causenation

The 2009 Major League Baseball All-Star Game launched last night with a “high-five” to community service and volunteerism.  Five living U.S. Presidents honored five specific community heroes, during over five minutes of live prime time national television.  Kudos to Major League Baseball for helping to further embed civic participation and giving into popular culture.  If you missed this part of the pre-game show check it out.

Giving and volunteerism was core to the “Going Beyond” theme heralded throughout the All-Star calendar. During the Home Run Derby MasterCard held the “Hit it Here” promotion to benefit Stand Up to Cancer.  Also did you notice the RBI tally board in the outfield – throughout the game both teams were competing to hit the most RBI’s triggering a donation to charity. One-offs to be sure, but connected to a bigger, emerging national theme.

Recognizing “All-Stars Among Us” set a positive tone for the game and purposely links directly into President Obama’s call for community service through “United We Serve,” a program which encourages all Americans to be part of building a new foundation for America by engaging in sustained and meaningful community service. President Obama is encouraging all Americans to visit serve.gov to find service opportunities in their area.  To see how some companies are responding visit the United We Serve on-line community.

Be on the lookout all Summer and Fall for more and more companies to be finding ways to engage both their employees and other Americans in service and giving. 

Now, this is a game we’d love to see people and companies compete at – Play Ball!

It has been a big week for national service and volunteerism!

In an important move for both the national service and the corporate social responsibility communities, yesterday President Obama nominated Nike Foundation President, Maria Eitel, to head the Corporation for National Service. When confirmed, she will bring her extensive global business, philanthropy, and CSR experience to running the nation’s domestic service programs, including AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, and Learn & Serve America.

Since she has been instrumental in crafting and managing Nike’s corporate responsibility strategies, we hope she’ll find new ways to encourage companies to partner with national service programs and engage their employees.

She’ll inherit this position just as programs like AmeriCorps are poised to grow exponentially.  Earlier this week the President signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act.  Although the funding still needs to be authorized by Congress, this legislation will take national service to historic levels.  Details can be found at Service Nation; select highlights include:

• Grows the number of AmeriCorps volunteers nationwide to 250,000, up from 75,000.
• Establishes 4 new service corps to address key needs in low income communities – Clean Energy Corps, Education Corps, Healthy Futures Corps, and Veterans Service Corps.
• Establishes Youth Engagement Zones to empower low-income high school students and out-of-school youth in volunteer efforts.
• Creates 2 fellowships to support social entrepreneurs, boomers and retirees, the private sector and Americans from all generations into service.

In releated news, our recent causenation post on corporate volunteerism talks about the increasing corporate enthusiasm for service and new investments businesses are making.   

National service – just do it!

While waiting for spring to arrive in Boston, we are spending too much time watching TV and analyzing the ads.  Here’s a taste of our Earth Day viewing:

Green Stamp of Approval:   Wal-Mart’s “Earth Month Thanks” ad captures the spirit of the anniversary.  Wal-Mart understands the power of mobilizing their 200 million customers and are moving people toward earth friendly products.  The best news is that for Wal-Mart this isn’t just an “Earth Day Special.”  Year-round they are taking a lead on sustainability issues.  They certainly aren’t perfect, but we give them strong marks for making progress and pushing consumers and vendors to action. Check out their earth-related sales promotions and their master sustainability activities on their  website.  Also a January 2009 New York Times article tells the story of their green evolution.   

IBM’s “Tree Hugger” Series also gets our green stamp of approval.  Although, we have not seen them in an Earth  Day rotation, they help make the business case.  View them on our recent causenation post – ads worth watching.

Green Washing: The Payless Plant  a Tree Ad  rings hollow.  We have trouble making the connection between shoes, trees and the Nature Conservancy.  (more…)

One of the places we look for the vital signs of causenation is in popular culture. We admit it, we’re fascinated. From celebrities using their fame to bring attention to important issues, to the “been there, done that” rubber wristbands, we love to see how cause, culture, companies, and citizen action collide to spark or fuel a movement or illuminate a trend in causenation.

Over the years we’ve seen an increase in companies using their advertising to advance a cause, issue, or nonprofit. Early on, companies were only pushing products linked to a cause – likely because that was the extent of their commitments. Today they are using advertising to express values; communicate their expertise or business practices related to social issues; and leverage existing CSR and community programs.  Our favorites make the business case for integrating social issues and bring the viewer to that crossroad of strengthened businesses and positive societal impact.

One of the best in our opinion is IBM’s Tree Hugger ad.  We love it for its self deprecating humor, creativity, and the fact that the business case is so rock solid you can’t help but support it.   Others we like …. (more…)

I can still see the proud faces of the Adobe Youth Voices teens as they watched their videos shown behind the Black Eyed Peas as they performed at the hottest new club in Los Angeles.

It was a night right out of the pages of People with music industry stars, paparazzi flashes, fabulous fashion, and the all-important colored carpet. Except this carpet was not red, but green, to signify the coming together of the Black Eyes Peas and the Adobe Foundation around their shared commitment to youth. (more…)