.icmiamihotel.com.

About Greenlight Energy
Greenlight Energy is the first and only woman-owned renewable energy marketing company in the U.S. Industry pioneers since 2003, our founders have transacted over 5 billion kWh of RECs over their careers with some of the world's most recognizable brands. Helping clients support renewables, reduce emissions and drive sustainability throughout their operations is core to Greenlight Energy’s mission. Rethink. Go green. For more information, call (518) 499-3555 or go to www.gltenergy.com.

SAM (Sustainable Asset Management) Distinctions for Bombardier

02.02.2012 - 11:33AM

(Marketwire) - Following its fifth consecutive listing as an index component on both the Dow Jones Sustainability World and the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Indexes, Bombardier (TSX: BBD.A)(TSX: BBD.B) was awarded SAM Sector Mover and SAM Gold Class in this year's SAM Sustainability Yearbook 2012.

As the SAM Sector Mover, Bombardier ranks within the top 15% of its sector, Aerospace & Defence, and has achieved the largest proportional improvement in its sustainability performance over last year. Additionally, Bombardier received the SAM Gold Class award, ranking within 1% of the Sector Leader's score.

"These awards represent international recognition of our sustainability practices and are a testament to our performance over the past year. These results are a significant achievement in CSR at Bombardier and our commitment to continue moving forward responsibly," said Me Daniel Desjardins, Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Social Responsibility Committee Chairman, Bombardier Inc.

Sustainable Asset Management (SAM) provides benchmark indicators of sustainability. SAM has been assessing and documenting th sustainability performance of over 2,000 corporations on a yearly basis since 1999, and currently holds one of the largest global databases on corporate sustainability. The world's 2,500 largest companies (based on the Dow Jones Global Total Stock Market Index) are invited to participate in SAM's Corporate Sustainability Assessment every year. The survey results determine inclusion in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes. Only the top 15% from each of the 58 SAM sectors qualify for inclusion in the Sustainability Yearbook.

The Corporate Sustainability Assessment evaluates criteria within the Economic Dimension, the Environmental Dimension and the Social Dimension. SAM assessed 19 of the total 31 companies within the Aerospace and Defence sector.

For more information about CSR at Bombardier, visit our dedicated website www.csr.bombardier.com For more information about the SAM Sustainability Yearbook 2012, visit: http://www.sam-group.com/int/sustainability-insight/the-sustainability-yearbook.jsp

About Bombardier

A world-leading manufacturer of innovative transportation solutions, from commercial aircraft and business jets to rail transportation equipment, systems and services, Bombardier Inc. is a global corporation headquartered in Canada. Its revenues for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2011, were $17.9 billion, and its shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (BBD). Bombardier is listed as an index component to the Dow Jones Sustainability World and North America indexes. News and information are available at www.bombardier.com or follow us on Twitter @Bombardier.

Pre-Order Your Copy Of The 2012 Who’s Who Of CSR

02.02.2012 - 10:00AM

The Ethical Performance 2012 CSR Professional Services Directory will be published in early February, and you can pre-order your copy for £29.95 ($47, €35). This is the directory’s seventh year and the print version is the only one of its kind.

This year's 84-page full-colour edition contains details of 593 organisations worldwide that provide services in the corporate responsibility field.

With listings under 57 categories, the directory is an indispensable guide to what's on offer. So whether you're searching for consultants, academic institutions, rating agencies, ethical auditors, training providers or research organisations, you should find them here.

To order your copy, visit ethicalp.com/dirpre12a

Alternatively, you can email us on directory@ethicalperformance.com or call us on
+44 (0)1227 720 900

TEDxManhattan "Changing the Way We Eat" 2012: Issues, Impacts & Innovation

02.02.2012 - 08:00AM

On a snowy Saturday in January, more than 350 attendees, 60 viewing parties, and 9,000+ online viewers attended and tuned in to watch 17 leaders in the world of sustainable agriculture and food speak about the state of agriculture, challenges to our food system, and innovative advances in the field. Most of the speakers have several advanced degrees, awards and impressive resumes. But it was the teacher from the South Bronx, Stephen Ritz, who brought the house down and earned the only standing ovation of the day with his talk on Growing a New Kind of Green Economy.

“The South Bronx is the poorest Congressional district in the country” he said, “and my hope is that my reach will exceed my grasp.” Working with his “kids,” underserved teenage students in the South Bronx, he developed the first “indoor edible wall” in New York City. Attendance in his class has jumped from 40 percent to over 90 percent, and his students are graduating and going to college. His “kids” have been asked to help share their technology and expertise with other schools, have helped put an edible garden on the John Hancock building in Boston and spent the summer in the Hamptons building a rooftop garden. “It’s simple,” says Ritz, who is teaching his third generation of students in the Bronx. “just show your Passion.”

Be inspired. Watch Stephen Ritz’s video and start changing the way your community eats – and thinks.

TEDxManhattan, an independently organized event licensed by TED, will be releasing the remaining talks from its January 21 event in the next couple of weeks at www.tedxmanhattan.org/2012talks/. Learn from speakers that include Consumer Reports Urvashi Rangan, who oversees their Consumer Safety and Sustainability Group and discusses problems with food labeling; Wayne Pacelle, President and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States who shares his thoughts on the feelings and lives of farm animals, and President of Stone Barns Fred Kirschenmann, whose talk teaches us that soil is so much more than just dirt.

A DVD of the talks will be released in the Spring and photos of the event can be found on Flickr. For more information, please email TEDxManhattan@gmail.com; media can contact geralyn@resourcescommunications.com or telephone her at 281. 980.6643.

The Glynwood Institute for Sustainable Food and Farming is the lead sponsor and host for TEDxManhattan 2012.

About TEDx, x = independently organized event

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like* experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for

the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. *TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. For more information about TED and TEDx, please visit www.ted.com.

About TED

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. The annual TED Conference invites the world's leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes. Their talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Al Gore, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Follow TED on Twitter at www.twitter.com/TEDTalks, or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TED.

Kohl's Cares(R) Scholarship Program Accepting Nominations February 1 - March 15 For Outstanding Young Volunteers

02.02.2012 - 08:00AM

The Kohl’s Department Stores (NYSE: KSS) Kohl’s Cares^®Scholarship Program will award more than $420,000 in scholarships and prizes, ranging from $50 Kohl’s gift cards to $10,000 scholarships, to more than 2,200 young volunteers who have made a positive impact on their communities. Nominations for kids ages six to 18 will be accepted February 1 – March 15 at kohlskids.com. Kohl’s is helping promising youth further their education at a time when college tuition continues to increase yearly – a challenge to many American families who face high unemployment and stagnant incomes.*

“Through the Kohl’s Cares^®Scholarship Program, Kohl’s recognizes young volunteers who dedicate their time, energy and passion to helping others and bettering the communities we live in,” said Julie Gardner, Kohl’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer. “During a time of economic uncertainty and high tuition costs, it’s important to support extraordinary kids by investing in their future. We encourage parents, teachers, neighbors and friends to nominate outstanding young volunteers at kohlskids.com.”

To nominate volunteers ages six to 18 for a Kohl’s Cares scholarship, visit kohlskids.com. Nominations are accepted February 1 through March 15, and nominators must be 21 years or older. Two nominees from each of the more than 1,100 Kohl’s stores nationwide will win a $50 Kohl’s gift card, and more than 200 will win regional scholarships worth $1,000 toward post-secondary education. Ten national winners will be awarded a total of $10,000 in scholarships for post-secondary education and Kohl’s will donate $1,000 to a nonprofit organization on each national winner’s behalf.

Through the Kohl’s CaresScholarship Program, Kohl’s aims to honor young volunteers who have made a positive impact on their communities. Since the program began in 2001, Kohl’s has recognized more than 15,000 kids with more than $3 million in scholarships and prizes. In 2012, Kohl’s celebrates its 12^th year of rewarding young volunteers.

In 2011, Kohl’s honored national winner Sarah Kladar, 12, who sold approximately 5,000 dishtowels and with the nearly $50,000 raised, helped financially-burdened families pay for surgery-related expenses that were not covered by insurance. Regional winner Jaimus Ready, 8, was recognized for assembling and sending more than 350 care packages to soldiers in Afghanistan filled with candy, clothing and homemade cards from local school children.

The Kohl’s Cares®Scholarship Program is part of Kohl’s Cares®, Kohl’s philanthropic program focused on improving the lives of children. Kohl’s Cares® benefits children’s health and education initiatives nationwide through its merchandise program, featuring special books and plush toys where 100 percent of net profit benefits children’s initiatives; fundraising gift cards for schools and youth serving organizations and the Associates in Action associate volunteer program. For more information or a list of past Kohl’s CaresScholarship Program winners, visit kohlskids.com.

About Kohl’s Department Stores

Based in Menomonee Falls, Wis., Kohl’s (NYSE: KSS) is a family-focused, value-oriented specialty department store offering moderately priced, exclusive and national brand apparel, shoes, accessories, beauty and home products in an exciting shopping environment. With a commitment to environmental leadership, Kohl’s operates 1,127 stores in 49 states. In support of the communities it serves, Kohl’s has raised more than $180 million for children’s initiatives nationwide through its Kohl’s Cares® cause merchandise program, which operates under Kohl's Cares, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kohl's Department Stores, Inc. For a list of store locations and information, or for the added convenience of shopping online, visit www.Kohls.com.

*Justin Pope. “College Prices Up Again As States Slash Budgets.” The Associated Press. 2011.

The Dannon Company Announces 2012 Dannon Next Generation Nutrition Grants

02.01.2012 - 06:21PM

Applications for the seventh annual Dannon Next Generation Nutrition^® grants are now available on the Dannon website under the ‘Dannon Cares’ section http://dannon.com/dannoncares.aspx. Applications are due by March 30, 2012.

Dannon will award grants of $30,000 to four nonprofits for programs that promote healthy eating and support nutrition education for children within each of the four communities where a Dannon facility is located – Salt Lake County, Utah; Tarrant County, Texas; Westchester County, New York; and Shelby, Mercer, Darke, and Auglaize counties in Ohio. To qualify for funding, organizations must be designated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and must already be engaged in a nutrition education program for children up to age 18, or be able to launch such an initiative in 2012.

Dannon established the Dannon Next Generation Nutrition^® grant program in 2006 to promote childhood nutrition education in communities. Each organization that receives a grant creates a program that helps children develop life-long habits for good nutrition and exercise.

In 2011 alone, $120,000 in grants benefited nearly 4,000 children and families nationwide; and since the inception of the Dannon Next Generation Nutrition^® grant program, more than $700,000 has benefited nearly 18,000 children and their families.

For questions about Dannon’s grant application process, please call 914-872-8672.

About The Dannon Company, Inc.

The Dannon Company is America’s founding national yogurt company and continually leverages its expertise to develop and market innovative cultured fresh dairy products in the United States. Headquartered in White Plains, NY, Dannon has plants in Minster, OH, Fort Worth, TX, and West Jordan, UT and produces approximately 100 different types of flavors, styles and sizes of cultured fresh dairy products. Dannon is a subsidiary of Danone, one of the world’s leading producers of packaged foods and beverages, and Dannon is the top-selling brand of yogurt products worldwide, sold under the names Dannon and Danone.

With a strong commitment to high-quality, wholesome, nutritious, and innovative products, The Dannon Company is committed to encouraging people to eat a balanced diet and live a healthy lifestyle. In 2010, for the tenth year in a row, Danone was listed on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, a worldwide reference for socially responsible businesses. Danone is a recognized leader for its contributions to nutrition and health and was ranked best in class in a 2008 JPMorgan & Insight Investment study about the response of the world’s largest food companies to obesity and health-related concerns. This commitment is also illustrated through The Dannon Company’s support of the Dannon Institute, an independent, non-profit foundation dedicated to promoting research, education, and communication about the links between nutrition, diet and health. For more information, please visit www.dannon.com.

Sustainability Roundtable Gives Strong Outlook for the Future of Municipalities, Corporations, and Government

02.01.2012 - 06:03PM

On the evening of January 25^th, 2012, the Centre for Sustainability and Excellence (CSE), in partnership with CSRwire and the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, hosted a Sustainability Roundtable Discussion and reception at the Hotel Monaco in Chicago. An engaged audience featuring some of Chicagoland’s largest and most sustainable companies and organizations, including Allstate Insurance, Illinois Tool Works, and R.R. Donnelley, came out for a discussion on the topic “Using Sustainability to Mitigate Risk During Economic Turbulence.”

The evening’s first presenter was Karen Weigert, Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of Chicago. Ms. Weigert communicated to the audience the City’s push for more efficient systems of transportation, waste reduction, and natural resource protection & restoration. She also reinforced the position of Mayor Emanuel’s administration to adhere to the Chicago Climate Action Plan.

Following Ms. Weigert was Doug Widener, Executive Director of the U.S. Green Building Council – Illinois Chapter who articulated the fiscal and environmental advantages of implementing the suite of rating systems known as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings, homes, and neighborhoods. Mr. Widener also noted that Chicago had more LEED certified buildings than any other city on the planet with 47.

Herbert Lust, Director of Strategy, Global Corporate Citizenship at Boeing provided examples to dispel the myth of any conflict between environmental stewardship and economic growth. Mr. Lust touted Boeing’s use of biofuels as an alternative to petroleum-based jet fuels, and the company’s mentality of engineering products and systems (R&D goes toward benefitting and addressing environmental performance).

The evening’s final presenter, Menno Enters, Director of Energy and Sustainability at Walgreen's, began with personal anecdotes from his childhood that gave rise to his enthusiasm for sustainability today. Mr. Enters touched on many of Walgreens’ initiatives including the use of geothermal energy, solar panels, and internal training and education on sustainability.

“We are at a critical juncture where integrating sustainability into the corporate and governmental strategy and framework must be addressed as priorities,” stated Nikos Avlonas, President of CSE and moderator for the Roundtable. “We facilitate events such as tonight’s Roundtable not to pat ourselves on the back for the work we’ve done, but to engage with our peers in sharing best practices, addressing challenges, and pushing the sustainability movement forward.”

CSE is an international advisory, coaching and training organization with offices in the U.S., Greece, and Belgium. CSE specializes in sustainable development solutions and works with private and public sector clients for the advancement of sustainability, within their operations and organizational framework.

Sustainability Education from CSE

The Centre for Sustainability and Excellence has hosted Roundtable Discussions on various topics of Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in cities across the U.S., including New York, Atlanta, and Washington, DC. CSE Roundtables have featured panel members from the Global Reporting Initiative, the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Sustainability, Sustainable Atlanta, and the Sustainable Business Network of Washington (SB NOW), among others.

On March 8-9, 2012, CSE will be hosting its Certified Sustainability (CSR) Practitioner Training in Chicago, IL. CSE will also be hosting its Certified Carbon Footprint Practitioner Training on April 26-27, 2012 in Chicago. Early registration discounts are applicable one month prior to training date.

At present, more than 250 CSR Practitioners in over 25 countries are certified under the CSE. To view CSE’s complete 2012 training schedule, visit us on the web at www.cse-northamerica.org.

First Peoples Worldwide Announces Partnership with Trillium Asset Management

02.01.2012 - 02:00PM

First Peoples Worldwide (FPW), a global indigenous nonprofit dedicated to strengthening Indigenous Peoples, today announced a new partnership with Trillium Asset Management. Under the terms of the partnership, Trillium is undertaking custom research and shareholder advocacy focused on how corporate policies and programs can better protect and enhance Indigenous Peoples’ rights.

Founded in 1997 by widely acclaimed advocate Rebecca Adamson, FPW supports projects that preserve biodiversity, identify contemporary applications for traditional knowledge, mitigate the impact of climate change, and advocate free prior informed consent.

Adamson, a Cherokee, has developed creative, mutually beneficial economic models since 1970 and was just interviewed for the 2013 PBS series entitled “Women Who Make America.” Her work includes creating the first microloan fund in the United States, the first tribal investment model, a national movement for reservation land reform, and legislation that established new standards of accountability regarding federal trust responsibility for Native Americans.

First Peoples’ new small grants fund, Keepers of the Earth, makes grants directly to communities in ways that ensure capital is engaged to reflect cultural values. It is an effective platform for donors who want 100 percent of their monies directed to some of the most remote grassroots communities in the world. FPW is the only organization worldwide that distributes global grants using the collaborative intelligence of indigenous wisdom to address contemporary challenges in areas of wealth, environment and cultural preservation.

In keeping with Rebecca’s ongoing focus on innovation, she looked to Trillium to help build a new partnership to promote Indigenous voices in the corporate boardroom.

Trillium is the oldest independent investment firm focused exclusively on Sustainable and Responsible Investing. Under this partnership, Trillium is leveraging its expertise in corporate responsibility research and advocacy as well as its deep ties within the sustainable investing community. This collaboration culminates in a FPW publication called “Corporate Engagement Strategies: Indigenous Partnerships for Best Practice Solutions.”

As part of this publication, Trillium is providing FPW with regular research updates examining best practices in corporate America and reviewing new developments in legal cases and local and national legislation.

