Philanthropy is a longstanding practice of companies defining their role as good corporate citizens. Corporations and their foundations donate billions annually to a wide range of causes.
But today, many companies are moving beyond simple ‘check-writing’, looking for deeper ways to connect with, and help strengthen, the communities where they do business. Avery Dennison is one of them.
Through its corporate foundation, Avery Dennison advances the causes of education and sustainability, and in the last five years has granted a total of $4.6m to more than 130 nonprofits. But grant-making is just half the job. The other half is to encourage employee engagement with a spirit of invention and innovation. That’s one reason the company created its Granting Wishes program.
Through Granting Wishes, Avery Dennison makes one-time grants to local nonprofits selected by “community investment” teams made up of employees in communities in the US, Europe and Latin America, where the company’s facilities are located. Complementing the grant, employees also collaborate with the organization on a hands-on, employee-lead volunteer project. Often, employees will already have a connection to the organizations they nominate through prior volunteerism.
“Our employees are our eyes, ears and heart in the communities where we have a presence,” says Alicia Maddox, president and executive director of the Avery Dennison Foundation. “By partnering with them and investing in the organizations where they give their own time and resources, we’re more likely to make a difference where it’s needed most.”
Since Avery Dennison launched Granting Wishes in 2011, more than 500 employees have taken part, and the company has granted nearly $400,000 to 94 organizations in 13 European countries and 14 US states. Organizations funded through Granting Wishes are as small as a local support network for young adults with autism, and as large as The American Cancer Society. Often, programs funded serve children. Among some of the organizations supported through Granting Wishes are:
- Big Brothers-Big Sisters of Northeast Ohio: employee teams from four Avery Dennison facilities combined their efforts to maximize support. One of the programs they funded was “The Coul Club,” a group mentoring program for unmatched ‘little brothers and sisters’.
- Association Locamotive. This organization provides activities and support services for seriously ill children in and around Grenoble, France. Avery Dennison employees took several children on an outing to Madrid, where they got to tour the city, see a Real Madrid soccer game, and meet some of the team’s star players.
- Turkish Education Foundation. Members of a Community Investment Team held an office fundraiser to support scholarships for students whose family were affected by the 2014 coal mine explosion and fire in Soma.
- Caritas Diocesana Ascoli Piceno. Community Investment Team members in Ancarano, Italy volunteered at a local store run by a local charity that collects and distributes food to local families in need.
- Our Father’s House. Avery Dennison’s Community Investment Team in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, serves meals to homeless men and women at this local shelter. The team also regularly collects clothing.
Avery Dennison employee Anne Absey, who works in the company’s corporate headquarters outside Los Angeles, was part of a team who helped tend the grounds at nearby Wildlife Waystation, a 160-acre animal sanctuary.
“Granting Wishes offered me a way to get to know some of my colleagues through a fun, challenging day of work while benefiting a great local nonprofit,” she said. “The Granting Wishes program is another way Avery Dennison employees embody the foundation’s vision to inspire human promise toward a more intelligent and sustainable world.
I am grateful I had the chance to participate and thankful that Avery Dennison encourages employee volunteerism.”
Read more about the Avery Dennison Foundation, then join the conversation with employees and partners on the Avery Dennison blog.
Content on this page is provided by Avery Dennison, supporter of the Vital Signs platform.
