Rise of international giving creates new expectations and examinations

Global companies are actively seeking out solutions for their international work forces. The interest is wide-spread and consistent. Yet, to date, the demand for such an offering has yet to be adequately supplied. Even the most progressive, charitable, and supportive companies ask for a commonly (and widely) accepted product that brings about an equal solution, for all employees, throughout the world. It’s not unreasonable to think that, by now, technology would have been able to deliver this. However, the accepted conclusion tells us otherwise. We mention this for one simple reason: the challenge is real and we are working with our clients, partners, and enthusiast to find the most reliable, comprehensive, and secure global solution – all in our effort to develop global good!

After all “developing global good” is not just a marketing catch-phrase. It expresses YourCause’spurpose to influence corporate philanthropy beyond national borders and help deliver assistance to international charities. For this reason, we make it our priority to explain why and how a CSR strategy should consider expanding charitable options to international workplace giving.

The Business Case

Due to resources and information via technology, awareness of global issues is now more accessible than ever, resulting in a rise of international giving. In fact, giving to international affairs rose 15.3% in 2010 and was the largest increase of any subsector, according to the recently released Giving USA‟s 2011 report.

What does this mean for workplace giving? It means that donors who think globally are shaping the expectations of current and future employee giving programs. In fact, companies cite that an increase in employee participation is the main business case for a change. Therefore, 37% of major U.S. companies plan to increase their funding focus on international issues and causes, according to Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP) 2010 Philanthropy Agenda.

In the end, expanding to international giving programs benefit employees, communities and companies. It shows that the company responds to employee‟s philanthropic preferences, increases participation and creates the perfect opportunity to promote the expanded global campaign.

Challenges to Prepare for

1. Ensuring Equality and Equivalency amongst all Programs and Nonprofits

Over the past decade, many of the CSR programs (which are now considered to be fairly mature) were built within the headquarters home country, and most often times, focused on that market. For countries such as the United States, the use of the 501(c)3 classification system became the cornerstone for evaluating the total number of non-profits eligible for participation, the types of giving that would be made available, what support would be reciprocated, and how an employee could engage.

As the program extends beyond the U.S. borders, finding balance (and equality) amongst all employees becomes ever so challenging, as companies are now needing to understand three important elements:

1) The international vetting requirements and 501(c)3 equivalency for each country.

2) Flow of funds from payroll systems, global cost centers, banking locations, etc.

3) The overall investment necessary to replicate the U.S. model and align with employee usage.

2. Vetting Organizations in Other Countries

An organization‟s liability for charitable giving took a strong precautionary turn after the events of September 11th –when congress implemented the Executive Order 13224 and USA Patriot Act to prohibit financial transactions affiliated with terrorism. Today, companies are responsible for verifying that grantee organizations do not appear on any terrorist watch list, for both domestic and international organizations. Companies face the challenge of evaluating each nonprofit, which has resulted in a demand for efficiencies in vetting organizations at high volume.

For international organizations, the non-profit organization, GlobalGiving, emerged as the global leader in due diligence, ensuring that all international nonprofits are in full compliance after passing security policies and a three-stage document review. A few key points to remember:

1) Consult the legal team to gain a full understanding of the organizations vetting requirements.Understand the differences between 501(c)3 vs. international organizations.

2) Gain a full understanding of the organizations acceptance of donor advised funds.What requirements are in place and what actions must be taken?

3) Synchronize the budget of your program with the vision of your global reach (how many
international organizations will need to be vetting) and the timing and upkeep of your vetting
requirements. Vetting can become expensive, so planning is key.

3. Data Security and Personal Information

Not all countries have data security and handling requirements similar to the U.S. Therefore, data capture, display, handling, and reporting of employee information must adhere to the local requirements set forth by an organization‟s internal data security team. The differences in requirements between countries will impact any global program from the way employees access a system, to how collaboration and sharing take place, including how all reporting and tracking can be performed. Typically, the inherent restrictions of a global program can delay a rollout. Thus, the following items are important to keep in mind:

1) Involve the global security team as soon as possible. Clearly understand all security
restrictions and requirements currently in place and how all programs are in compliance.

2) Obtain all program ideas and have it reviewed by the legal team before executing any plans.This should include all communications, reporting, vetting, and feature plans for the program.

3) Include the technical team handling the employee HR file into your plans as soon as possible.Often times, global programs require internal technical teams to collaborate to produce the required HR files.

4. Cultural Differences

Cultural and language differences raise challenges for multinational companies wanting to create meaningful global community involvement programs. Therefore, a company should consider structuring a global team to handle global responsibilities, but also, incorporate regional administrators as experts on a given region/country/environment. Simply put, “think globally, act locally.” Consider giving regional administrators autonomy in managing the activities that fit their specific social norms. The challenge of efficiently centralizing a multi-lingual global program, while maintaining flexibility to give regional offices autonomy is not insignificant.

Some key points to remember:

1) The U.S. non-profit structure (501c3) is not present internationally, so the options available outside the U.S. will be far less. Communicating this to employees is essential.

2) Empower your regional/local leads to submit a listing of the „preferred organizations‟ for their region and use this information as a foundation for your international giving and volunteering capabilities.

3) Seek out and fully understand which U.S. based non-profits are supporting international
causes.You can compliment your internationally vetted organizations with domestic 501(c)3
organizations to help achieve the same objectives –faster and less expensively.

5. Listen and Most Importantly, Respond

The rollout of a company-wide (and supported) international program may be a new concept to many. Some are sure to embrace it; others may very well dismiss it. For those that embrace it, a high level of activity, participation and excitement usually follows because the expansive program naturally offers more options. Often, these excited employees will be your best resource for guiding the future direction of your program, offering suggestions, input, criticisms, and guidance on the items they are most interested in seeing.