Trillium is also helping FPW engage in broader policy discussions around corporate responsibility. For example, Trillium helped FPW provide formal input into the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Guidelines’ next generation framework. A recent letter signed by Rebecca Adamson, and supported by Trillium, makes the case that the current GRI reporting guidelines can be significantly improved by developing indicators that more explicitly address the reporting organizations’ impact on Indigenous communities and how well companies are equipped to anticipate, forestall and mitigate negative impacts.

According to CEO Matt Patsky, “We believe Trillium Asset Management is uniquely positioned to work with First Peoples in developing cutting edge research and advocacy on Indigenous peoples’ issues. We have been integrating these issues into our investment process since our founding in 1982.”

Rebecca Adamson said of the partnership, “Our partnership with Trillium signifies one of the first genuine platforms for Indigenous grassroots voices to be heard by corporate America. Trillium’s deep understanding of research and advocacy related to corporate sustainability policies is a powerful springboard that drives grassroots voices into the boardroom.”

This partnership illustrates well Trillium’s ability to provide custom research and advocacy services on behalf of other groups of investors. Trillium believes there may be a strong demand for such a service from a variety of investor groups.

This partnership is a natural extension of the work Trillium has undertaken for some time to address Indigenous peoples’ rights. Trillium was one of the first investment companies to explicitly reference Native American and Indigenous peoples’ rights as a specific area of focus in its sustainable investment criteria. Trillium also addresses these issues through dialogue and shareholder proposals with some of the largest companies in America.

First Peoples Worldwide is a global development nonprofit based in Fredericksburg, VA with expertise in indigenous management principles and solutions for best practice in corporate strategies. The FPW flagship fund Keepers of the Earth links donors directly with communities all over the world by making small grants in ways that successfully apply indigenous intelligence and support economically effective platforms for positive change.

Trillium Asset Management, LLC is the oldest independent investment advisor devoted exclusively to sustainable and responsible investing. With over $950 million in assets under management, Trillium has been managing equity and fixed income investments for high net worth individuals, foundations, endowments, religious institutions, and other non-profits since 1982. A leader in shareholder advocacy and public policy work, Trillium's goal is to deliver both impact and performance to its investors.

Solar Electric Light Fund Launches "Energy Is A Human Right” Campaign

02.01.2012 - 01:52PM

The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF), a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit working to eliminate energy poverty through the use of solar power, today announced that it is launching “Energy is a Human Right,” a campaign to provide a voice to the nearly 1.5 billion people around the world living without access to electricity and other forms of modern energy. It is also calling upon the international development community and general public to join the campaign by visiting www.EnergyIsAHumanRight.com to show their support for those living in energy poverty, and to learn how they can help provide energy access to assist in their economic, education, health and agricultural development.

“For the last 15 years, SELF has always believed and said that energy is essential for life,” says Bob Freling, Executive Director, SELF. “Access to energy is foundational to achieving a broad range of basic human rights and all of the Millennium Development Goals. Without it, life is very, very difficult as I’m sure 1.5 billion people can attest to.”

Through its Whole Village development model, SELF works hand-in-hand with communities to create and implement innovative solar energy solutions to improve people’s health and education, ensure food and water security, and spur economic development. Recently, it made a commitment to the United Nation’s Sustainable Energy for All Initiative to continue scaling up this model in Benin, West Africa by installing solar systems to power water systems, schools, health clinics, community centers, and street and household lighting systems. Mr. Freling is also co-chairing the initiative’s Working Group on Energy and Health, which will be examining ways to provide access to renewable energy sources for hospitals and health care clinics to support medical services.

“We proudly support the U.N. initiative and look forward to closely working with them to provide universal access to energy to those in need,” says Freling. “Our hope in launching this human rights campaign is to call attention to the critical role energy can play in helping people lift themselves out of poverty and create a better life.”

About SELF

The Solar Electric Light Fund is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit whose mission is to implement solar energy solutions in developing countries to assist rural communities with economic, education, health and agricultural development. Its “Whole Village” development model takes an innovative approach in using integrated solar systems to improve the lives of the 1.5 billion people living in energy poverty throughout the world. Since 1990, SELF has completed projects in more than 20 countries, pioneering unique applications of solar power for drip irrigation in Benin, health care in Haiti, telemedicine in the Amazon rainforest, online learning in South Africa, and microenterprise development in Nigeria. Connect with SELF on the web at www.SELF.org; on Twitter @solarfund; and at www.Facebook.com/solarelectriclightfund.

Couple Makes Multi-Million Dollar Commitment to Screen Every Newborn Baby for "Bubble Boy" Disease

02.01.2012 - 12:22PM

/PRNewswire/ - Frustrated with the slow pace of implementation of newborn screening for Severe Combined Immune Deficiency (SCID), Vicki and Fred Modell decided to coordinate and fund the effort themselves. Today, they announced a multi-million dollar commitment to screen every baby born in every state for this life threatening condition, often referred to as "bubble boy disease."

The Modells established the Jeffrey Modell Foundation (JMF) 25 years ago in memory of their son Jeffrey, who lost his battle with Primary Immunodeficiency (PI) at the age of 15. There are more than 150 genetic defects that are classified under the umbrella of PI. The NIH estimates that at least 500,000 Americans are affected and most are undiagnosed. SCID is the most serious of the disorders and is characterized by experts as a "Pediatric Emergency."

Babies born with SCID fail to develop a functional immune system. They appear normal and healthy at birth, causing delayed diagnosis until they are repeatedly hospitalized for life threatening infections. Undetected and untreated, SCID leads to death before the baby's first birthday. But with Newborn Screening, they can now be diagnosed and then cured with a bone marrow transplant. The cost of the screening test, called TRECs, is $4 per baby. To date, the Jeffrey Modell Foundation has contributed over $3 million towards programs of Newborn Screening. Affected babies with SCID are already being identified, transplanted, and cured in several states, including California, New York, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and Louisiana. Overall, only 50 percent of all babies born in the United States live in states that screen for SCID or have stated their intention to screen if funding is available.

Mike and Missy Bornheimer were lucky enough to have lived in Wisconsin (the first state to screen). Her baby, Dawson, was born with SCID and was screened, diagnosed, treated, and cured and now is a healthy three and half year-old boy. Missy offered Testimony to the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children in Washington, D.C. on January 21, 2010. The Committee voted the same day to recommend adding the SCID test to the core panel of newborn screening tests. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius approved the recommendation shortly thereafter.

"Two years later, we are just approaching halfway to completing our mission so that every baby in every state can be screened for this fatal disease and those afflicted can be cured," according to Fred Modell. "We have not raised all of the funds as yet, but we are confident."

Vicki Modell added, "We have heard from too many grieving parents whose babies were tragically lost to SCID. But now that we can screen and cure babies that are affected, we just can't stand by for another day, and watch precious babies die. We will be offering funding to every state that implements a Population Screening Program for SCID. This is an historic journey and we hope to wipe out this fatal disease forever."

About Jeffrey Modell Foundation

Vicki and Fred Modell established the Jeffrey Modell Foundation in 1987, in memory of their son Jeffrey, who died at the age of fifteen from complications of Primary Immunodeficiency – a genetic condition that is chronic, serious, and often fatal. JMF is a global nonprofit organization dedicated to early diagnosis, meaningful treatments and, ultimately, cures through research, physician education, public awareness, advocacy, patient support, and Newborn Screening.

For more information about PI, visit www.info4pi.org or email the Jeffrey Modell Foundation at info4pi@jmfworld.org.

Change Is In The Air: Preserve Joins The B Corp Ranks

02.01.2012 - 12:05PM

Preserve is proud to have become a Certified B Corporation™, a new framework to evaluate corporations based on their social and environmental policies and performance. Preserve, the leading maker of sustainable household products including toothbrushes, razors, tableware and kitchen tools, is in good company. Preserve joins a committed community of over 500 other Certified B Corporations coming from over 60 industries from Biotechnology to Education, representing $3 billion in collective revenues and $6.5 billion in capital under management. This third party certification asserts Preserve’s continued commitment to social responsibility and a ‘better’ way of doing business.

"Becoming a B Corporation was a fabulously rewarding experience for us. It gave us the process and format to put structure around our social mission and affirm for our entire team the essential components of the underlying mission driving Preserve since our founding,” states Eric Hudson, Founder and CEO of Preserve.

Since forming in 1995, Preserve has stayed true to its mission – using recycled and sustainable materials to create products that have strong design and functionality, but are fundamentally safe for consumers and less impactful on the Earth. Preserve believes in empowering its employees, customers and all the people involved with the Preserve brand to approach purchases more responsibly. For example, Preserve products, which are made of recycled #5 plastic, are also designed for recyclability. Furthermore, Preserve encourages recycling by creating take back systems for its products at their end of life. Preserve is best known for recycling Stonyfield yogurt cups and making them into toothbrushes, and then encouraging its customers to send the brushes back to be recycled again. Preserve’s mission directly supports the corporate accountability implicit in becoming a Certified B Corporation including commitment to social impact and environmental stewardship.

Preserve worked on the certification process with B Lab, the non-profit organization who conceived of the methodology in 2006 and has been administering it ever since with companies seeking to bring social and environmental issues to the forefront. The process for Preserve to become certified involved undergoing the B Impact Assessment. This is an evaluation of the company in five key areas which provides a comparable measure across companies of social and environmental performance. The areas measured include accountability, employees, consumers, community and environment. Companies undergoing this assessment must earn an established minimum total of points to receive certification. Preserve passed this level, receiving high marks in accountability driven by strong governance and transparency. The impact of these measures is to drive these companies to have accountability for their social and environmental performance which in effect strengthens the greater community.

Preserve is coming together with other like-minded consumer products companies including Seventh Generation, Patagonia and Method to become Certified B Corporations. These companies are setting themselves apart and providing both clarity and transparency to consumers so they can make the informed choices about the brands they purchase.

“Preserve is ‘proof of concept’ for a new way of doing business. Preserve is a model for other companies due to its pioneering work in creating sustainable consumer products and bringing together like-minded companies to create recycling systems for their products,” says Jay Coen Gilbert, B Lab co-founder. “We created B Lab to inspire a new breed of company and set a new standard for corporate accountability. Preserve has done this since its inception, and we are proud to have certified Preserve as a B Corporation.”

To learn more about B Corp and see Preserve’s B Corp profile, visit www.bcorporation.net/preserve

About Preserve

Preserve is the leading sustainable consumer goods company and producer of stylish 100% recycled household products. Preserve turns yogurt cups into toothbrushes and take-out containers into tableware. Through innovations in recycled materials and sustainable design, Preserve has been creating more resourceful ways to make everyday products for the kitchen, table, and bath since 1996. The company is powered by the recycling efforts of individuals and companies via its Preserve Gimme 5 program. This program accepts #5 plastics, 98% of which are not normally recycled—such as yogurt cups and other common household containers— transforming them into new Preserve products. All recycling and manufacturing is done in the USA. Preserve pioneers partnerships with premier product design, manufacturing, and sales and marketing firms to bring together thought leaders to drive industry change. Preserve empowers people to make everyday choices that are better for the earth while offering real solutions without compromise. Preserve products can be found at forward-thinking retailers like Whole Foods Market, Amazon.com, Trader Joe’s, Wegman’s, and a variety of grocery and natural food stores. Visit us online at www.preserveproducts.com

About B Corp

Certified B Corporations 1) meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance; 2) legally expand their corporate responsibilities to include consideration of stakeholder interests; and 3) build collective voice through the power of the unifying B Corporation brand. As of January 2012, there are over 515 Certified B Corporations from over 60 industries, representing a diverse multi-billion marketplace.

About B Lab

B Lab is a nonprofit organization dedicated to using the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. B Lab drives systemic change through three interrelated initiatives: 1) building a community of Certified B Corporations to make it easier for all of us to tell the difference between “good companies” and just good marketing; 2) accelerating the growth of the impact investing asset class through use of B Lab’s GIIRS impact rating system by institutional investors; and 3) promoting supportive public policies, including creation of a new corporate form and tax, procurement, and investment incentives for sustainable business.

Opinion Poll: Small Businesses Say Weak Customer Demand, Not Regulations, Their Problem

02.01.2012 - 11:30AM

Small business owners say their main concern is weak customer demand, not regulations, according to independent opinion polling released today. In fact, when asked what would do the most to create jobs, small business owners’ top response was eliminating incentives to move jobs overseas. Reducing regulation came in fifth place.

Small business owners see government standards as an important tool to level the playing field with big business. In addition to protecting small businesses the vast majority of owners view regulations as a necessary component of a modern economy. Click here to read the report, based on a national survey of 500 small business owners, released today by the American Sustainable Business Council, Main Street Alliance and Small Business Majority.

“These survey results underscore what Main Street small business owners have been saying all along: we need more customers, more demand, not deregulation,” said Jim Houser, owner of Hawthorne Auto Clinic in Portland, Oregon, and a leader with the Main Street Alliance. “In fact, I’ve seen first-hand from over 35 years in the auto industry that smart standards help create jobs and promote innovation in the U.S. economy.”

“Despite the heated rhetoric, regulations simply aren’t small businesses’ top concern,” said John Arensmeyer, founder and CEO of Small Business Majority. “Small businesses can be the jobs engine we need to jumpstart the economy, but not if legislators are focusing on something that isn’t their top problem. Policymakers should listen to what real small businesses are saying and act accordingly.”

"With football at the top of everyone's mind, if we played the game with no rules the Super Bowl winner would come down to which team was bigger or willing to play dirtier," said Frank Knapp, Jr., Vice Chair of the American Sustainable Business Council and president and CEO of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce. "Well, regulations are the rules of the game we call private sector competition. An overwhelming percent of small business owners agree that without fair regulations creating a level playing field, small businesses won't be able to compete against big businesses. From our perspective, the effort to kill regulations is big businesses’ way of rigging the game in their favor."

Key findings from the survey include:

Small business owners see their top problem as weak customer demand, not regulations: 34 percent cited weak customer demand as the most important problem for their business, while only 14 percent named government regulations.
On the question of what would do the most to create jobs, cutting regulations came in low on the list: the top response was eliminating incentives to move jobs overseas at 24 percent; reducing regulation was fifth at 10 percent.
Small business owners see an important role for standards and safeguards: 78 percent believe some standards are important to protect small businesses from unfair competition, and 76 percent believe regulations on the books should be enforced.
Small business owners see regulations as necessary for a modern economy: 93 percent agree their business can live with some regulation if it is fair, manageable and reasonable.
Small business owners express strong support for specific rules and standards: 78 percent support rules to prevent health insurance companies from increasing rates excessively, 84 percent support food safety standards, 80 percent support product safety standards and 80 percent support disclosure and regulation of toxic materials.
Small business owners support clean energy policies: 79 percent support ensuring clean air and water, and 61 percent support moving the country towards energy efficiency and clean energy.
Small businesses believe in streamlining government processes: 73 percent of respondents believe we should allow for one-stop electronic filing of government paperwork.

For more information on these poll findings, visit:
http://www.asbcouncil.org/poll_regulations.html

http://mainstreetalliance.org/5511/poll-regs-economy/

http://smallbusinessmajority.org/small-business-research/downloads/020112_Regulations_Poll_Report.pdf

Poll results reported in this statement represent findings from an Internet survey of 500 small business owners nationwide, commissioned by the American Sustainable Business Council, Main Street Alliance and Small Business Majority, and conducted by Lake Research Partners. The survey was conducted between December 8, 2011, and January 4, 2012. It has a margin of error of +/- 4.4%.

The American Sustainable Business Council is a network of business organizations representing over 100,000 companies and 200,000 business leaders. ASBC advocates for public policies that meet the realities of the 21st century global economy including strategic investments in workforce and infrastructure; standards and safeguards that promote innovation, prevent abuse and protect critical resources; and a new sustainable economic model that fosters a growing, economically-secure middle class. www.asbcouncil.org

The Main Street Alliance is a national network of state-based small business coalitions. MSA creates opportunities for small business owners to speak for themselves on issues that impact their businesses and local economies. www.mainstreetalliance.org

Small Business Majority is a national nonpartisan small business advocacy organization, founded and run by small business owners, and focused on solving the biggest problems facing America’s 28 million small businesses. We conduct extensive opinion and economic research and work with small business owners, policy experts and elected officials nationwide to bring small business voices to the public policy table. www.smallbusinessmajority.org

Hershey Will Offer Certified Chocolate Following Consumer-Driven Campaign

02.01.2012 - 11:26AM

The Hershey Company announced yesterday that it will make its first commitment to sourcing independently certified cocoa for its Bliss line by the end of 2012. The announcement was made days before International labor Right Forum was scheduled to run a Super Bowl ad highlighting Hershey’s use of child labor and follows a multi-year campaign that generated over 100,000 letters to Hershey, including from 50,000 supporters on Change.org, asking Hershey to improve its cocoa sourcing practices.

The “Raise the Bar, Hershey Coalition,” a group of responsible cocoa advocates led by Global Exchange, Green America, and International Labor Rights Forum, started the campaign after identifying Hershey as behind its competitors on addressing child labor, forced labor, and other abuses in the cocoa industry.

