(Washington, D.C.) – Using young “role models” instead of real fashion models to promote a new line of designer jeans is making volunteering “hip” and reaping big benefits both for his company and for dozens of community organizations, David Lauren, son of famed designer Ralph Lauren, told more than 2,500 nonprofit sector leaders today at the National Conference on Volunteering and Service in Washington.

In his keynote remarks on the second day of the three-day conference, Lauren, the senior marketing executive at Polo Ralph Lauren and President of the Board of Directors of the Polo Ralph Lauren Foundation, talked about the genesis of the Polo Jeans G.I.V.E. campaign, in which volunteers, and the organizations with which they are affiliated, are featured in slick ads that appear in national magazines and other publications.

“Here was an opportunity to use our core competency, to use our advertising and our marketing expertise … to do something really good,” Lauren said. “We're going to make volunteerism hip.”

Whenever a pair of G.I.V.E. jeans is sold, the purchaser receives a brochure with information on 43 charities that are eligible to receive from Polo 10 percent of the purchase price of the jeans. The individual customer chooses the charity that will receive the donation. Thus far, more than 100,000 G.I.V.E. jeans have been sold, and the campaign has raised more than $1 million for community causes, he said.

In addition to the keynote address by Lauren, the second day of the annual conference featured presentations of awards to seven corporations that have demonstrated extraordinary commitment to volunteering and corporate philanthropy.

“It is wonderful to see CEO's and their senior leadership use their corporate bully pulpits to bring more employees into the culture of service,” said Bob Goodwin, President and CEO of The Points of Light Foundation. “These visionary leaders realize that embracing service makes for a stronger employee base and a stronger bottom line.”

The recipients of The Points of Light Foundation’s “Excellence in the Workplace” awards were Aetna, Cisco Systems, Federated Department Stores, Georgia Natural Gas, The Home Depot, and Washington Trust. (For more information on the individual awardees, visit http://www.pointsoflight.org/.)

“We’ve got so many priorities to deal with and so many things to address, but once we do it and take the time to give back to the community, we are so glad we did,” said Terry J. Lundgren, CEO of Federated Department Stores, upon receiving the award. “And we look for the next opportunity to do it again because it's the most rewarding part of our day.”

The Corporation for National and Community Service also awarded its first-ever Corporate Spirit of Service Award to UPS and the UPS Foundation. In accepting the award, Keith Jones, program director of the UPS Foundation, noted that his company just yesterday launched a new collaborative initiative called Impact: A Fund for Change Through Volunteerism, and has committed $1 million to it over three years. The purpose of the fund, he said, is to encourage funders to collaborate to support positive community change by helping organizations manage volunteers more effectively.

“You’ve all heard of the notion ‘doing well by doing good,’ said David Eisner, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service. “The kinds of companies we are recognizing today are taking that a step further. They understand that doing well and doing good are ultimately the same thing.”

The Internal Revenue Service also received The Points of Light Foundation’s Connect America Partner of the Year Award for its Stakeholder Partnerships, Education, and Communication program. The program offers free Earned Income Tax Credit outreach and tax preparation to low-income families.

“Not many people think about volunteers and partners when they hear about IRS,” said Richard Morgante, Commissioner of the Wage and Investment Division, who accepted the award. “But service is an important part of our business at IRS. And through the strategic partnership, education, and communications function at IRS, we've worked hard to develop a business model that leverages partners and volunteers across America.”

The National Conference on Volunteering and Service, co-sponsored by the Corporation for National and Community Service and The Points of Light Foundation & Volunteer Center National Network, is the largest gathering of leaders of the national service and volunteer networks in the nation. Through workshops, general sessions, exhibits, “town hall” gatherings, and informal get-togethers, volunteer and national service leaders exchange information, gain skills, and develop strategies to engage more Americans more effectively in volunteer service to meet pressing social needs.

The Conference will continue through August 6. The closing plenary will feature Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt, “Chicken Soup for the Soul” author Mark Victor Hansen, and stories from 13 outstanding national service volunteers from across the country.

Throughout the day on Friday, Conference attendees took breaks from their busy schedules to participate in a service project in the nearby Shaw neighborhood designed to promote healthy communities. Following remarks by U.S. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona, attendees joined local residents and AmeriCorps national service members to refurbish public spaces, paint murals, and beautify the neighborhood. Service projects in the host community are a hallmark of the annual conference.

The National Conference on Volunteering and Service is made possible with the support of a number of sponsors, including the leadership partner, UPS Foundation. Other major sponsors include Accenture, Anheuser-Busch Companies, AT&T, Business Strengthening America, The Steven Case Foundation, Deloitte & Touche USA LLP, The Home Depot, KPMG, The J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation, Marriott International, Inc., Nextel, Northrop Grumman, Pitney Bowes, Target Corporation, The Walt Disney Company, and The Washington Times, and numerous other sponsors.

The Points of Light Foundation & Volunteer Center National Network, a nonpartisan and nonprofit organization, supports and organizes the vital work of community volunteers who help solve our nation’s most serious social problems by bringing people and resources together. The Foundation builds knowledge, skills and programs for volunteer leaders and volunteers to succeed, and provides leadership to mobilize volunteers in thousands of local communities across the country. For more information, call 202-729-8000 or visit http://www.pointsoflight.org.

The Corporation for National and Community Service provides opportunities for Americans of all ages and backgrounds to serve their communities and countries through three programs: Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America. Together with USA Freedom Corps, the Corporation is working to foster a culture of citizenship, service, and responsibility, and to help all Americans answer the President’s Call to Service. For more information, call 202-606-5000 or visit http://www.nationalservice.gov.

###

RSS Help  Printable Page