As you gather this input, here are a few key items to keep in mind:

1) Provide a method for employees to submit their ideas and suggestions. This could be for a new charity, a new idea, a language change, etc. Something as simple as an email box that is actually responded to goes a long ways.

2) Not everybody needs to receive a rapid response to their email inquire, but not receiving a
response at all is the best way to lose an engaged employee. Acknowledgement of an
inquiry is key, beyond any auto-responses in place.

3) Let the program users know that you are listening. Communicate the feedback you are
receiving back to all employees, completing the communication loop. Remember, all users
are the best resource for program vision and direction

It certainly does get better, as New York became the largest state to recognize same-sex marriage on June 24th, 2011. What's a better way to celebrate the closing of LGBT pride month?

I can't think of a better celebration, but I wanted to highlight the It Gets Better Project. Watching Rise Against's 'Make it Stop' video, I couldn't help notice the goose bumps that came across my arm as I watched their message about LGBT youth, bullying in schools and the suicides that have taken place. Rise Against and many others (including our client Dell, whose LGBT employee resource group promoted their entry for the project) are sharing loud and clear that it gets better.

Too many suicides have taken place in the LGBT youth community and watching the videos have inspired to share this amazing project.

You can support the It Gets Better Project at YourCause.com by visiting here.

Cheers to progressing times,

Amy Chait

About the It Gets Better Project
The website www.itgetsbetter.org is a place where young people who are lesbian, gay, bi, or trans can see how love and happiness can be a reality in their future.  It’s a place where our straight allies can visit and support their friends and family members.  It’s a place where people can share their stories, take the It Gets Better Project pledge, watch videos of love and support, and seek help through the Trevor Project and GLSEN.

It’s almost over! For the month of June, I pledged to accept GOOD Magazine’s challenge to go vegetarian. The 30 Days of GOOD Challenge began June 1 and it was an effort for individuals to eat less meat, become vegetarian and/or vegan (if you were a vegetarian already) for 30 days. Their hope was to inspire individuals to think differently about their dietary choices and the earth.

Now, this was not a reason for me to lose weight or try a new diet, but simply a matter of willpower if I can actually hold out on eating turkey sandwiches and chicken alfredo pizza (which are both my favorite meals to eat).

Have I accomplished so far? Well, now that there are only six more days left, I am proud to say I have not eaten any type of meat in the past 24 days. Before accepting the challenge, I figured this would be simple, no meat… I can do it. But after a week and a half of seeing friends and coworkers eating pepperoni pizza, pho, beef tacos etc., I realized how much I wanted just one bite of their meals.

Basically, the old adage quote, “It’s easier said than done,” is how I would describe the challenge for me. However, I would encourage individuals to try and become vegetarian. The only thing running through my mind when wanting to give in to a bite of a juicy hamburger is the amount of good I was doing for animals and our planet.

Good Magazine is not the only organization trying to encourage individuals to do some good for our environment; PETA has also created challenges similar to GOOD asking individuals to become vegan for 30 days. PETA reported skipping one meal of chicken and substituting vegetarian foods instead, the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than half a million cars off U.S. roads. Also, multiple doctors have stated eating fewer animal products is simply better for your health and earth.

Overall, this has been a wholesome experience and I have grown to appreciate organic much more. For all the looks I’ve received from friends by becoming vegetarian and their attempts to make me eat meat… I did it! I accomplished something that benefited me, animals and the environment. I still have six more days of 30 Days of GOOD, but I figured these days wouldn’t be as bad as I start brainstorming what should be my next do good challenge for the month of July?

-Kassie Hernandez

What does this mean?

Another effort to stay ahead of the curve in our security efforts!

With SAQC 1.2 Payment Card Industry (PCI) certification of compliance, YourCause is able to ensure that all data passing through YourCause.com and the CSRconnect platform is subject to the highest levels of security measures and processes, including scanning general threats while processing donations and other system related transactions.

Actions we took prior to support PCI Compliance:

• Selected third party independent security auditor for network and application vulnerability assessments and penetration testing.

• Installed additional hardware to operate a formal Intrusion Detection Service (IDS) within the YourCause server cluster.

• Issued the YourCause security policies for public viewing, which include: information security policy, information sensitivity policy, and ethics policy.

• Conducted an onsite, third-party security audit to review and assess the handling of Personally Identifiable Information (PII), network security, processes and protocols.

• Implemented that all vendors receiving information related to CSRconnect transactions to be PCI compliant as well.

You can read the full press release here. Cheers to developing global good in a more secure way!

- Amy Chait

Today is World Oceans Day and many organizations are celebrating the oceans beauty in numerous ways. Oceana, Marine Mammal Center and The Ocean Foundation are just some non-profit organizations devoted to protecting the world’s oceans and have all mentioned different ways we can protect our oceans and celebrate World Oceans Day with them.

How can you celebrate our oceans? Recycle, reuse, and reduce! It’s the most popular pledge and one of the most important. By recycling and reusing, you can protect marine eco-systems from further pollution. For example, take your own bag on your next grocery shopping day to reduce the amount of plastic invading our oceans. Or start eating sustainable seafood! Or try something simple like cleaning up litter at your local beach!

If you do not live on the coast or near a beach… you can wear blue in honor of World Oceans Day, read and learn about oceans, watch documentaries about ocean expeditions, or post pictures on Twitter and Facebook of when you did visit the ocean on your last vacation.

Overall, there are multiple ways to protecting our ocean and showing your appreciation on this specific day. Now, how are you going to celebrate World Oceans Day?

You can always start by supporting Oceana, Marine Mammal Center, and The Ocean Foundation on YourCause.com by making a kind donation to support their efforts!

- Kassie Hernandez