"It’s great to see Hershey's take this first step towards accountability in their supply chain. We will continue to push them to ensure a better price for cocoa farmers so they can stop depending on forced child labor," said Judy Gearhart, Executive Director of the International Labor Rights Forum. "The threat of a Super Bowl ad certainly increased the pressure, but Hershey’s new agreement is really the result of thousands of consumers, students, church congregations and community groups writing to them over the past two years.”

The Raise the Bar, Hershey Coalition has been increasing pressure on Hershey, including launching a petition on Change.org, creating “brand-jamming” photos and videos of Hershey products, blanketing the company’s Facebook wall in messages, organizing rallies at Hershey’s flagship stores, and delivering more than 100,000 letters from concerned consumers to Hershey’s corporate headquarters on Halloween.

“The Raise the Bar, Hershey! Coalition is excited to see Hershey listening to consumer demand for ethically sourced cocoa,” said Elizabeth O’Connell, fair trade campaigns director for Green America, “but we also recognize there is much more work to be done to fight child labor and other abuses in the cocoa industry, and we will continue to encourage Hershey to develop ethical sourcing practices.”

“The growth and ultimate success of Raise the Bar, Hershey’s petition on Change.org is incredible,” said Change.org Director of Organizing Amanda Kloer. “Hershey responded to consumer pressure with a significant improvement in cocoa sourcing transparency. It’s been empowering to watch this group of concerned organizations and individuals use Change.org’s tools to fight for changes at the Hershey Company.”

In response to Hershey’s announcement, eighth grader Jasper Perry-Anderson has created a follow-up campaign on Change.org, asking the Hershey Trust to ensure the Hershey Company expands its commitment to certified cocoa to all its products in the future.

Live signature totals from Raise the Bar, Hershey’s campaign:
http://www.change.org/petitions/hershey-raise-the-bar

Journalists interested in contacting Hershey’s public relations staff should try:
Andy McCormick, Vice President, Public Affairs
(717) 534-5739
amccormick@hersheys.com

Kirk Saville, Spokesperson
(800) 468-1714
ksaville@hersheys.com

The Raise the Bar, Hershey! Coalition is led by the following organizations:

GREEN AMERICA is the nation’s leading green economy organization. Founded in 1982, Green America (formerly Co-op America) provides the economic strategies, organizing power and practical tools for businesses and individuals to solve today's social and environmental problems. www.GreenAmerica.org

GLOBAL EXCHANGE is a membership-based international human rights organization dedicated to promoting social, economic and environmental justice around the world. www.GlobalExchange.org

INTERNATIONAL LABOR RIGHTS FORUM is an advocacy organization dedicated to achieving just and humane treatment for workers worldwide. www.LaborRights.org

For more information on Change.org, please visit:
http://www.change.org/about
Change.org is the world’s fastest-growing platform for social change — growing by more than 500,000 new members a month, and empowering millions of people to start, join, and win campaigns for social change in their community, city and country.

Risk, Opportunity, Scarcity - Sustainability Challenge for Oil, Gas and Mining

02.01.2012 - 10:58AM

As energy becomes scarcer innovative forms of extraction have emerged. Most prominent among these due to their controversy are fracking and oil sands.

Obama in his State of the Union address backed fracking alongside additional regulation requiring companies disclose the chemicals used in the process.

Keystone XL did not receive the Presidents backing amid claims the Congress imposed deadline did not give sufficient time to weigh the social and environmental impact. The more cynical might suggest it was simply too controversial a decision to take in an election year.

Regardless of the motives behind each decision the question must be posed, has the extractives industry ability to operate in increasingly complex and difficult environments been matched by implementation of a sufficiently robust social and environmental policy?

Fracking in the USA is seen as a potential holy grail on the road to diversifying energy supply and reducing foreign energy dependence. Environmentalists remind us of the potentially devastating harm fracking can cause to drinking water. Deepwater Horizon serves as a poignant reminder of failed risk mitigation as BP struggled to contain a leak occurring thousands of feet below the ocean floor.

The risk versus opportunity conundrum extends well beyond energy extraction. In the mining sector operations now take place in extreme environments ranging from the Canadian Arctic right through to conflict affected zones such as DR Congo and Liberia. Here risk mitigation isn't just environmental but also social. Infrastructure and regulatory capacity is often minimal whilst mining operations have a major impact on national GDP.

De Beers through its diamond mining activities generates 30% of GDP and 50% of government revenue in Botswana. Resource rich countries are become increasingly protective of their natural assets as energy and precious materials become scarcer. South Africa, Zambia, Australia, Zimbabwe and Columbia have all put forward plans to secure a greater slice of the pie.

The challenge is for extractives companies to engage with local and national stakeholders and develop positive long term relationships in order to retain all important community consent for operations and overcome resource nationalism . Resources are finite and the onus is on mining companies to develop sustainable social investment initiatives which will survive long after mine closure.

For a more in depth rundown of key social and environmental risk challenges including the keystone xl debate and resource nationalism download a free 15-page briefing pack.

You can get your copy here.

For further advice and best practice on social and environmental risk management for oil, gas and mining take a look at the conference on "How to manage social and environmental risk for oil, gas and mining". With 25+ expert speakers and about 100 corporate attendees expected, it's the leading conference dealing with this topic in Europe with BP, Chevron, De Beers, Anglo American and IFC among the participants.

Click here for more info. - http://j.mp/socialenvironmentalriskmanagement

The VWR Foundation Auction Raises $75,000 for Children's National Medical Center

02.01.2012 - 10:18AM

/PRNewswire/ - Continuing its mission to give back to the science community, the VWR Charitable Foundation raised $75,000 in an auction on January 16, 2012 benefiting Children's National Medical Center of Washington D.C.

The VWR Foundation hosts its annual auction during VWR International, LLC's North American Sales Meeting as a way to give back to the meeting's host city. This year, the Foundation chose Children's National Medical Center for its natural fit with all three pillars in the VWR Foundation's mission: research, health and well-being and science education. A check for $75,000 was presented to Children's National on January 17, 2012.

In addition to fundraising, auction attendees donated over 1,000 books for both patients and their parents to enjoy during hospital visits. The book drive was organized by VWR International, LLC's Women's Affinity Group.

"We are so grateful to the VWR Foundation and everyone who participated in this incredibly successful auction," said Pam King Sams, Executive Vice President for Development for Children's National. "These funds will support important research and care for so many children in the nation's capital, and help make their stay with us more comfortable."

About VWR Foundation

The VWR Charitable Foundation was established in January 2009 by a group of VWR International, LLC associates. In July 2009, the VWR Foundation distributed its first grant. Since then the organization has donated nearly $200,000 to various organization across America that are aligned with its mission. More information about the VWR Foundation, including a grant application can be found at www.VWRfoundation.org.

About VWR International, LLC

VWR International, LLC, headquartered in Radnor, Pennsylvania, is a global laboratory supply and distribution company. With 150 years of industry experience, VWR offers a well-established distribution network that reaches thousands of specialized labs and facilities spanning the globe. In addition, VWR further supports its customers by providing onsite services, storeroom management, product procurement, supply chain systems integration and technical services.

For more information on VWR, phone (800) 932-5000, visit www.vwr.com, or write, VWR International, LLC, Radnor Corporate Center, Building One, Suite 200, 100 Matsonford Road, Radnor, PA 19087.

VWR and design are registered trademarks of VWR International, LLC.

New Research Finds Kids & Teens More Exposed to Character Education Volunteer More

02.01.2012 - 10:00AM

Results of a new research study released today, “It Starts with Character: Inspiring Kids & Teens to Volunteer” found that kids and teens who have more exposure to character-building skills, such as sharing, being kind and helping others, are more likely to volunteer in their communities, and with greater frequency. The study also found that parents and teachers say that media (TV, film, books, magazines, games, apps and Internet) can play an important role in communicating the value of character education. The study was commissioned by Scholastic Media – a division of Scholastic Inc., the global children’s publishing, education and media company – and HandsOn Network – the volunteer enterprise of Points of Light – and administered by C+R Research and MDR.

Among the study’s findings from parent, teacher, kid and teen respondents:

Parents (84 percent), teachers (78 percent), kids age 6–11 (73 percent), and teens age 12–17 (64 percent) say character-building skills are among the most important skills to develop along with academic skills in order to be successful in life.
The more kids and teens are exposed to character-building skills, the greater their level of interest in volunteering. Additionally, kids and teens who are more exposed to character-building skills volunteer more frequently.
Eighty-eight percent of parents and 93 percent of teachers believe that volunteering provides opportunities for children to build character.
Ninety-four percent of parents and 98 percent of teachers agree that media can play an important role in teaching kids the value of character education; 63 percent of teachers believe that kids would benefit from more media exposure to lessons about character-building skills.

“This study demonstrates the importance of having curriculum for the heart as well as the head,” said Francie Alexander, Senior Vice President of Scholastic Education and Chief Academic Officer of Scholastic Inc. “At Scholastic, we put the same value on preparing children for good citizenship as we do for careers and college.”

Findings Coincide With Launch of Fourth Annual ‘Clifford® BE BIG™ In Your Community’ National Contest to Inspire Service and Volunteerism

“This survey reinforces the importance of ensuring that kids are able to discover their power to make a difference in their communities at an early age,” said Michelle Nunn, CEO of Points of Light. “Programs like BE BIG encourage our next generation to act on their potential to make their mark on the world.”

The findings coincide with today’s launch of the fourth annual ‘Clifford BE BIG in Your Community’ national contest, which is designed to inspire engagement in service and volunteerism. Beginning today, the contest invites kids of all ages, teachers, parents and community leaders to submit proposals that demonstrate how Clifford’s BIG Ideas (Share, Help Others, Be Kind, Be Responsible, Play Fair, Be a Good Friend, Believe in Yourself, Have Respect, Work Together and Be Truthful) can make the world a better place. Submitted ideas vie for the chance to win up to $10,000 in community grants from the BE BIG Fund to be used to implement the winning proposals. The mission of the fund is to recognize and reward others for their BIG actions, to catalyze change in local communities, and to provide resources for everyone to share BIG ideas. Entry forms can be found at http://www.scholastic.com/cliffordbebig/contest/; those interested can also explore their local HandsOn Network action center for opportunities to serve in their community at http://www.handsonnetwork.org/actioncenters/map. Complete rules are online at www.scholastic.com/cliffordbebig/contestrules.*

Additional findings of the study include:

Teacher, kid and teen survey respondents name Clifford The Big Red Dog® as the character most associated with teaching character-building skills relative to other characters.
The vast majority of parents (96 percent), teachers (98 percent), kids (91 percent), and teens (81 percent) surveyed agree that Clifford’s BIG Ideas are valuable/important.

The study was commissioned to examine the role of the BE BIG™ program on civic engagement, as it continues to grow and inspire communities to engage in service. “It Starts with Character: Inspiring Kids & Teens to Volunteer” is a national online survey of more than 1,000 individuals – 250 parents of kids age 2–11, 251 kids age 6–11, 249 teens age 12–17, and 260 kindergarten through second-grade teachers. The sample was drawn from C+R Research and MDR online panels, and the survey was fielded from October 10, 2011 through October 25, 2011. The margin of error is +/– 5.2 percent at a 90 percent confidence level. The study results can be viewed online at mediaroom.scholastic.com/clifford and www.handsonnetwork.org/bebig.

* No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited.

About Scholastic
Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ: SCHL) is the world’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books and a leader in educational technology and related services and children’s media. Scholastic creates quality books, print, and technology-based learning materials and programs, magazines, multimedia and other products that help children learn both at school and at home. The company distributes its products and services worldwide through a variety of channels, including school-based book clubs and book fairs, retail stores, schools, libraries, on-air, and online at www.scholastic.com.

About Points of Light
Points of Light is the world’s leading volunteer organization, with more than 20 years of history and a bi-partisan presidential legacy. Our mission is to inspire, equip and mobilize people to take action that changes the world. We connect people to their power to make a meaningful difference, by providing access to tools, resources and opportunities to help volunteers use their time, talent, voice and money to meet the critical needs of our communities. We are organized to innovate, incubate and activate new ideas through our action networks, including: HandsOn Network, the largest network of 250 local volunteer centers across the country and around the world; generationOn, the youth service movement that ignites the power of kids to make their mark on the world; AmeriCorps Alums, the national service alumni network that activates the next generation of service leaders; and Points of Light Corporate Institute, which enables companies to engage their employees and customers in service. For more information, visit www.PointsofLight.org.

The UPS Foundation Donates $6M To Champion Diversity

02.01.2012 - 10:00AM

UPS (NYSE:UPS) today announced almost 120 grants totaling more than $6 million to non-profit organizations around the world that champion diversity and support diverse communities.

For more than 60 years, UPS’s philanthropic arm has funded organizations that support under-served and under-represented members of society. This year’s grants will support a wide range of programs, including those for wounded veterans, the hearing and visually-impaired, women and girls and culturally distinct populations.

“Supporting diversity is the largest area of our funding,” said Ken Sternad, president of The UPS Foundation. “We have long sought to help bridge opportunity gaps in areas like economic empowerment, education, leadership, mentorship and advocacy. Through these grants, we are helping many great organizations improve lives and create opportunities.”

The grants being awarded include (in part):

More than $800,000 to the National Urban League to support Entrepreneurship Centers in several cities and other programs.
$750,000 to the National Council of La Raza toward the continued implementation of a regional strategy that focuses on capacity building for Hispanic community organizations.
$655,000 to the NAACP for educational programs and other events.
More than $450,000 in grants to organizations that support people with disabilities, primarily for programs around economic empowerment and transition into the workforce. Grant recipients include the National Organization on Disabilities, Paralyzed Veterans of America and National Federation of the Blind.
More than $450,000 to organizations that provide youth leadership and mentorship opportunities, including the 100 Black Men of America, Girls Inc., National Hispana Leadership Institute and the Japanese American Citizens League.
$250,000 to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) and the UNCF Atlanta.
$235,000 toward college scholarships for Native American students through the American Indian College Fund and Brigham Young University.
$200,000 to the Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA), primarily to support the OCA-UPS Gold Mountain Scholarship program for “first-in-family” Asian American college students.
$185,000 to the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights for its education reform work.
$150,000 to three Atlanta-based historically Black colleges and universities (Spelman College, Morehouse College and Clark Atlanta University) for the UPS Community Service Scholars Program, a unique effort that combines academics with community service.
$150,000 to the Hispanic Scholarship Fund.
$100,000 to the Human Rights Campaign Foundation for its Workplace Project.

The UPS Foundation, which is responsible for facilitating community involvement to local, national and global communities, has led UPS’s corporate citizenship efforts for more than 60 years. In 2010, UPS and its employees, active and retired, invested more than $95 million in charitable giving around the world. The UPS Foundation can be found on the web at UPS.com/foundation. To learn about UPS's sustainability program and commitment to the environment, go to www.ups.com/sustainability.

New Yorker Wins $50,000 In Examiner.com's America Inspired Contest

02.01.2012 - 09:56AM

/PRNewswire/ - Examiner.com, one of the nation's leading online publishers featuring local expertise from over 85,000 contributors (called Examiners), today announced Hideki Kinoshita as the Grand Prize winner of its America Inspired contest. Kinoshita, also known as Kino, has won the $50,000 cash prize award for his extraordinary work and inspiration throughout his community. Running Examiner Kimberly Bogin nominated Kino for the America Inspired contest.

Kino has used his passion for running to answer his calling of giving back. He ran 63 marathons and 10 ultra-marathons, including three 100-mile races and three 24-hour runs – all in the span of 39 months. Kino runs to raise money for charities that have a personal meaning to him, including the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCan), as Kino lost two loved ones to pancreatic cancer, and the World Trade Center Health Program, as he is native New Yorker. So far, Kino has raised $53,000 for these charities and in addition, has donated over $5,000 of his own money. Furthermore, Kino has pledged to raise over $50,000 for charities by running 26 100-mile races in 2013.

"We were incredibly moved to hear about the work and good deeds of so many people across the U.S.," said Ashish Kapur, COO, Examiner.com. "Since we opened this contest, we received close to 1,000 nominations from our Examiners, who are in the local communities and were able to surface these unsung heroes in their communities across the country. The America Inspired contest was a great way for us to honor those who have had a positive influence on their communities without expecting anything in return."

The competition set out to spotlight people in communities across America who inspire others across five categories including: leadership, sacrifice, overcoming adversity, passion and outstanding youth. Examiner.com contributors (Examiners) nominated almost 1,000 unique individuals from communities across the U.S. who inspire them and other local individuals each day.

The Examiner.com editorial team and advisory board, comprised of respected veteran journalists, chose 25 finalists for the contest. Public voting for America Inspired occurred from January 9, 2012 through January 27, 2012 to select the winner and runners up.

Kinoshita represented the passion category. The majority of Examiner.com readers voted for him over the 24 other finalists – to award him the grand prize. Additionally, four runners-up will each receive $10,000 for their inspirational work through leadership, sacrifice, overcoming adversity, and being an outstanding youth.

