Many companies striving to be good corporate citizens today face an internal tug of war between giving attention to community initiatives that address social problems and the growing demand to make environmental issues paramount.

At Cummins Inc. they found a solution not by making a choice but by facing a challenge.

On the occasion of the company’s 90^th anniversary in 2009, 62 teams of Cummins employees from 11 different countries accepted a challenge to develop projects to improve the environment in their community. Read the rest of this entry »

Boston College Center member Kohl’s Department Stores has launched a contest to give 20 lucky schools $500,000 each this year in celebration of the 10th anniversary of Kohl’s Cares®, the company’s philanthropic program that advocates children’s health and education. Kohl’s hopes to inspire students and school supporters to dream big about what their favorite school could do with half-a-million dollars – whether it’s starting an art program, creating a new computer lab or saving a music program.

“At Kohl’s we are … giving back to the communities that we serve. As kids and parents think about the new school year, we want everyone to dream big about how half-a-million dollars could impact their favorite school,” said Julie Gardner, Kohl’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer. “We believe that when communities thrive so does business. This program… [is] the cornerstone of the company’s Back-to-School campaign.”

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From turning cooking oil into bio-fuel and potatoes into gas, McDonald’s Corporation is employing a variety of sustainable practices in its supply chain and restaurants. These practices are highlighted in the “Global Best of Green”, updated from 2009, and the “Best of Sustainable Supply”, both of which can both be accessed or downloaded as PDFs at a new interactive website. Read the rest of this entry »

March 22 was World Water Day! Observed since 1993, it sprang from the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. This year, the overall goal of the World Water Day campaign is to raise the profile of water quality at the political level so it is taken into consideration along with water quantity.

Boston College Center member ITT – a high-technology engineering and manufacturing company based in White Plains, N.Y. – is responding with a commitment to raise awareness and funds for the cause. Read the rest of this entry »

For the last four years Center member CA, Inc. has sponsored CA Together in Action (CTA), a month-long program to support non-profit organizations around the world. Launched in 2006 as a two-week event, the program expanded to a month to allow as many employees as possible to participate. Read the rest of this entry »

The trucks may be brown on the outside, but UPS is taking steps to let customers add a tinge of green to the cargo they carry inside.

For pennies a package, UPS customers can now offset the carbon dioxide emissions generated by the transport of their packages within the United States. Read the rest of this entry »

Last year when the economy started to falter, leadership at Monster Worldwide considered its role and responsibility during these times. As a company that brings together people looking for jobs with the people who are hiring, there was a natural fit with the challenge of getting Americans back to work, and the Keep America Working Tour – the “Ultimate Career Fair” – was born. Read the rest of this entry »

Since 2001, the people of the Office Depot Foundation have worked hard to let kids know they’ve got their backs – or more precisely their backpacks. Read the rest of this entry »