Framing Corporate Social Responsibility Through Product Philanthropy – How IACPR Member Firms Can Give Back, Carly Fiorina

Over the past three decades, Good360 has distributed more than $7 billion worth of product to nearly 30,000 nonprofits in its global network. Donated goods - clothing, housing supplies, building supplies, toys, books, computers and more - make it possible for organizations to focus on their core mission. Monetary donations to Good360 help defray the costs of the logistics of getting donated goods to their new home, and, on average, every dollar donated can help deliver up to $70 in goods.

IACPR Board Member Ellie Hollander is Chief Strategy Officer for Good360, which just received the Committee Encouraging CorporatePhilanthropy Directors’ Award with The Home Depot, recognizing an exemplary partnership between a corporation and a nonprofit.

Just this past April, Carly Fiorina, former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of HP, became Chairman of the Board for Good 360. Here she shares her views on how a corporate/non-profit partnership can make a difference.

Corporate. Social. Responsibility. Three commonly used words that when standing alone don't have much impact, but when woven together, have the ability to sustain, influence and engage. Good360, the nonprofit I recently joined as board chair, has been making corporate social responsibility (CSR) both accessible and advantageous through product donation since 1983. As a former CEO of a Fortune 20 company, I know that CSR isn't just a trending catchphrase. Good360's philanthropy model can improve your bottom line, build employee engagement and improve sales as a socially responsible company all by donating merchandise you might otherwise be paying to store, destroy, or liquidate for pennies on the dollar.

On June 5th, the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP) announced Good360 as the recipient of its Directors' Award -part of the 2012 Excellence Awards in Corporate Philanthropy. Since 2003, CECP's Board of Directors has presented the award and corresponding grant to a nonprofit demonstrating an exemplary partnership with a corporation. We received this high honor due to our work with The Home Depot and the innovative program we created together - Framing Hope.

The Framing Hope Product Donation Program was born out of the desire of The Home Depot's (THD) associates to donate products - set to be returned to a distribution center or thrown in a landfill - to help the communities where they work and live. Executives at The Home Depot recognized the importance of responding to the grassroots plea of their employees to give back. They saw the benefits of donating over liquidating or destroying, and invested time and money to effectively engage employees in stores across the country to partner with local nonprofits.

More than 1,000 Home Depot locations across the country currently participate in Framing Hope and distribute product donations locally, allowing recipient nonprofits of all shapes and sizes to stretch their budgets further and enhance mission-focused programs. Good360 ensures marked-down inventory, buy-backs, returned merchandise and end-of-season items are placed with qualified organizations that are working to make their communities better.

Looking to analyze the true impact of this program, in 2010 Good360 and The Home Depot Foundation worked with Indiana University to measure the program's environmental and community impact. The research concluded that almost 500,000 low-income families were reached within one year of the program and within its first two years, Framing Hope diverted 2,500 garbage trucks of compressed waste from landfill. In addition, the energy-efficient usage of products from Framing Hope products saved enough electricity to power 294 homes annually and the energy already saved is equivalent to the carbon sequestered by 90,138 tree seedlings grown for 10 years.

The Framing Hope program is a terrific example of how two organizations can collaborate to positively impact the triple bottom line - people, planet, profit - and deliver measurable results to communities in need. Thanks to the partnership with Good360, The Home Depot was able to achieve their strategic goals to meet zero waste initiatives, cut costs and drive supply chain efficiencies, engage employees and give back to the community. Good360 was able to continue supporting nonprofits serving communities, small and large, that make up the nation's safety-net programs. We envision a world where like recycling, product donation becomes a habit and we are thankful for responsible companies like The Home Depot who have already adopted our win-win philosophy.

If you would like to learn more about what you, as an IACPR member and supporter, can do to partner with Good360, please contact Ellie Hollander directly at ellie@good360.org.

Driving Business Value Through Innovation in the IT Executive Suite, Judy Homer

Long-time member Judy Homer is the President of JB Homer Associates, a retained executive search firm with the global experience, reach and assessment skills needed to source technology and operations executive talent in a global market. The firm’s searches cross all industries and all borders, with a completion rate within clients' desired time frames that exceeds 90% of search assignments. Here, she discusses how companies are creating innovation through information technology. 

Given the rapidly expanding and competitive global marketplace, and with fewer opportunities for growth, the demand for the innovation of unique products and services and expeditiously bringing them to market are dramatically on the rise. To successfully drive business value through innovation, information technology is evolving from being an order taker to becoming the central nervous system and a key strategic partner with the business.

We have seen our clients drive innovation through the establishment of business partnerships between information technology and the C-suite of executives, with business information officers imbedded in the business, and through sharing strategic plans with external vendors. By leveraging these relationships, senior technology leaders are establishing strategies for innovation in order to facilitate a competitive edge economically to their organizations. Strategies for driving innovation through information technology vary, but the common denominator is being able to provide new products and services to the marketplace ahead of the competition.

We have seen our clients establish research and innovation labs as a vehicle for both individuals inside and outside of information technology to create ideas for next generation products, and for the development of a process to get these ideas into production. It is important to develop a culture to allow people to go down the path of innovation and enable experimentation without them being criticized for ideas that do not come to fruition, as has been historically evident. Companies are immersing their information technology people in the business and having them interact directly with the marketing professionals and other key business leaders to create a “virtual water cooler” to foster innovative ideas.

It is important for technology leadership to have close interaction with their customers, both internal and external.

These partnerships can be maximized by assessing their needs and translating them to drive profound business value by leveraging emerging information technology trends. Creating dashboards to measure success is crucial as well, given the criticality of rapidly delivering new products and services to market. It is also important to constantly be on the forefront of technology as products can become obsolete. The convergence of the cloud, social networking and mobile computing is being closely looked at as leading edge technologies to help drive innovation.

Being able to get buy in from the board and senior management is vital for the successful creation and delivery of innovative products and services. A compelling business case and strategic rationale needs to be crafted in order to demonstrate the benefits of generating new ideas and aligning them with the business strategy. Acquiring the necessary funding and appropriating a portion of the information technology budget to innovation is imperative to effectively drive business value and therefore give your company a competitive advantage.