Cari Meyers, Leadership
Anthony D'Urso, Sacrifice
Sabrina Cohen, Overcoming Adversity
Sean Young, Outstanding Youth

About Examiner.com
Examiner.com is an enterprise-quality publishing and community platform where independent, self-motivated contributors write on topics that matter to them and share content at scale for audiences around the world. A leading content provider with more than 20 million unique monthly visitors, Examiner.com offers high-quality, relevant content from 85,000 contributors. The Examiner.com team and review board curates a rich content library of 2.5 million articles, with 2,300 original pieces of content added every day. Examiner.com is a division of the Clarity Digital Group, LLC, wholly owned by The Anschutz Company, one of the largest sports and entertainment companies in the world.

Hublot Presents amfAR New York Gala

02.01.2012 - 09:10AM

/PRNewswire/ - Hublot, the luxury Swiss brand which brings the "Art of Fusion" to watchmaking, is proud to present the amfAR New York Gala on February 8, 2012 honoring those who have led the global struggle against HIV/AIDS. The black-tie benefit, which will be hosted by Sarah Jessica Parker, will feature special performances by Janelle Monae and Theophilus London.

"We are excited to again join forces with amfAR in the fight against HIV/AIDS," says Hublot chairman Jean-Claude Biver. "Our first amfAR men's collection was very well received and we hope that these new women's designs will bring us one step further in accomplishing the goal of a world without HIV/AIDS."

To support amfAR's goal and following the success of the men's amfAR collection, Hublot created a second limited edition collection for women featuring the foundation's colors and logo. It features a black ceramic case, white mother of pearl dial, and a white gold bezel set with 48 baguette diamonds (also available in a steel bezel set with 114 circular diamonds for the non-limited edition). It houses a self-winding chronograph movement and a white alligator strap sewn on black rubber. As a commemoration to amfAR, the watch features the foundation's colors and logo at the 5 o'clock mark. As with the first collection, part of the proceeds will go to support amfAR.

The evening will feature a gala dinner, live auction, special performances, and honoree tributes. For this special occasion, Jean-Claude Biver and Hublot are pleased to announce the auction of the first timepiece 000/100 of the new Hublot amfAR collection engraved with the signature of amfAR Founding Chairman Dr. Mathilde Krim.

About Hublot
Hublot made its name 30 years ago when it became the first Swiss watch luxury brand to fuse precious metals with functional rubber, sparking a revolution for material innovation and aesthetics. In 2004, Mr. Jean-Claude Biver gave Hublot a great new boost and revolutionized watchmaking with the creation of the "Big Bang", which marked the start of the spectacular success of the brand. In just five years Hublot has become one of the most sought-out high-end watch brands with some of its timepieces making watch history, such as the One Million Dollar Big Bang, All Black Big Bang and Mag Bang watches. In 2008 Hublot was bought by the LVMH group with Jean-Claude Biver as CEO and leading the company's guiding principle of "Fusion," which combines unusual materials such as ceramic, tantalum, magnesium and titanium with a modern version of Hublot's rubber strap.

About amfAR
amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, is one of the world's leading nonprofit organizations dedicated to the support of AIDS research, HIV prevention, treatment education, and the advocacy of sound AIDS-related public policy. Since 1985, amfAR has invested more than $340 million in its programs and has awarded grants to more than 2,000 research teams worldwide.

2012 Limited edition amfAR

TECHNICAL DETAILS

Series	341.CI.6019.LR.114.AMFR12 (carat version with baguette diamonds)
	Limited edition of 100 pieces numbered from 000/100 to 100/100

	341.CI.6019.LR.194.AMFR12 (diamonds version with circular diamonds)
	Non limited edition

Case	Big Bang - Diameter 41 mm – in black ceramic

Bezel	Black ceramic set with:
	- 114 circular diamonds (diamonds version) with steel black PVD treatment
	- 48 diamond baguette (carat version) with white gold black PVD treatment
	6 H-shaped titanium screws, countersunk, polished & locked.

Crystal	Sapphire with interior/exterior anti-reflective treatment
Bezel Lug	Black composite resin
Lateral inserts	Black composite resin
Crown	Polished Steel with blue rubber insert
Push-pieces	Steel with blue rubber inserts

Case-back	Black ceramic opened case-back
Water resistance	10 ATM or 100 metres

Dial	White mother of pearl dial with blue SuperLuminova™ indexes
	Logo AmfAR at 5.00

Hands	Polished black nickel hands with blue SuperLuminova™
	Yellow chronograph hand with polished & rhodium-plated H counterpoise

Movement	HUB4300 self-winding chronograph
Date	Trapezoid window at 4.30
Wristlet	Adjustable white alligator sewn on black rubber with blue and yellow stitching
Clasp	Steel Big Bang deployant buckle

Sainsbury's the Only UK Supermarket Named Among the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations

02.01.2012 - 08:56AM

Sainsbury’s is the only UK supermarket Retailer to be recognised as one of the "Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations" by Corporate Knights Inc, an independent media company focused on sustainable development. The list is announced each year during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and includes the corporations that have been most proactive in managing environmental, social and governance issues, and those with strong strategic management capabilities, capacity for innovation and ability to respond to changing competitive forces.

Sainsbury’s recently unveiled a new £1 billion plan, which will ensure the company remains at the forefront of sustainability between now and 2020. The Sainsbury's 20 by 20 Sustainability Plan sets out 20 sustainability targets to be achieved by 2020. The targets are based on Sainsbury’s five corporate values:

Best for food & health – including Healthiest Baskets: We’ll continue to reduce salt, saturated fat, fat and sugar in our own brand products
Sourcing with Integrity – including Best for British: By 2020, we'll double the amount of British food we sell
Respect for our environment – including Operational carbon emission reduction: By 2020, we'll have reduced our operational carbon emissions by 30 per cent absolute and 65 per cent relative, compared with 2005.
Great Place to Work – including 20 years service: By 2020, 20,000 of our colleagues will have reached 20 years service at Sainsbury's.
Making a positive difference to our community – including New jobs and skills: By 2020, we'll create 50,000 new jobs in the UK.

Planned initiatives include carbon-saving technologies for new and existing stores that will drive down energy usage, thereby reducing energy costs. There will also be an increased focus on providing customers with more British food as the company seeks to double the amount it currently sells, as well as a target to increase sales of fairly traded products to £1 billion.

Stuart Wright, Corporate Responsibility Manager at Sainsbury’s, said: “We have long been recognised as one of the leading UK companies when it comes to sustainability. Our industry-leading 20 by 20 targets are intended to help shift everyday behaviour in favour of sustainability, while still providing the value and quality that UK shoppers demand. It will also help shoppers make more nutritious, sustainable and ethical purchasing decisions.”

To learn more about Sainsbury’s 20 by 20 Sustainability plan, please visit www.j-sainsbury.co.uk/responsibility

Notes to editors

Our strong ethical approach has been at the heart of our business, ever since we opened our first store back in 1869. Our five values provide the framework for how we do business at Sainsbury’s. They guide us in everything we do – from key business decisions to day-today activities. In the current economic climate our values remain just as relevant. Although customers are increasingly price-conscious, ethical and environmental issues remain important for them. We believe that by considering the wider social, environmental and economic impacts of our business, we are able to meet our customers’ expectations by acting responsibly on their behalf. This ultimately delivers long-term shareholder value by securing our future ability to grow as a profitable business.

Sainsbury’s 20 by 20 Sustainability Plan

Best for food and health

Healthiest baskets: Between now and 2020, we'll continue to reduce salt, saturated fat, fat and sugar in our own brand products and we will lead on providing clear nutritional information, enabling our customers to make informed choices.

No.1 for lighter alcohol, wines & beers: By 2020, we'll double the sales of lighter alcohol wine and reduce the average alcohol content (ABV) of own brand wine and beer.

Sourcing with integrity

Sustainably sourced raw materials: By 2020, we'll source all of our key raw materials and commodities sustainably to an independent standard.
No deforestation: By 2020, our own brand products won't contribute to global deforestation.
Sustainable fish: By 2020, all the fish we sell will be independently certified as sustainable and we'll strengthen our position as the leading retailer for sustainable seafood.
No.1 for Fairtrade: By 2020, our sales of fairly traded products will hit £1 billion.
Best for British: By 2020, we'll double the amount of British food we sell.
No. 1 for animal welfare: By 2020, all our meat, poultry, eggs, game and dairy products will be sourced from suppliers who adhere to independent higher welfare standards.
Improve supplier standards: By 2020, our suppliers will also be leaders in meeting or exceeding our social and environmental standards.

Respect for our enviroment

Water stewardship: By 2020, through robust water stewardship we'll ensure that our supply chain approach is sustainable in areas of water vulnerability.
Positive waste usage: By 2020, we'll put all waste to positive use.
Sustainable and innovative packaging: By 2020, we'll make sure that our own packaging has been reduced by a half compared to 2005.
Operational carbon emissions reduction: By 2020, we'll have reduced our operational carbon emissions by 30 per cent absolute and 65 per cent relative, compared with 2005 (this is part of our broader target of an absolute carbon reduction of 50 per cent by 2030).
Supplier carbon emissions reduction: By 2020, we'll have worked with our own brand suppliers to reduce carbon emissions across all of our own brand products by 50 per cent relative.

Making a positive difference to our community

Active youth: By 2020, we'll have encouraged over 20 million children to enjoy physical activity in the decade.
Charitable causes: By 2020, we'll have donated over £400 million to charitable causes in the decade.

A great place to work

New jobs and skills: By 2020, we'll create 50,000 new job opportunities in the UK and at least half of our colleagues will have received externally accredited training.
Long service: By 2020, 20,000 of our colleagues will have reached 20 years of service at Sainsbury's.
Sharing in success: By 2020, we'll increase the number of colleagues with shares in our business by 25 per cent.

Work opportunities for disadvantaged groups: By 2020, we'll have provided 30,000 people from disadvantaged groups with work opportunities.

Globe 2012 Tackles Pipeline and Electricity Infrastructure Challenges

01.31.2012 - 01:30PM

With public hearings currently underway for the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline project and the US’s recent rejection of TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline and several electricity projects underway across the country, the challenges of developing the pipeline and electricity infrastructure to support Canada’s energy resources have never been more apparent. In recognition of this, GLOBE 2012, being held March 14-16, 2012 in Vancouver, Canada, has added a special session on Energy Infrastructure: The Environment and Economy Debate.

“Energy infrastructure will determine if Canada can fully tap into the potential of its natural resources and reach international markets,” says John Wiebe, President and CEO of the GLOBE Foundation. “Successfully developing this infrastructure calls for a deep understanding of how to protect sensitive ecosystems and the interests of Aboriginal communities.”

This special session provides an opportunity to hear from key players engaged in this increasingly complex activity of North American development. The session will take a town hall approach to encourage a frank and constructive dialogue on issues surrounding pipeline and electricity infrastructure development including:

Tackling the environmental and economic dilemmas related to resource development and transport;
Reconciling seemingly conflicting interests between multiple businesses and stakeholders;
Identifying and working with the critical points of convergence and divergence in the future.

Participants will come away with an understanding of mitigating the challenges involved in developing energy infrastructure responsibly.

As one of the world’s largest and longest-running series dedicated to the business of the environment GLOBE 2012 will feature social gatherings, workshops, and related meetings, offering GLOBE participants well-rounded opportunities to meet fellow attendees, build social networks, exchange views and do business. GLOBE’s world-renowned Trade Fair will feature more than 400 exhibitors showcasing the latest in green, clean technologies, innovations and services.

With participants expected from over 50 countries and a presence from China, Germany, Japan, Austria, France, Poland, United Kingdom, United States, Switzerland, Taiwan, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Columbia, Brazil, Israel, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Portugal, Spain, and Canada already confirmed – GLOBE 2012 will offer a truly international experience.

For more information visit: www.GLOBESeries.com.

Find us on Twitter: @GLOBE_Series

About GLOBE

GLOBE 2012 is produced by the GLOBE Foundation, an international consultancy organization in the business of the environment. GLOBE’s expertise lies in project management, event development, and management and consulting in the fields of environment and energy, urban development, and corporate responsibility. The GLOBE Foundation is North America’s longest operating producer of environmental events.

Volkswagen of America Sponsors MoMA PS1 Performance Dome, Which Launches February 5 With Weekly "Sunday Sessions"

01.31.2012 - 12:27PM

/PRNewswire/ - Volkswagen of America today announced the inauguration of a new performance dome at MoMA PS1, as part of its ongoing, innovative partnership with MoMA and MoMA PS1. The Volkswagen-sponsored MoMA PS1 Performance Dome will allow for expanded winter programming in MoMA PS1's iconic courtyard, namely weekly "Sunday Sessions," which will launch Sunday, February 5 and continue every Sunday through May 13, 2012.

Weekly "Sunday Sessions" in the MoMA PS1 Performance Dome will feature an amalgam of artistic programming—from light, sound, and music installations to lectures by world-renowned scholars and special performances. Various other galleries and rooms inside of the former schoolhouse will also be activated during these weekly sessions. The inaugural celebration of the dome on February 5 will feature a special performance by musician Nicolas Jaar and collaborators Will Epstein, Dave Harrington and Sasha Spielberg, presented by MoMA PS1, Pitchfork, and Clown & Sunset Aesthetics (CSA). The five-hour, continuous piece will combine recording, sampling, and looping techniques with analogue instrumentation and sound-derived video from CSA's resident filmmaker Ryan Staake as well as a movement piece from Lizzie Fiedelson LIVE in the MoMA PS1 Performance Dome.

Details about additional "Sunday Sessions" schedules will be forthcoming.

About the Volkswagen, MoMA, and MoMA PS1 Partnership

The Museum of Modern Art, MoMA PS1, and Volkswagen began a two-year partnership in 2011 that supports exhibitions and education at MoMA and at MoMA PS1. The major components of the partnership are the support for an international contemporary art exhibition at MoMA PS1 in 2013, and the expansion of MoMA's online course offerings beginning in March 2012. It also includes sponsorship of a series of installations in MoMA's Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden and new initiatives to take place in 2012.

This unprecedented partnership supports MoMA and MoMA PS1's leadership role in contemporary art and culture, and our goal of reaching a diverse and global audience. As part of the partnership with Volkswagen, Klaus Biesenbach, Director of MoMA PS1 and Chief Curator at Large at MoMA, is currently engaged in extensive research to scout artists working in multiple mediums throughout the world. A major exhibition filling MoMA PS1's entire gallery space, and utilizing the new MoMA PS1 Performance Dome, will open in 2013, highlighting artists who are reacting to the pressing questions of the 21st century with its interrelated ecological, economical, spiritual, ethnographic, political, and social challenges.

About MoMA PS1

MoMA PS1 is one of the largest and oldest organizations in the United States solely devoted to contemporary art. Established in 1976 by Alanna Heiss, MoMA PS1 originated from The Institute for Art and Urban Resources, a not-for-profit organization founded five years prior with the mission of turning abandoned, underutilized buildings in New York City into artist studios and exhibition spaces. P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, as it then was known, became an affiliate of The Museum of Modern Art in 2000.

About Volkswagen of America, Inc.

Founded in 1955, Volkswagen of America, Inc. is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia. It is a subsidiary of Volkswagen AG, headquartered in Wolfsburg, Germany. Volkswagen's operations in the United States include research and development, parts and vehicle processing, parts distribution centers, sales, marketing and service offices, financial service centers, and its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Volkswagen is one of the world's largest producers of passenger cars and Europe's largest automaker. Volkswagen sells the Beetle, Eos, Golf, GTI, Jetta, Jetta SportWagen, Passat, CC, Tiguan, Touareg and Routan vehicles through approximately 600 independent U.S. dealers.

Aveda and Green America: Dirt Rag, Greenability and Grit are Winners of the Aveda Environmental Award for Magazines

01.31.2012 - 12:01PM

Aveda and Green America honored the top leaders in sustainable magazine publishing by announcing the Winner, Runner Up and Finalist of 2012 Aveda Environmental Award for Magazines.

Dirt Rag, a leading mountain bike magazine, was the Aveda Environmental Award Winner; Greenability, Kansas City’s green living magazine, was the Runner Up; and GRIT, America’s rural lifestyle magazine, was the Finalist. All three magazines demonstrate industry leadership on environmental publishing practices.

The awards from Aveda, a pioneer in corporate environmental sustainability and responsibility, recognize environmental leadership and achievement in the magazine industry through use of environmentally responsible paper and production practices.

Dirt Rag Publisher, Maurice Tierney, said: “Because our staff and readers are avid mountain bikers and spend a lot of time outdoors, we treasure the environment and do what we can to minimize our footprint. As a natural extension of this, the staff is proud to use 90 percent recycled, Forest Stewardship Council Certified and Process Chlorine Free paper in Dirt Rag.” Tierney added, “It’s as simple as walking the walk.”

Julie Koppen, publisher of Greenability, commented: “Greenability's mission is to showcase the efforts Kansas City is making to be a more sustainable metropolitan area. We hope to be an example by upholding the highest standards for a printed magazine. So, our use of recycled and Forest Stewardship Council-certified paper is one example of how we can reduce our own use of natural resources.”

GRIT Publisher and Editorial Director, Bryan Welch, said: “We take considerable pride in using recycled-content paper to lessen GRIT magazine’s environmental impact. This decision goes hand-in-hand with our long history – dating back to the late 1800s – of being good stewards of the land. We hope that this will lead to greater environmental practices by others in the magazine industry, too!”

Green America’s Better Paper Project Director Frank Locantore said: “Despite the rise of the digital age, the world is using more paper than ever before. Dirt Rag, Greenability and GRIT are all shining examples of how we can make print more sustainable. They truly stand out in the magazine industry, where only about 2% of U.S. publications regularly use recycled paper.”

"True to our mission to care for the world we live in, Aveda encourages all the publishers we advertise with to adopt environmentally responsible paper and production practices,” said Rachael Ostrom, executive director of consumer engagement for Aveda. “We have been delighted to work with Green America to promote sustainable publishing by sponsoring the Aveda Environmental Award since 2005.”

How much is at stake if magazines get greener? If the entire North American magazine industry included a minimum of 30 percent post-consumer recycled paper in their publications, it would save approximately:

- 1.5 million tons of wood, or the equivalent of 10 million trees;

- 6.6 million BTU’s of energy, or the equivalent of heating 73 thousand homes;

- 1.8 billion pounds of CO2 emissions, or the equivalent of taking 160 thousand cars off the road;

- 7 billion gallons of wastewater, or the equivalent of 5 thousand swimming pools;

- And 780 million pounds of solid waste, or the equivalent to 28 thousand garbage trucks.

For a more comprehensive list of magazines using recycled paper and sustainable production processes visit Green America’s Better Paper Project website: http://betterpaper.ning.com/page/better-papers-better-magazine

ABOUT AVEDA
Empowered by its mission, Aveda believes that authentic beauty is one that works in harmony with the greater web of life and leads its business through environmental sustainability. For this reason, Aveda partnered with Green America in 2005 to found the Aveda Environmental Awards for Magazines. Akin to Aveda’s corporate leadership in environmental and social sustainability, this award recognizes the achievements of magazines committed to environmental leadership in an industry where less than two percent of all magazines contain any recycled content. For more information on Aveda’s mission and guiding principles visit http://aveda.aveda.com/aboutaveda/guiding_principles.asp.

ABOUT GREEN AMERICA AND THE BETTER PAPER PROJECT
Green America is the nation’s leading green economy organization. Founded in 1982, Green America (formerly Co-op America) provides the economic strategies, organizing power and practical tools for businesses and individuals to solve today's social and environmental problems. Green America’s green economy programs encourage corporate responsibility, tackle climate change, build fair trading systems, advance healthy, local communities, and provide green purchasing and investing information for families and businesses. Green America’s Better Paper Project is creating a greener magazine industry in the US and has assisted over 150 publishers in selecting environmentally responsible papers for their magazines. For more information, visit http://www.greenamerica.org and http://www.betterpaper.org.

CITGO Recognizes Canine Castaways, Inc. for Fueling Good

01.31.2012 - 11:54AM

/PRNewswire/ - Doing good in local communities is a core value woven throughout CITGO Petroleum Corporation and one that is uniquely demonstrated through its Fueling Good Program. Now in its third year, Fueling Good recognizes and rewards local heroes within their communities for the good works they do, from caring for the needy to providing food for the hungry to assisting kids who need dental care.

As part of its fall Fueling good program, CITGO is awarding Canine Castaways, Inc. with $5,000 in CITGO Gift Cards to help extend its Ripple of Good and the impact of its work educating area residents about responsible pet care and rescuing and rehabilitating homeless dogs.

"The reward from CITGO will make a huge impact on our education outreach programs and canine rescue efforts," said Kim Rinaldi, president of Canine Castaways, Inc. "Throughout the year, our dedicated volunteers travel across Southwest Florida in the Canine Castaways' Canine Cruiser mobile unit to rescue dogs and find them loving families. Along the way, we participate in pet adoption and community events to increase awareness of pet overpopulation and responsible pet care."

Canine Castaways is committed to educating people about issues central to pets and good pet care. In addition, through a partnership with local animal control and welfare organizations, the charity takes in unwanted dogs to prevent them from being euthanized. Since 2004, nearly 1,500 dogs have been saved. The non-profit organization also provides rehabilitation services for the rescued dogs to make sure the animals are well behaved and in good health prior to adoption.

Canine Castaways, Inc. is one of 12 CITGO fall Fueling Good winners determined from more than 1,500 charities through a nationwide online vote. More than 100,000 votes were cast to determine the latest winners

The winter 2011 Fueling Good program registration ended on Jan. 11 for all 501(c) (3) non-profit organizations within the CITGO marketing area. Online public voting runs from Jan. 12 to Feb. 9 to determine the next 12 winning charities, who will each receive $5,000 in CITGO Gift Cards to spread their own Ripple of Good.

To enter your charity for a chance to win up to $5,000 in CITGO Gift Cards, and to learn how CITGO and local organizations are making a difference, visit http://www.fuelinggood.com/. For regular updates and to join the conversation, "Like" CITGO Fueling Good at www.Facebook.com/CITGOFuelingGood and view videos of past winners at www.youtube.com/CITGOFuelingGood.

CITGO, based in Houston, is a refiner, transporter and marketer of transportation fuels, lubricants, petrochemicals and other industrial products. The company is owned by PDV America, Inc., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A., the national oil company of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. For more information, visit www.CITGO.com.

Sustainable Brands Announces "The Revolution Will Be Branded" as Rallying Cry and Theme for SB'12 Conference, June 4-7, 2012

01.31.2012 - 09:55AM

Sustainable Brands today revealed the theme and program focus for SB’12, the sixth annual gathering of 1000 brand leaders and sustainability executives. “The Revolution Will Be Branded” is set to explore the business transformation, market drivers and sustainability innovation underway in response to growing activism by consumers and citizens around the globe.

“Since the beginning of this century, a consumer revolution has been brewing that in 2012 is set to explode,” said said KoAnn Vikoren Skrzyniarz, CEO, Sustainable Brands. “Around the world, and across multiple demographic segments, a growing understanding of the connection between business activities and consumer choice, and the health and future of our families, our communities, and the planet, is spurring a revolution in the way society will define, create and measure value for the future.

“Sustainable brand leaders see brands as a platform for purpose and are already playing a role in supporting the revolution which fundamentally seeks to steer society back toward a flourishing future,” notes Ms. Skrzyniarz. From Patagonia’s call to reduced consumption by encouraging less frequent purchases of higher quality apparel and Zipcar’s enablement of consumption, to Levi’s campaign to build a consumer and brand partnership around smarter water use, this year’s conference will explore how smart brands are increasingly seeking and finding ways to embed purpose into the core of their brand. Sessions will explore how brands can and are using a deeper statement of purpose to drive innovation through the many stakeholder touch points brands engage with. We see brands having the opportunity to become heroes by leading the revolution to a sustainable and flourishing future.

Sustainable Brands has become ground zero for those sustainability, brand and design leaders who have been working to understand and leverage environmental and social innovation as a driver of brand innovation and value. This year, the Sustainable Brands community gathers June 4-7 at the Paradise Point Resort in San Diego for SB’12 where attendees will learn from the brands that are succeeding in turning their brands into platforms for purpose.

Speaking and Sponsorship Opportunities
Sustainable Brands remains open to speaker nominations and sponsorship support for SB’12. Senior executives who have demonstrated enhanced business or brand value through sustainable innovation, and thought leaders with insight into future trends or driving the shift to a sustainable future are encouraged to submit abstracts. Sponsorship opportunities and exhibit space are also now available; but sell quickly. For more information, visit SB’12 Sponsorship

About Sustainable Brands
Sustainable Brands is the global learning, collaboration, and commerce community committed to replenishing the world through better brands. Sustainable Brands offers news and views from thought and practice leaders, online and live events, a robust resource library, peer-to-peer learning groups, E-learning, and a set of solutions providers for corporate brand and sustainability professionals, social entrepreneurs and the eco-system of supporting value partners. Sustainable Brands inspires, engages and equips today's business and brand leaders to grow revenues and enhance brand value, reputation and loyalty, while helping create a healthy and sustainable future for all. Sustainable Brands is a production of Sustainable Life Media, located in San Francisco CA.

It's More Than (Just) Words...Recipients of the 2012 Harlequin More Than Words Award Inspire Page-turners

01.31.2012 - 09:13AM

/PRNewswire/ - Once upon a time, in the land of books and publishing, Harlequin asked readers, authors and fans to help choose the recipients for the 2012 Harlequin More Than Words award—a program that recognizes and rewards women making extraordinary contributions to their community. The story continues when the winning recipients are paired up with Harlequin authors and the recipients' journeys become the inspiration for three fictional short stories.

After more than 111,000 online votes and 7,800 Facebook shares, the 2012 recipients of the eighth annual Harlequin More Than Words award are Mindy Atwood of Hilliard, Ohio, who runs Patches of Light, a nonprofit organization where anonymous angels pay the rent for parents of desperately ill children; Helen McGovern of Tacoma, Washington, who oversees Emergency Food Network, which distributes food to 67 food banks, meal sites and shelters, including those with health restrictions; and Sally Spencer of Toronto, Ontario, who manages a mentoring program that rescues at-risk children.

"We are thrilled that our readers and fans have voted for such deserving and diverse causes and the heroic women who champion them," said Donna Hayes, Publisher and CEO of Harlequin.

This year was the first time the public was invited to vote to determine the award recipients. By visiting www.HarlequinMoreThanWords.com, voters selected their favorite nominee from a list of five finalists. The three nominees with the highest amount of votes were chosen as the 2012 Harlequin More Than Words award recipients. The voting phase was open for four weeks, from October 7, 2011 to November 11, 2011.

Since 2004—the inception of the program—an internal Harlequin employee committee has selected the winners of the Harlequin More Than Words award from written submissions, which were judged on specific criteria, including capacity to inspire others and contribution to the community.

The initiative is Harlequin's corporate social responsibility program that is dedicated to celebrating the women who make a positive difference in the lives of others. Each of the honorees will receive $15,000 for her charity, equaling a total contribution by Harlequin of $45,000. Three of Harlequin's authors also donate their time and talent to write short stories inspired by the life and work of the recipients. The short stories will be available in 2013 in ebook format to download at no cost.

PATCHES OF LIGHT, a nonprofit organization that helps families of critically ill children by anonymously covering expenses to make it possible for parents to stay at their child's bedside, was almost out of funds for the 30 families currently awaiting assistance. Mindy Atwood, who founded the organization after two of her four sons faced life-threatening pediatric cancer and open-heart surgery, is delighted that she can once again provide assistance. In eleven years PATCHES OF LIGHT has assisted almost 10,000 people. "Our mission is to bring a patch of light to families during the darkness of their child's illness. Winning this award has brought me my own patch of light and reinforced the importance of our work," Mindy said.

Emergency Food Network (EFN) has been covering a growing demand for food in an awful economy, including food for people with dietary health restrictions. Executive Director Helen McGovern is thrilled that this nonprofit distributor serving more than 67 food banks, meal sites and shelters in Pierce County, Washington, can continue to feed its neighbors. "It is an honor to have been chosen by a successful and admired organization like Harlequin to participate in this experience. We are so grateful for the donation being made to Emergency Food Network to purchase food during this most difficult time," Helen said.

Youth Assisting Youth (YAY), a peer-mentoring program for at-risk children, encourages children to stay in school and helps keep them on a positive trajectory. YAY has reached nearly 30,000 children ages 6 to 15 since 1976 by assigning a positive, trained mentor between the ages of 16 and 29. CEO Sally Spencer will use the funds from this award to directly support YAY's One-to-One Peer Mentoring and Group Mentoring programs. "I am honored and humbled at being one of the recipients of the 2012 Harlequin More Than Words award. It is overwhelming to think about how many thousands of people supported me throughout this amazing and inspiring journey. And being the only Canadian winner makes it so very special. Thanks to all of the incredible support that I received, the kids at Youth Assisting Youth will be the ultimate beneficiaries and the true winners. Thank you again to Harlequin and everyone who made this possible," Sally said.

About Harlequin

Harlequin is one of the world's leading publishers of books for women, with titles issued worldwide in 31 languages and sold in 111 international markets. The company publishes more than 110 titles monthly and more than 1,200 authors from around the world. Harlequin is a wholly owned subsidiary of Torstar Corporation, a broadly based media company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TS.B). Harlequin's website is located at Harlequin.com. Harlequin has offices in 19 countries, including offices in Toronto, New York and London. For more information, please visit www.Harlequin.com.

YoYo.com and KaBOOM! Are Bringing Play Back Into Kids Lives in 2012

01.31.2012 - 09:04AM

Premiere toy website YoYo.com and national non-profit KaBOOM! are partnering to bring play to children everywhere.

With YoYo.com’s Refer-a-Friend program, new customers referred by existing YoYo.com customers will receive a code for 20% off their first order, plus YoYo will make a donation to “Save Play” with KaBOOM!. And as a special Valentine this February, YoYo.com will double their efforts with KaBOOM! by increasing the referral donation from $5 to $10. Plus, for every new Facebook “Like” received by YoYo.com, an additional dollar will go to KaBOOM!

“Like KaBOOM!, we believe that kids should have more opportunities for good, old-fashioned fun,” says Galyn Bernard, Site Leader of YoYo.com. “This is the perfect partnership. While KaBOOM! creates more play spaces, our simplified toy-shopping experience creates more play time – for everyone.”

“Yoyo.com brings joy to children every day through the great toys they offer on their website. We are grateful to them for joining our efforts to also make sure that every child in America has a great place to play,” says Darell Hammond, Founder and CEO of KaBOOM!.

KaBOOM! is the 2012 nonprofit beneficiary of the Refer-a-Friend program, and Yoyo.com customers can share the savings and support KaBOOM! throughout the year by referring new customers to the site. To start referring, register for free at YoYo.com, and visit their facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/yoyo.com.

Today’s kids have less time and fewer opportunities to play than any previous generation, a fact that is having disastrous consequences on their health and well-being. Play has been proven to help children develop physically, socially, emotionally and cognitively, yet only 1-in-5 children live within walking distance to a park or playground. The “Save Play” campaign addresses this challenge head on by funding initiatives that:

Help communities build playgrounds
Improve existing playgrounds through construction and spruce grants
Provide best practices and funding for school districts to open school after hours so they can be enjoyed by the community evenings and weekends

About KaBOOM!

KaBOOM! is the national non-profit dedicated to saving play. Children today spend less time playing outdoors than any previous generation, a fact that is having disastrous consequences on their health, achievement levels, and overall well-being. To fight this Play Deficit, social entrepreneur Darell taking action to provide one-million children access to playgrounds this year. At saveplay.org, visitors can learn more about the importance of play and the companies that are leading the way to address this critical children’s issue. In addition to receiving corporate funding, the Save Play campaign calls on individuals to donate their time and money to address the issue nationally.

About YoYo.com

YoYo.com is the toy store you've been wishing for. With more than 20,000 toys - from the season's must-haves and tried-and-true favorites to hard-to-find specialty items - plus features like the Toy Finder, YoYo Picks, and Top 10 Toys by Age, we'll help you find the perfect toys fast. And with free 2-day delivery on orders $49+, we make it easy to tackle your birthday, holiday and everything-in-between gift lists - for all the kids in your life.

AT&T Makes Donation to Support Children's Cancer Charity Camp Quality

01.31.2012 - 08:55AM

/PRNewswire/ - AT&T Inc.* continues to support Australian charities and has donated US$29,000 to Camp Quality, a charity that supports children living with cancer and their families in Australia.

In Australia, every day nearly three children are diagnosed with cancer, and every week three children will lose their battle with the disease. There are currently 15,000 children in Australia who are either recently diagnosed, currently in treatment or in remission from cancer. The donation will help Camp Quality in its work to build resilience in the lives of children living with cancer and their families, through a combination of fun therapy, education and medical support.

"We're thrilled to be able to help such a worthy cause as Camp Quality," said Fred Girouard, AT&T managing director for Australia and New Zealand. "We were introduced to Camp Quality by the Arnott's Foundation, one of the charity's leading partner organizations, and it's a fantastic Australian charity, doing great things for Australian families affected by cancer."

"In Australia, approximately 900 children are diagnosed with cancer each year. That is why AT&T's support of Camp Quality will have such an impact. Thank you for helping us to bring optimism, happiness and resilience to the lives of children and families living with cancer," said Bronwyn Neeson, partnerships manager, Camp Quality. "A parent recently said to me that Camp Quality means a lot of things to their family: 'To me it is where Brendan learnt to smile again and where he played for the first time after many months.' AT&T's support helps us to continue to have this impact with our children and families during their cancer journey."

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

About Camp Quality
Camp Quality is the children's family cancer charity that believes in bringing optimism and happiness to the lives of children and families affected by cancer through fun therapy. We believe laughter is the best medicine.

About Philanthropy at AT&T
AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is committed to advancing education, strengthening communities and improving lives. Through its philanthropic initiatives, AT&T has a long history of supporting projects that create learning opportunities; promote academic and economic achievement; and address community needs. In 2010, more than $148.2 million was contributed through corporate-, employee- and AT&T Foundation-giving programs.

About AT&T
AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is a premier communications holding company and one of the most honored companies in the world. Its subsidiaries and affiliates – AT&T operating companies – are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world. With a powerful array of network resources that includes the nation's fastest mobile broadband network, AT&T is a leading provider of wireless, Wi-Fi, high speed Internet, voice and cloud-based services. A leader in mobile broadband and emerging 4G capabilities, AT&T also offers the best wireless coverage worldwide of any U.S. carrier, offering the most wireless phones that work in the most countries. It also offers advanced TV services under the AT&T U-verse® and AT&T |DIRECTV brands. The company's suite of IP-based business communications services is one of the most advanced in the world. In domestic markets, AT&T Advertising Solutions and AT&T Interactive are known for their leadership in local search and advertising.

Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and services provided by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at http://www.att.com. This AT&T news release and other announcements are available at http://www.att.com/newsroom and as part of an RSS feed at www.att.com/rss. Or follow our news on Twitter at @ATT.

© 2012 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. Mobile broadband not available in all areas. AT&T, the AT&T logo and all other marks contained herein are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies.

Kohl's Cares(R) Merchandise from Dana Buchman Features Classic Style that Gives Back

01.31.2012 - 07:00AM

Kohl’s Department Stores (NYSE: KSS) invites customers to support women’s health with Kohl’s Cares^® cause merchandise by renown fashion designer Dana Buchman. The exclusive cause merchandise offers shoppers apparel, accessories and gifts which can be found in all 40 Wisconsin Kohl’s stores and online at Kohls.com, with 100 percent of the net profit donated to support the fight against breast cancer. The collection is available now through the end of April.

The exclusive Dana Buchman cause merchandise collection is the embodiment of everyday chic and includes items ranging from beaded bracelets and graphic tees to stylish yet functional lunch totes and travel coffee mugs. Featuring Dana Buchman’s trademark safari print in various shades of pink, brown and tan, all items are available for $5 or $10 each – a great way to chase away the winter blues with a pop of color. To view the entire collection or to purchase these items online, visit Kohls.com/Cares.

“We are delighted to offer exclusive cause merchandise by designer Dana Buchman,” said Julie Gardner, Kohl’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer. “Dana designed this limited edition collection to empower women to support a cause close to their hearts. Her pieces are synonymous with timeless style and offer customers the opportunity to be fashionable and value-conscious while supporting the fight against breast cancer.”

The exclusive collection of Dana Buchman cause merchandise includes apparel, accessories and fashion jewelry featuring the signature Dana Buchman safari print. The collection includes scarves, umbrellas, wristlets, tees and watches in various shades of pink, brown and tan, among other items. The Kohl’s Cares breast cancer cause merchandise has its own center aisle display where all items are displayed together to make it easy for customers to shop and support the cause.

Kohl’s breast cancer cause merchandise program is available year-round, with 100 percent of the net profit donated to the fight. Kohl’s also supports women’s health with a commitment of $7 million over three years to the American Cancer Society’s Midwest Division and the Southeast Wisconsin Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure^® to support breast cancer research, education and patient-assistance programs.

The Kohl’s Cares women’s health initiative builds upon Kohl’s long history of charitable involvement in the communities it serves. Since 2000, Kohl’s and the Kohl’s Cares program have combined to give approximately $39 million to support charitable initiatives in the metro-Milwaukee area. In addition, over the past 10 years, the company’s Kohl’s Cares cause merchandise program, which sells plush toys and books, has raised more than $180 million to benefit children's health and education initiatives nationwide.

For more information on Kohl’s community giving or to view Kohl’s Cares cause merchandise, visit Kohls.com/Cares.

About Kohl’s

World Soy Foundation and Cargill to Host Corporate Social Responsibility Conference on Child Nutrition in Nicaragua

01.30.2012 - 05:27PM

The World Soy Foundation (WSF) and Cargill announce plans for Nicaragua’s first corporate responsibility conference focused on childhood nutrition. The organizations encourage businesses to join them for “Nutrition Solutions for Central America, An Alternative to Corporate Social Responsibility” on Feb. 15-16 at the Convention Center of Hotel Crowne Plaza in Managua.

Participants will explore a wide range of nutrition topics, including the role of corporate responsibility to improve health and nutrition. The event is sponsored by the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (COSEP) and the Nicaraguan Union for Social Responsibility.

Cargill’s sponsorship of a three-year World Soy Foundation project has already nourished 27,756 children and trained 251 care providers in Central America. This initiative has also mobilized greater CSR opportunities in Honduras and Guatemala, where similar CSR conferences were held in 2009 and 2010.

“Cargill’s sponsorship of the World Soy Foundation has benefitted thousands of children and helped the business community focus on opportunities to do even more good,” said World Soy Foundation executive director, Nathan Ruby.

Prior to the CSR Conference in February, Cargill will deliver textured soy protein to six Nicaraguan schools. Cargill’s corporate vice president, Alfredo Velez said, “Improving childhood nutrition in Nicaragua is a long-term investment. Food security is critical to our business. We support education, health and nutrition programs that make a positive impact on the communities where we live and work.”

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the most recent study in Nicaragua shows that in 1998, 12 percent of Nicaraguan children less than five years old were underweight and 25 percent were stunted.

“Soy offers much-needed protein and other nutrients that help kids grow and learn,” said Ruby. “Kids and adults love the taste of these fortified foods, too.”

Cargill invests in Nicaragua to improve and develop nutrition, health, education and sanitary conditions in school children. The company supports training for parents and teachers regarding the handling and preparation of school meals.

About World Soy Foundation

The World Soy Foundation is a 501c3 charitable organization that reduces malnutrition through the power of soy. An optimal source of protein, soy can play a powerful role in a child’s journey to health, happiness and a productive life. Therefore, the World Soy Foundation creates partnerships and builds alliances that deliver soy protein and nutrition education around the world. It is headquartered at the American Soybean Association. More information is available at www.worldsoyfoundation.org or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TheWSF and Twitter at www.twitter.com/thewsf

About Cargill

Cargill is an international producer and marketer of food, agricultural, financial and industrial products and services. Founded in 1865, the privately held company employs 142,000 people in 66 countries. Cargill helps customers succeed through collaboration and innovation, and is committed to applying its global knowledge and experience to help meet economic, environmental and social challenges wherever it does business. For more information, visit Cargill.com and its news center.

Constellation Brands Donates More Than $160,000 to Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research Through National Campaign

01.30.2012 - 03:45PM

/PRNewswire/ - Constellation Brands, Inc., the world's leading premium wine company, presented a check today for approximately $163,000 to the Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research (Rally) as part of its national "Corks Against Cancer" campaign. Constellation donated $1 for every bottle of Blackstone wine that was sold from September-December 2011 to Rally, a non-profit organization which raises awareness and funds for childhood cancer research.

"For the last four years, a grassroots partnership developed between Rally and Constellation Brands," said Rob Sands, president and chief executive officer, (CEO) Constellation Brands, Inc. "As a result of this national fundraising campaign, we are very pleased to donate to Rally to help in the fight against childhood cancer, which is the number one disease killer of children in America from birth through age 15."

Rally will use the funds in the hope of developing better cancer treatments with fewer long-term side effects and ultimately cures. Since its inception in 2005, Rally has awarded more than $2.2 million in research grants supporting 50 childhood cancer projects in hospitals across the country.

"Childhood cancer is vastly different than adult cancer and requires substantially different research," said Dean Crowe, founder and CEO of Rally. "Thanks to companies like Constellation Brands, we are able to provide significant dollars to local hospitals across the country to fund key research to find better treatments and cures for childhood cancers."

"I want to thank Constellation's employees who volunteered their time at the wine tasting events and partnering restaurants and liquor stores around the country," said Sands. "The dedication of our employees to give of their time further demonstrates Constellation's collective commitment to social causes and giving back to local communities."

To find out more about The Rally Foundation and Corks Against Cancer, visit RallyFoundation.org or contact Christen Patterson at christen@rallyfoundation.org via phone 404-847-9176 or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/#!/corksagainstcancer

About Constellation Brands

Constellation Brands is the world's leading premium wine company that achieves success through an unmatched knowledge of wine consumers, storied brands that suit varied lives and tastes, and talented employees worldwide. With a broad portfolio of widely admired premium products across the wine, beer and spirits categories, Constellation's brand portfolio includes Robert Mondavi, Clos du Bois, Blackstone, Arbor Mist, Estancia, Ravenswood, Ruffino, Jackson-Triggs, Inniskillin, Kim Crawford, Corona Extra, Black Velvet Canadian Whisky and SVEDKA Vodka.

Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ and STZ.B) is a S&P 500 Index and Fortune 1000® company with more than 100 brands in our portfolio, sales in about 100 countries and operations in approximately 30 facilities. The company believes that industry leadership involves a commitment to our brands, to the trade, to the land, to investors and to different people around the world who turn to our products when celebrating big moments or enjoying quiet ones. We express this commitment through our vision: to elevate life with every glass raised. To learn more about Constellation, visit the company's website at www.cbrands.com.

About Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research (Rally)

Childhood cancer is the number one disease killer of kids ages 0 to 15. Rally, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, empowers volunteers across the country to raise awareness and funds for childhood cancer research to find better treatments with fewer long-term side effects and, ultimately, cure. Volunteers participate in the Rally Athlete program, which offers half marathon training teams for select national races and other Rally fundraisers. Rally received the Independent Charities Seal of Excellence, and according to independently audited financials, 93 cents of every dollar raised, supports Rally's mission. For more information, visit RallyFoundation.org.

DNDi and Abbott Expand Partnership

01.30.2012 - 03:15PM

The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) and Abbott have signed a four-year joint research and non-exclusive licensing agreement to undertake research on new treatments for several of the world's most neglected tropical diseases, including Chagas disease, helminth infections, leishmaniasis and sleeping sickness. Through this collaboration, DNDi and Abbott scientists will focus initial efforts on discovering and advancing novel antimicrobial agents with activity against these neglected diseases.

Since 2009, Abbott has provided compounds for DNDi to screen for activity against neglected diseases. This new agreement expands this relationship, and provides DNDi access to selected classes of molecules and accompanying data generated by Abbott that are crucial for the development of effective and accessible new treatments for neglected diseases.

"Innovative product development partnerships have significant potential for addressing neglected diseases," said Dr. John Leonard, senior vice president, Pharmaceuticals, Research and Development, Abbott. "By combining the unique scientific expertise and resources of DNDi and Abbott, we look forward to accelerating research to find practical new treatment options for people affected by these diseases."

"Abbott has demonstrated a great level of commitment by partnering with DNDi to share not only its compounds, but also its expertise and resources. For DNDi, this implies a new critical mass of knowledge to pursue our goals of addressing the unmet needs of neglected patients in the poorest areas of the world," said Dr Bernard Pécoul, Executive Director of DNDi.

Equitable access to treatments for neglected diseases in all endemic countries, not only least-developed countries, is at the core of this agreement, and DNDi has committed to ensuring the lowest sustainable pricing for any products developed and distributed as a result of the agreement. Intellectual property (IP) related to this agreement, existing relevant Abbott IP and new IP generated by this collaboration will be subject to a principle of non-exclusive licensing to address neglected diseases in endemic countries. Under the agreement, Abbott has the right of first negotiation to become DNDi’s development and distribution partner. DNDi is free to engage other partners if Abbott chooses not to serve as a development and distribution partner.

The agreement, in short implies:

Both DNDi and Abbott share their unique scientific expertise and resources to advance the development of drugs adapted to patient needs.
DNDi gains access to Abbott compounds, data and information to accelerate drug development.
Non-exclusive licensing structure for relevant IP in the neglected diseases field provides flexibility, thus expanding the potential of drug development.
Any resulting products will be provided in endemic countries at the lowest sustainable price to expand patient access.

About the London NTD event

In the largest coordinated effort to date to combat NTDs, the group announced at an event at the Royal College of Physicians that they would: sustain or expand existing drug donation programs to meet demand through 2020; share expertise and compounds to accelerate research and development of new drugs; and provide more than US$785 million to support R&D efforts and strengthen drug distribution and implementation programmes. The partners also signed onto the “London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases,” in which they pledged new levels of collaboration and tracking and reporting of progress.

New funding commitments will fully support work toward the eradication of Guinea worm, as well as expedite progress toward the 2020 goals of: elimination for lymphatic filariasis, blinding trachoma, sleeping sickness and leprosy; and control of soil-transmitted helminthes, schistosomiasis, river blindness, Chagas and visceral leishmaniasis.

About Neglected Tropical Diseases

Neglected diseases are a group of tropical infections that disproportionately affect the world’s poor and marginalized populations. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than a billion people or one-sixth of the global population suffer from one or more tropical infectious diseases. The partnership between DNDi and Abbott is focused on finding new treatments to address the following diseases:

Chagas disease is endemic in 21 countries across Latin America and kills more people in the region than any other parasite-borne disease, including malaria. In total, 100 million people are at risk worldwide and patient numbers are growing in non-endemic countries such as the United States, Australia, and Europe. The disease is transmitted by an insect known as the "kissing bug" and, without treatment, is potentially fatal. Existing treatments have an unsatisfactory cure rate and can have toxic side effects.
Helminth infections include filarial diseases, onchocerciasis (river blindness) and lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis) caused by parasitic worms, which inflict the heaviest socioeconomic burden of all the neglected tropical diseases and affect millions in poverty-stricken areas. Current treatments for these diseases cannot be used for patients who are infected with a related nematode worm, Loa loa, because of the severe side effects caused by rapid killing of juvenile Loa loa worms. There is an urgent need for a new treatment for onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis in Loa loa endemic regions.
Leishmaniasis occurs in 98 countries, placing 350 million people at risk worldwide. The parasite that leads to infection is called Leishmania and transmitted by sandflies. Leishmaniasis is a poverty-associated disease with several different forms. Visceral leismaniasis, which is fatal without treatment, and cutaneous leshmaniasis are the most common. Existing treatments are difficult to administer, toxic, and costly. Drug resistance also is an increasing problem.
Sleeping sickness, or Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT), is endemic in 36 African countries and around 60 million people are at risk of being infected. HAT is transmitted by the tsetse fly and is fatal without treatment. Up until 2009, existing treatments for stage 2 of the disease were toxic or difficult to administer. In 2009, DNDi and its partners launched the first new treatment for HAT in 25 years.

About Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi)

The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) is a not-for-profit research and development organization working to deliver new treatments for neglected diseases, in particular sleeping sickness (human African trypanosomiasis), Chagas disease, leishmaniasis, specific helminth infections, paediatric HIV, and malaria. DNDi was established in 2003 by Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ) from Brazil, Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), Ministry of Health of Malaysia, and Pasteur Institute of France. The Special Programme for Tropical Disease Research (TDR) serves as a permanent observer. Since its inception, DNDi has delivered six new treatments for neglected patients: two fixed-dose antimalarials (ASAQ and ASMQ), nifurtimox-eflornithine combination therapy (NECT) for late-stage sleeping sickness, sodium stibogluconate and paromomycin (SSG&PM) combination therapy for visceral leishmaniasis in Africa, a set of combination therapies for visceral leishmaniasis in Asia, and a paediatric dosage form of benznidazole for Chagas disease. www.dndi.org

About Abbott

Abbott and its philanthropic foundation, the Abbott Fund, are supporting innovative new efforts to advance the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of neglected diseases around the world. In 2009, Abbott created an Executive Council for Neglected Diseases to coordinate efforts across the company to contribute innovative technologies, drug compounds and scientific expertise, working in partnership with non-profit organizations, academic research institutions and multilateral agencies. The Abbott Fund also supports programs to advance research and expand community education and outreach on neglected diseases.

Abbott is a global, broad-based health care company devoted to the discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of pharmaceuticals and medical products, including nutritionals, devices and diagnostics. The company employs approximately 91,000 people and markets its products in more than 130 countries. Abbott's news releases and other information are available on the company's website at www.abbott.com.

The Ethical Sourcing Forum Adds New Plenary: How Do You Drive Sustainability Progress Among Your Supply Chain?

01.30.2012 - 02:14PM

What combination of education, training and technical solutions does it take to compel change through your organization as well as your suppliers'?

In "Exploring New Models for Driving Sustainability Progress in the Supply Chain" you will hear from a diverse panel of sustainability practitioners, featuring Coca Cola, Intel, ITC, Intertek and Bic, on how they are using new models to create value for their organization as well as their supply chain. We will discuss how these models can be replicated for your industry and specific needs, the role of critical innovation in change management as well as the compelling argument of creating shared value across your organizations and supply chains.

Visit Ethicalsourcingforum.com for the complete agenda.

Take advantage of our special corporate rate of $850 thru 2-12-12 ($500 for NGO’s and Academia)

http://www.ethicalsourcingforum.com/esf-new-york-2012/

Sodexo Offers Integrated Solution for Managing Sustainability and Wellness at Client Sites with SMART

01.30.2012 - 11:23AM

/PRNewswire/ - More than 90 of the nation's schools, college campuses, health care facilities and corporations are taking a new approach to measuring and improving sustainability and wellness efforts, thanks to the Sustainability Management and Reporting Tool (SMART) officially launched this month by Sodexo, Inc., the leader in Quality of Daily Life Solutions.

Piloted at 22 locations across the U.S. in 2011, SMART is Sodexo's proprietary solution for driving sustainability performance at client sites. SMART is a comprehensive, yet easy to use dashboard that helps managers establish baseline sustainability performance, prioritize initiatives, and track continuous improvement in four key best practice areas - carbon and energy, water, waste, and healthy/sustainable food and environments

"With its intuitive dashboard design and ability to positively influence the triple bottom line, SMART has been extremely well received by clients across all of our market segments," said Georgeann Georges, project manager, Sodexo. "Requests to implement SMART at new sites have been robust and we plan to roll it out to 1000 clients sites by October 2012."

SMART was developed in part to help Sodexo fulfill its commitments to the environment, local communities and health and wellness as identified in its Better Tomorrow Plan, the company's global roadmap to sustainability. Another key driver for creating SMART was the opportunity it provides to leverage Sodexo's scale and size by engaging teams at its 6,000 client sites in North America.

Using SMART enables clients to analyze up to 150 separate actions that can improve measurable performance in each respective area. In addition, SMART allows clients to:

Estimate energy use and the associated climate impact
Review progress and trend data in either a summary dashboard or in a detailed layout
View customized and specific recommendations for making immediate improvements
Generate customized sustainability reports for internal and external presentation

Cotati-Rohnert Park Unified School District in Sonoma County California piloted SMART at Lawrence E. Jones Middle School in August 2011. The sustainability assessment showed that the school was doing extremely well in areas like sustainable and healthy eating practices including local food sourcing. However, SMART also uncovered significant areas for improvement, including energy efficiency and waste management.

"One of the most exciting aspects of SMART is the engagement opportunity it provides with our clients and their customers," adds Georges. "It's a unique opportunity to demonstrate our solutions expertise in areas beyond those for which we are typically known."

Read more about Sodexo's Better Tomorrow Plan and its commitments to the environment, health and wellness and support for local communities. You can also view the FY 2010 performance-based sustainability report for Sodexo at bettertomorrow.sodexoUSA.com.

About Sodexo

Sodexo in North America
Sodexo, Inc. (www.sodexoUSA.com), leading Quality of Daily Life Solutions company in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, delivers On-site Service Solutions in Corporate, Education, Health Care, Government, and Remote Site segments, as well as Motivation Solutions such as Esteem Pass. Sodexo, Inc., headquartered in Gaithersburg, Md., funds all administrative costs for the Sodexo Foundation (www.SodexoFoundation.org), an independent charitable organization that, since its founding in 1999, has made more than $17 million in grants to end childhood hunger in America. Visit the corporate blog at www.sodexoUSA.com/blog.

Sodexo, world leader in Quality of Life Services
Quality of Life plays an important role in the progress of individuals and the performance of organizations. Based on this conviction, Sodexo acts as a partner for companies and institutions that place a premium on performance and employee well-being, as it has since Pierre Bellon founded the company in 1966. Sharing the same passion for service, Sodexo's 413,000 employees in 80 countries design, manage and deliver an unrivaled array of Quality of Life Services. Sodexo has created a new form of service business that contributes to the fulfillment of its employees and the economic, social and environmental development of the communities, regions and countries in which it operates.

Key Figures (as of August 31, 2011)

	Sodexo in the World	Sodexo in North America
	16 billion euro consolidated revenue 413,000 employees 22nd largest employer worldwide 33,400 sites 80 countries 50 million consumers served daily	8.0 billion dollars revenue 125,000 employees 6,000 sites 700 facilities management sites 10 million consumers served daily

Membership Opens for GreenBlue’s Forest Products Working Group

01.30.2012 - 10:30AM

Sustainability nonprofit GreenBlue has opened membership for its newly formed Forest Products Working Group, which brings together leading companies that rely on paper, wood, and other forest products to share their knowledge and develop new solutions for making their businesses more sustainable.

The group was first publicly announced in October 2011 with eight founding members: Avery Dennison Corporation, Avon Products, Inc., Bank of America, Catalyst Paper, Domtar, HAVI Global Solutions, Sappi Fine Paper North America, and Staples. GreenBlue is now seeking other leading companies to join the group.

Following the successful blueprint of GreenBlue’s industry-leading Sustainable Packaging Coalition, the Forest Products Working Group will work on a variety of projects each year to develop resources and conduct research on best practices and technological innovations. For its inaugural project, the group is designing a set of clear, science-based guidelines to inform decision-making for paper design, procurement, use, and recovery.

“Intelligent business models are needed to incorporate sustainability into standard business practice,” said founding member Jake Swenson, Director, Sustainable Products & Services at Staples. “The Forest Products Working Group has the opportunity to do this through its cross-industry representation with a focus on measurable results and innovative thinking.”

Any company that relies on forest products to meet business objectives—including paper suppliers, consumer product goods companies, retailers, publishing companies, and building product manufacturers—is invited to join the group.

Member benefits include:

Opportunity to participate in all project work and introduce new project ideas
Access to all resources developed by the group
Complimentary attendance to two annual Forest Products Working Group meetings
Participation in bi-monthly conference calls
Opportunity to connect and collaborate with other members
Demonstrate corporate leadership in improving the sustainability of forest products

For information on eligibility requirements, membership dues, and to apply for membership, please visit http://www.greenblue.org/activities/forest-products/forest-products-working-group.

About GreenBlue

GreenBlue^®is a nonprofit that equips business with the science and resources to make products more sustainable. GreenBlue currently works in three program areas: chemicals, packaging, and forest products, as well as working one-on-one with companies through GreenBlue Advisory Services.

Hershey Expands Responsible Cocoa Community Programs in west Africa

01.30.2012 - 09:28AM

Certified Products: Hershey to source cocoa for Hershey's Bliss chocolates from Rainforest Alliance Certified
Ivory Coast Investment: Hershey to expand company's innovative CocoaLink mobile phone program to farmers in Ivory Coast
Farmers & Families: HERSHEY LEARN TO GROW Farm and Family Development Center to Open in Ghana
Long-Term Commitment: Hershey to invest $10 million by 2017 to redue child labor and improve cocoa supply in West Africa

The Hershey Company (NYSE: HSY) today announced its plan to reinforce cocoa sustainability efforts by accelerating farmer and family development in West Africa, where 70 percent of the world’s cocoa is grown.

Over the next five years, Hershey will expand and accelerate programs to improve cocoa communities by investing $10 million in West Africa and continuing to work with experts in agriculture, community development and government to achieve progress with cocoa farmers and their families. By 2017, Hershey’s public and private partnerships will directly benefit 750,000 African cocoa farmers and over two million people in cocoa communities across the region.* Because cocoa farms are family farms, improving farming increases family income. Today, West African farmers can increase their cocoa output by 50 percent through modern methods. Doing so will increase school attendance and improve community health.

Hershey has worked with farmers and development organizations for more than 50 years. Most cocoa farmers live on small, isolated family farms. They are eager to improve their farming methods and The Hershey Company is investing in major programs to make them better farmers. Today’s announcement builds on the company’s cocoa expertise and partnerships and will focus on increasing the income of the region’s two million cocoa farmers and ensuring long-term cocoa sustainability for the region and for Hershey’s global product line. More information about Hershey's cocoa sustainability efforts is available at: www.HersheyCocoaSustainability.com.

Hershey is extending our commitment with new programs to drive long-term change in cocoa villages where families will benefit from our investments in education, health and economic opportunities,” said J.P. Bilbrey, President and CEO, The Hershey Company. “Our global consumers want The Hershey Company to be a leader in responsible business practices and in finding smart ways to benefit cocoa communities. We are excited and humbled by this opportunity to create positive change in West Africa.

Later this year, U.S. consumers will be able to purchase products with 100 percent cocoa from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms. Rainforest Alliance Certified farms have met comprehensive sustainability standards that protect the environment and ensure the safety and well-being of workers, their families and communities. Hershey’s Bliss® chocolates are available to U.S. consumers at more than 35,000 retail outlets. In addition, Hershey is working with the Rainforest Alliance to source cocoa from certified farms in Latin America and Africa for Hershey’s premium brand,Dagoba.

While working with farmers to improve long-standing agricultural practices, Hershey and the Rainforest Alliance will also help them prepare for the future. For example, Hershey and the Rainforest Alliance will collaborate to provide cocoa farmers with training to help them address global climate change and adapt to its impacts. As part of an overall strategy to eliminate child labor, Rainforest Alliance inspectors will monitor and audit practices on farms supplying certified beans to Hershey, including instances of unsafe or illegal child labor.

The Rainforest Alliance will use training programs to reduce child labor and increase school attendance. These programs will be coordinated with industry and government initiatives. We support Hershey’s comprehensive approach to sustainability, through educating cocoa farmers on best practices and improving conditions for cocoa farming communities in West Africa,” said Tensie Whelan, president of the Rainforest Alliance. “We are thrilled to be working with Hershey to bring their sustainability commitments to life, from cocoa farms in West Africa to store shelves across North America.

During the past decade, The Hershey Company and its public and private partners have invested in developing new agricultural practices that are helping West African farmers double the yield on their cocoa farms, which in turn increases their family’s income.

In 2011, Hershey introduced an innovative mobile phone program in Ghana, known as CocoaLink, to reach thousands of farmers with practical messages about growing cocoa and family health. Today, more than two-thirds of cocoa farmers in Ghana are using low-cost mobile phones in their households. CocoaLink is a first of its kind partnership program developed with World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) and the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD).

Based on the success of the company’s CocoaLink mobile phone project in Ghana, Hershey said today it is planning to expand the network into the Ivory Coast. Through CocoaLink, cocoa farmers receive text and voice messages that enable them to improve farming practices, understand issues related to pests and adverse weather conditions, improve labor practices and ask questions of cocoa experts in real time. In the next phase of CocoaLink, Hershey plans to work with the Rainforest Alliance to incorporate important messages about conservation and climate change into the program. Through CocoaLink, Hershey and its partners are committed to reaching 100,000 Ghana cocoa farmers by 2014. The Ivory Coast has approximately 600,000 cocoa farmers and industry data indicates that about half are already using mobile phones.

Introducing HERSHEY LEARN TO GROW Farm Program
Improved farming practices directly enhance family, community and education in cocoa villages. For example, supplying farmers with high-yielding seedlings, better planting and pruning practices, organic fertilization and biocontrol of insect pests are all technologies that are embraced in Ghana’s cocoa region. More than 50 percent of farm family income in his region comes from cocoa, so every extra pound of cocoa is extra cash for the family budget.

For these reasons, Hershey and its partner, Source Trust, today announced a new initiative known as HERSHEY LEARN TO GROW. Through this initiative, Hershey will create a farmer and family development center in the heart of Ghana’s central cocoa region. Source Trust is a non-profit organization set up to help farmers improve their livelihoods through better crop yields and quality, achieved through sustainable farming practices. The program will start this year and involve more than 5,000 cocoa community members, in addition to more than 1,000 farm families.
Through HERSHEY LEARN TO GROW, Hershey and Source Trust will:

Establish 25 community-based farmer organizations to improve the living standards of 1,250 cocoa farm families through good agricultural, environmental, social and business practices training; access to improved planting material; and finance for farm inputs with the goal to double productivity yield and farm income over four years.
Assist the Government of Ghana to meet the goals of Ghana’s 2009-2015 National Plan of Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor (WFCL).
Bring high-tech learning to rural farm villages through technology centers that can be used by schools, farmers and the wider community. HERSHEY LEARN TO GROW programs will be based on interactive curriculum to train cocoa farmers on good agricultural, environmental and social practices. HERSHEY LEARN TO GROW will also support GPS mapping of farm acreage so that farmers will use the right amount of fertilizers and pesticides for maximum yield and sustainability.

By accelerating its cocoa programs in West Africa over the next five years, Hershey believes the company and the industry can achieve significant progress in helping farmers and improving social conditions. Hershey intends to invest approximately $10 million in West Africa to improve cocoa farming, community health and in reducing the worst forms of child labor.

Through both its own and partner programs, Hershey estimates the company will directly impact 750,000 cocoa farmers and indirectly benefit more than two million West Africans by 2017. Hershey will regularly update its progress on these programs through its Corporate Social Responsibility public reporting.

In addition to the initiatives announced today, Hershey is a founding member of a public-private partnership involving the global cocoa and chocolate industry and the U.S. Department of Labor. The partnership has created a new Framework of Action to significantly reduce the worst forms of child labor in Ghana and the Ivory Coast by 2020.

*Estimate based on continuing support at current levels for cocoa sustainability programs in West Africa through 2017. On average, each cocoa farmer lives in a family with five other members. These programs are based on long-term partnerships with organizations that include USAID, USDA, USDOL, Cote d’Ivoire Cocoa Committee, numerous local and global NGOs, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In addition, the Hershey supported CocoaLink mobile phone program is projected to reach 250,000 West African farmers during this period.

About The Hershey Company
The Hershey Company (NYSE: HSY) is the largest producer of quality chocolate in North America and a global leader in chocolate and sugar confectionery. Headquartered in Hershey, Pa., The Hershey Company has operations throughout the world and more than 12,000 employees. With revenues of nearly $6 billion, Hershey offers confectionery products under more than 25 brand names, including such iconic brands as Hershey's Reese's, Hershey's Kisses, Hershey's Bliss, Hershey's Special Dark, Kit Kat, Twizzlers, and Ice Breakers. Hershey also offers premium and artisan chocolate products under such brands as Scharffen Berger and Dagoba through the Artisan Confections Company, a wholly owned subsidiary. The company is focused on growing its presence in key international markets such as China and Mexico while continuing to build its competitive advantage in the United States and Canada.

For more than 100 years, The Hershey Company has been a leader in making a positive difference in the communities where its employees live, work and do business. Corporate Social Responsibility is an integral part of the company’s global business strategy, which includes goals and priorities focused on fair and ethical business dealings, environmental stewardship, fostering a desirable workplace for employees, and positively impacting society and local communities. Milton Hershey School, established in 1909 by the company's founder and administered by Hershey Trust Company, provides a quality education, housing, and medical care at no cost to children in social and financial need. Students of Milton Hershey School are direct beneficiaries of The Hershey Company's success.

About the Rainforest Alliance
The Rainforest Alliance works with people whose livelihoods depend on the land, helping them transform the way they grow food, harvest wood and host travelers. From large multinational corporations to small, community-based cooperatives, businesses and consumers worldwide are involved in the Rainforest Alliance’s efforts to bring responsibly produced goods and services to a global marketplace where the demand for sustainability is growing steadily. For more information, visit www.rainforest-alliance.org.

About Source Trust:
Source Trust is a not-for-profit organization set up to help farmers improve their livelihoods through better crop yields and quality, through sustainable farming practices. Source Trust’s projects pave the way for long-term, sustainable cocoa production, while enhancing farmers’ business prospects.

Source Trust is funded by premiums paid by chocolate makers. These premiums are invested in the farming communities which supplied the chocolate maker’s cocoa. Projects delivered by Source Trust include farmer training on good agricultural practice, cocoa seed nurseries and planting material, farm inputs on credit, Village Resource Centers, Malaria Prevention and Community Infrastructure.

Widespread SEC Disclosure Noncompliance Triggered by Material ESG Issues

01.30.2012 - 09:00AM

Widespread corporate noncompliance with SEC requirements triggered by material ESG issues may cause many SEC filings to be materially misleading, inaccurate, or even fraudulent, finds the first independent, comprehensive technical study of how the SEC regime applies to ESG issues, conducted by CSR Insight™ LLC. Corporate noncompliance also triggers SEC liabilities and disclosure requirements for corporate boards, auditors, and registered investment advisers and funds.

More than a dozen SEC requirements potentially apply, for 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, and other corporate SEC filings, including narrative disclosure and financial statement requirements, books and records requirements, and management certification requirements. Corporate noncompliance also triggers auditor liabilities and potential violations under the current SEC regime.

The study found a substantial likelihood of widespread corporate noncompliance with one or more of these SEC requirements, due in major part to the inadequacies of most current enterprise software systems, both internally developed and vendor-purchased. What is lacking is the integration of the full range of ESG issues and risks and the associated additional SEC requirements into ERM, GRC, risk management, performance management, and financial information systems, and necessary linkages amongst these enterprise systems. This systems integration capacity is necessary for companies to properly identify, evaluate, measure, manage, and monitor these complex, escalating issues and risks, including their nature, magnitude, probability, timing, and business and operating model impacts.

This noncompliance not only undermines investor protection and efficient capital formation, but can have potentially significant ripple or knock-on effects for other market participants and global capital market activity.

For example, corporate noncompliance creates additional SEC disclosure requirements, liabilities, and risks for corporate boards, and for registered investment advisers and funds, including registered private equity and hedge funds. Corporate noncompliance also can undermine corporate transactions, such as M&A, IPOs, and secondary capital raises.

This is the first in a series of news releases by CSR Insight™ LLC. Future releases will provide further highlights of CSRI’s analyses of SEC and global financial regulation applicable to ESG issues. For further details on this study, contact Linda Lowson, Esq., CEO, at consult@csrinsight.com.

About CSR Insight™ LLC

CSR Insight™ LLC, founded in 2007, is an independent consultancy specializing in analysis of SEC and global financial regulation, global financial regulatory policy, ESG reporting frameworks, ESG capital market issues, and international corporate governance standards. CSRI has completed a unique, independent five-year Global ESG Regulatory Research Program, and has developed the first educational “Library of Congress” Knowledge Base of global ESG regulatory and market intelligence, available in 2012, designed to educate market participants, stakeholders, academia, policymakers, and regulators on a comprehensive range of key ESG regulatory, economic, industry, and capital market issues.

CSR Insight™ is a syndicated partner of CSRwire and has been a contributing member since 2008. For further information, contact CSR Insight™ at inquiry@csrinsight.com or visit www.csrinsight.com

Disclaimer

All content contained in this news release is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute advertising, a solicitation, or legal or other professional advice, and is provided with the understanding that CSR Insight™ LLC, and its authors and publishers, are not engaged in rendering legal or other professional advice, and assume no liability whatsoever in connection with any use of the content in this news release. This news release reflects the current opinions of CSR Insight™ LLC and may change without notice.

The Coca-Cola Company Takes Digital Approach To Sustainability Reporting And Releases First-Ever GRI Report

01.30.2012 - 09:00AM

The Coca-Cola Company released its eighth systemwide Sustainability Report, titled Reasons to Believe. In the Company’s effort to increase transparency across its broad sustainability platform, this year’s Report was created using stakeholder feedback and, for the first time, follows the disclosure and reporting requirements of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) to achieve a self-declared grade level “B+.” With new digital tools available to more people, the report was also created in a unique format offering easier access from smart phones, tablets and other popular mobile devices. And, for the first time ever, its entire content is available exclusively online.

“Sustainability has been core to our business strategy for nearly 125 years,” said Chief Sustainability Officer Beatriz Perez. “After receiving feedback from a variety of stakeholders, we decided to make some significant changes to our sustainability reporting efforts. In addition to increasing transparency within the content, we have taken a digital approach to make the report more user-friendly and accessible on a variety of mobile devices. As we continue to strengthen our sustainability efforts, we also will innovate the means by which we share our progress.”

The Coca-Cola Company reported against the GRI’s key performance indicators in the areas of economic, environmental and social performance and self-declared a B grade against the new GRI G3.1 guidelines. This year’s report also received verification by a third party agency, indicating the agency’s approval of tracking systems, resulting in an overall B+ grade. The 2010/2011 Sustainability Report provides an in-depth review on the sustainability efforts of the Company and its nearly 300 bottling partners. The four main areas of focus include water stewardship, energy efficiency and climate protection, sustainable packaging and healthy communities. See the 2010/2011 Coca-Cola Company Sustainability Report at www.thecoca-colacompany.com/sustainabilityreport.

Performance highlights from the 2010/2011 Sustainability Report include:

Our PlantBottle™ technology, which allows us to replace 100 percent petroleum-based PET plastic with PET plastic that contains up to 30 percent material derived from plants, is becoming more widely used around the world. In 2010, we distributed 2.5 billion PlantBottle™ packages in 10 major markets, saving more than 60,000 barrels of oil and sequestering the equivalent of nearly 30,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide from our PET plastic bottles. By the end of 2011, PlantBottle™ packaging was available in 20 markets, and nearly 10 billion PlantBottle™ packages had been shipped.
In 2010, we improved our water use efficiency for the eighth consecutive year, reducing the average amount of water required to produce each beverage serving. As of the end of 2010, we had achieved 93 percent alignment, and by the end of 2011 we estimate 96 percent alignment with our stringent standards.
Also in 2010, our system increased production volume while reducing global carbon emissions by 2 percent, putting us a step closer to our goal of growing our business but not our carbon footprint. We also exceeded our goal of installing 150,000 hydrofluorocarbon (HFC)-free coolers in 2010, for a cumulative total of 277,000 such units by the end of that year. Additionally, we increased that total to 500,000 by the end of 2011.
We exceeded our goal to give back at least 1 percent of our operating income to communities worldwide through The Coca-Cola Company and The Coca-Cola Foundation in 2010 by giving $102 million.
We began to gain real traction with our new 5 BY 20 initiative to empower 5 million women entrepreneurs by 2020. Furthermore, we continued our commitment to promoting agricultural practices that are better for both farmers and the environment, through projects such as Haiti Hope and Project Nurture.
We continued working to make The Coca-Cola Company—and our entire system—a great place to work, starting with an unwavering commitment to workplace and human rights. We increased the number of women in system leadership roles, going from 23 percent in 2008 to just over 27 percent in 2010.
Since 2000, our average calories per serving decreased by 9 percent globally. We have more than 800 low- and no-calorie beverages—nearly 25 percent of our global portfolio. We committed to include calorie information on the front of nearly all our packages by the end of 2011 and have a physical activity program in 100 countries toward our goal to have one in every country in which we operate by 2015.

About The Coca-Cola Company

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is the world's largest beverage company, refreshing consumers with more than 500 sparkling and still brands. Led by Coca-Cola, the world's most valuable brand, our Company’s portfolio features 15 billion dollar brands including Diet Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Coca-Cola Zero, vitaminwater, Powerade, Minute Maid, Simply, Georgia and Del Valle. Globally, we are the No. 1 provider of sparkling beverages, ready-to-drink coffees and juices and juice drinks. Through the world's largest beverage distribution system, consumers in more than 200 countries enjoy our beverages at a rate of 1.7 billion servings a day. With an enduring commitment to building sustainable communities, our Company is focused on initiatives that reduce our environmental footprint, support active, healthy living, create a safe, inclusive work environment for our associates, and enhance the economic development of the communities where we operate. The Coca-Cola system ranks among the world’s top five private employers with more than 700,000 system employees. For more information, please visit
www.thecoca-colacompany.com or follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/CocaColaCo.

Novartis Extends Commitment to Help Achieve Final Elimination of Leprosy

01.30.2012 - 08:26AM

New five-year commitment includes donation of treatments worth an estimated USD 22.5 million and is expected to reach an estimated 850,000 patients
Novartis will also intensify efforts to build a multi-stakeholder initiative in a final push against leprosy
The company has a long history in fighting leprosy, donating medicines and developing programs to support patients, valued at more than USD 100 million since 1986
Novartis is a part of an international effort to eliminate or control 10 neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) by the end of the decade

Novartis will continue its work with the World Health Organization (WHO) toward a world free of leprosy by extending its drug donation of multidrug therapy (MDT) medicines to treat leprosy through the year 2020. This new five-year commitment includes treatments worth an estimated USD 22.5 million and up to USD 2.5 million to support the WHO in handling the donation and logistics, and is expected to reach an estimated 850,000 patients.

“Since 2000, we have worked with the WHO to provide free treatment to leprosy patients globally, but we know that no single actor – no matter how committed to patients – can eliminate this debilitating disease alone,” said Joseph Jimenez, CEO of Novartis. “We are proud to work with governments, international agencies, nongovernmental organizations and the private sector to ensure that patients receive the treatment they need. Only with effective and coordinated action by all parties involved can we achieve our common goal of making leprosy history.”

Novartis and the Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development (NFSD) have a long-term commitment to leprosy treatment and control. Prior to today’s announcement, Novartis has donated more than 48 million MDT blister packs valued at approximately USD 77 million through the WHO, helping to cure over 5 million leprosy patients worldwide.

The NFSD has been active in the fight against leprosy for more than 25 years, through implementing innovative social marketing programs to reduce the stigma attached to leprosy, developing tools to prevent disabilities, helping patients reintegrate in society, and supporting the leprosy drug donation. Since 1986, the NFSD has provided over

CHF 30 million for these programs.

Donating drugs alone, however, is not enough, and NFSD is committed to intensify efforts to build a multi-stakeholder initiative in a final push against leprosy. On January 25, the NFSD, in cooperation with the Department of Health of the Philippines, held the first Leprosy Stakeholders Symposium in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan. The groundbreaking symposium gathered all major stakeholders and partners from both government and private sectors with the goal of eliminating leprosy in areas of the Philippines where the disease is still endemic.

The extension of the Novartis leprosy commitment is a key part of a new, coordinated push by a diverse range of public and private collaborators to combat 10 Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) by 2020. Today, 13 pharmaceutical companies, the U.S. and U.K. governments, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Bank and officials from NTD-endemic countries pledged to bring a unique focus to defeating these diseases and to work together to improve the lives of the billion people worldwide affected by NTDs.

In the largest coordinated effort to date to combat NTDs, the group announced at an event at the Royal College of Physicians in London that they would: sustain or expand existing drug donation programs to meet demand through 2020; share expertise and compounds to accelerate research and development of new drugs; and provide funding to support R&D efforts and strengthen drug distribution and implementation programs. The collaborators also signed onto the “London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases,” in which they pledged new levels of collaboration and tracking and reporting of progress.

This announcement is a part of the company’s long commitment to enhancing access to healthcare in the developing world. Novartis works to discover vaccines and medicines for neglected diseases through two research institutes: Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases (NITD) in Singapore and the Novartis Vaccines Institute for Global Health (NVGH) in Italy. The Novartis Malaria Initiative is one of the healthcare industry’s largest access-to-medicine programs. Since 2001, Novartis has worked with a range of organizations to ensure effective delivery of our antimalarial medicine, providing more than 480 million treatments without profit.

In 2011, Novartis access-to-medicine programs reached more than 89 million patients and together with our research institutes for diseases of the developing world, are valued at USD 1.7 billion, or 3% of net sales.

About multidrug therapy (MDT) in treating leprosy
Since 1985, more than 14 million people worldwide have been cured of leprosy thanks to MDT, the treatment recommended by the WHO, shrinking the worldwide prevalence by approximately 95%. According to the WHO, in 2010 less than 230,000 new cases were reported, from a total of 130 countries worldwide. Despite these successes, leprosy control remains at a critical juncture and knowledge of the disease is becoming less common. Moving forward, early detection and continued availability of free treatment are essential.

The development of MDT changed the face of leprosy dramatically. MDT consists of three drugs (rifampicin, clofazimine and dapsone), two of which (rifampicin and clofazimine) were developed in the research laboratories of Novartis in the 1980s. Multidrug therapy has made it possible to cure patients, interrupt the transmission of leprosy and prevent disabilities. Even patients with the severest form of the disease show visible clinical improvement within weeks of starting treatment.

About the Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development
The Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development is a nonprofit organization whose activities form part of the Corporate Responsibility portfolio of Novartis AG, which finances the foundation's operations. For over 30 years, the foundation's mission has been to support healthcare programs in developing countries. Its core competencies also include in-depth analysis, consulting and publications in the fields of corporate responsibility and development policy. By harnessing synergies between project work, think tank activities and the facilitation of dialogue, it elaborates innovative strategies for common development problems. In 2011, the Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development invested approximately CHF 10 million, largely in Africa and Asia.

For more information on the foundation and specific projects, visit:
www.novartisfoundation.org

Disclaimer
The foregoing release contains certain forward-looking statements that can be identified by terminology such as “commitment,” “expected,” “plans,” “goal,” or similar expressions, or by express or implied discussions potential future deliveries of leprosy MDT drugs or related anti-leprosy services. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements reflect the current views of the Company regarding future events, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. There can be no guarantee that Novartis will deliver any particular amounts of MDT or related services in the future. In particular, management's expectations could be affected by, among other things, unexpected regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally; unexpected manufacturing difficulties; competition in general; government, industry, and general public pricing and other political pressures; the impact that the foregoing factors could have on the values attributed to the Novartis Group's assets and liabilities as recorded in the Group's consolidated balance sheet; and other risks and factors referred to in Novartis AG’s current Form 20-F on file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Novartis is providing the information in these materials as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

About Novartis
Novartis provides innovative healthcare solutions that address the evolving needs of patients and societies. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Novartis offers a diversified portfolio to best meet these needs: innovative medicines, eye care, cost-saving generic pharmaceuticals, preventive vaccines and diagnostic tools, over-the-counter and animal health products. Novartis is the only global company with leading positions in these areas. In 2011, the Group’s continuing operations achieved net sales of USD 58.6 billion, while approximately USD 9.6 billion (USD 9.2 billion excluding impairment and amortization charges) was invested in R&D throughout the Group. Novartis Group companies employ approximately 124,000 full-time-equivalent associates and operate in more than 140 countries around the world. For more information, please visit http://www.novartis.com.

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Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital Named a Best Place to Work

01.27.2012 - 03:46PM

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ - Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital in Baltimore is honored as one of the top 25 best places to work by Baltimore magazine. The non-profit children's hospital made the annual list of top workplaces for its mission to care for sick children, regardless of the ability to pay and for superior employee benefits.

"People work here because they believe in the cause," says Dr. Richard Katz, VP of Medical Affairs, in the magazine's February issue. "In an acute-care hospital, children come and go quickly. Here, staff get to know them and their families."

Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital has 509 employees who care for more than 7,000 pediatric patients a year. Employee benefits were one of the criteria that put the hospital on the "Best of" list. Benefits include a 403b retirement plan with employer contribution, cash balance pension plan, tuition assistance up to $3,000 per year, and even free flu shots.

"We have enormous competition for staff, so we have to be competitive with our salaries and benefits," President and CEO Sheldon Stein says of the hospital's attractive work-life balance. "We provide an atmosphere for people to work where they can really make a difference in the life of a child and a family."

The sub-acute children's hospital also boasts a desirable location—still within the city but away from all the hustle and bustle. Nestled in the quiet tree-lined Mt. Washington neighborhood of Baltimore, it provides easy access and free parking for employees and for families visiting the outpatient clinics and inpatient children. Shuttle service from Johns Hopkins and UMMC downtown is also provided.

About Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital
Since 1922, Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital (MWPH) has played a unique role in child-centered care in Maryland. Like our prestigious affiliates, the University of Maryland Medical and Johns Hopkins Health systems, we strive to provide world-class care – and add family to it.
Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital: Where children go to heal and grow. Read more at http://www.mwph.org.

Corporate Benchmarking Leaders Coming Together to Strengthen Annual Reporting of Giving Trends

01.27.2012 - 03:23PM

The Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP) and The Conference Board are joining forces to promote one survey to capture the full scope and scale of annual contributions by leading global companies. CECP, now in association with The Conference Board, produces an annual benchmarking report, Giving in Numbers, which is corporate philanthropy’s premier report focusing on giving and is a resource to assess the trends in corporate initiatives. This association will further strengthen the repository of giving data, building upon the more than $85 billion in corporate cash and non-cash giving collected by CECP since 2001.

“Our two organizations share a belief in the power of benchmarking and trend analysis as key instruments for continuous learning, helping companies design programs that better serve society,” said Charles Moore, Executive Director, CECP. “CECP is committed to continuing to invest in the development and expansion of Giving in Numbers and its source, the Corporate Giving Standard (CGS) survey, including work currently underway to create a global definition of what constitutes a charitable gift.”

“This association leverages the pioneering 60-year history of The Conference Board as an advocate for accurate corporate philanthropy measurement and valuation alongside CECP’s robust work in defining, reporting on and benchmarking the field,” said Jonathan Spector, President and CEO, The Conference Board. “As The Conference Board brings its The Corporate Contributions Report and Corporate Contributions Survey to a close, we reflect back on our proud legacy of data collection and thought leadership, and see this collaboration with CECP as a crucial next phase of work to inform the corporate giving community.”

CECP releases Giving in Numbers each year, and in the fall of 2012 will release the eighth annual report on corporate giving trends with the benefit of support and insights from The Conference Board. The 2011 report included CGS Survey data from 184 CECP respondents, including 63 of the top 100 companies in the Fortune 500. It is the only survey of corporate contributions available for public download at no cost.

CECP and The Conference Board have worked together previously on the early development of the CECP CGS survey. The Conference Board will further support the collection and dissemination of corporate giving data among its 500 largest corporate members, increasing the resulting data set, and continue to provide insight into the creation of the survey.

Companies wishing to join the benchmarking project are invited to contact CECP or The Conference Board. The survey covering 2011 contributions is now open and the submission deadline for inclusion in the analysis is April 4, 2012. CECP will present the findings from the survey at the Corporate Philanthropy Summit on June 5-6 in New York City.

About CECP
The Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP) is the only international forum of business leaders exclusively focused on raising the level and quality of corporate philanthropy. Membership includes more than 180 global CEOs and chairpersons of companies that together account for over 40 percent of reported corporate giving in the United States.
www.corporatephilanthropy.org

About The Conference Board
The Conference Board is an independent business membership and research association working in the public interest. Our mission is unique: To provide the world’s leading organizations with the practical knowledge they need to improve their performance and better serve society. The Conference Board is a non-advocacy, not-for-profit entity holding 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt status in the United States.
www.conference-board.org

About Giving in Numbers

CECP, in association with The Conference Board, provides corporate philanthropy’s annual premier report focusing on trends in giving, Giving in Numbers, which is an invaluable resource for corporate philanthropy professionals to assess the scope of their corporate contributions initiatives. Giving in Numbers is publicly available for download: http://www.corporatephilanthropy.org/research/benchmarking-reports/giving-in-numbers.html