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The Fast Company Impact Council is a private membership community of influential leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual membership dues for access to peer learning and thought leadership opportunities, events and more. Its no secret that corporate and individual giving plays an increasingly significant role in employee satisfaction, providing top talent with pride and a sense of purpose. As a result, many companies, including startups, are finding flexible ways to match funds, allowing people to donate in flexible ways that ignite them and their passion. In 2023, Americans gave over $557 billion to charities from individuals, foundations, and corporations. However, according to a 2023 study from Ipsos Global Trends, 72% of consumers are concerned that in the future, governments and public services wont look after citizens, thereby widening the large gap nonprofits must step in to fill. Where to donate? When the need is vast, the priorities unclear, how do people, communities, and organizations decide where to donate? I wrote about values-based philanthropy and how it is foundational to ensure impact. From the donor who shows up consistently with $20, to the recognized philanthropist changing the game, like MacKenzie Scott and Melinda French Gates, values alignment is the first step in generating trust, an intrinsic component to philanthropy. It is also a way for companies to live their values and engage stakeholders, employees, and consumers.For example, over the years Google employees have participated in annual flu shot campaigns. Google asked employees to donate to UNICEF when they received a flu shot, supporting UNICEF in providing routine immunizations for children outside the United States. Google matched employee donations and the campaign raised over $800,000. The funds supported programs to immunize Syrian children in Iraq, Rohingya children in Bangladesh, and Brazilian children residing in the most remote areas of the Amazon. Google has also been a critical emergency giving partner of UNICEF. Employees have donated millions of dollars over the years through its workplace giving program to support UNICEF’s humanitarian response efforts globally. Flexible funding Flexible funds allow charitable organizations to more equitably allocate money where it is most needed. Yet, many partners like to have a say in where their money goes. Weve had some partners split their support, with a percentage going to a specific emergency or program area while the rest supports flexible funding. Baxter International Foundation, for example, has supported UNICEFs water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) programming since 2020, based on the shared values around access to clean, safe water for all children. Our trust-based partnership demonstrates that leveraging cross-sectoral expertise creates meaningful community health and impact as we work toward our goal of a more equitable world for children. The Foundations leadership was so inspired by our vision and impact, that it approved an additional grant to our Every Child Fund in 2023, for three years of flexible funding. Aligning philanthropic efforts with a companys values and employee passions creates a sense of purpose, deep engagement, and retention. Innovation and competition are the fuel of the corporate sector and our partners proudly show that they are leaders in these areas. As the need for philanthropic support continues to grow, companies can embrace and live out their values in an era where employees increasingly seek purpose-driven work environments. Companies that integrate giving into their core values and operations will likely see the greatest returnsboth in employee satisfaction and societal impact. Michele Walsh is executive vice president and chief philanthropy officer of UNICEF USA.
Category:
E-Commerce
A first-of-its-kind project will use a swarm of small, independent submersibles to monitor, protect and provide data on offshore artificial reefs whose purpose is to attract new marine life in otherwise barren sections of sea, officials said Monday. The small, autonomous underwater vehicles, or AUVs, hailed as the future of underwater surveillance will be equipped with sensors and high-definition cameras to give scientists at the Cyprus Marine and Maritime Institute a clear picture on the effectiveness of their intricate artificial reefs designed and built using 3D printing. Made of an environmentally friendly cement mixture, the artificial reefs will be embedded with a docking station at which the AUVs can recharge and transmit collected data including video, said CMMI CEO Zakarias Siokouros. The advantage of the AUVs lies in their ability to loiter underwater for as long as a month at a time and provide a continuous flow of data while protecting the reefs by alerting scientists to any disturbance in protected waters from illegal fishing and encroaching boats. Scientists would, in turn, notify local authorities. A trial run of the project, dubbed EONIOS, is currently underway off Cyprus Ayia Napa marina. Scientists plan to place the artificial reefs in waters off Cyprus southern coastal town of Limassol at a depth of around 20 meters (66 feet) where sunlight can still reach the seabed. The reefs attract everything from vegetation to large fish and for waters off Cyprus where there isnt enough food for fish, we aim to create the appropriate environment to bring such fish there, Siokouros told The Associated Press following a demonstration of the AUVs’ capabilities at the Ayia Napa Marina. EONIOS is a partnership between the CMMI, AUV makers Arkeocean of France, Cypriot tech company SignalGeneriX and French consultancy company Lanego. Siokouros said the partnership aims to market EONIOS to other countries who would want to build up their fish stocks using artificial reefs. A key selling point for the AUVs is that they can provide surveillance, 3D data collection and area protection at a significant discount compared to tethered submersibles, said Arkeocean official Tamara Brizard. Our goal is to make a system under which six of our mini-drones can do the same work for the price of one conventional drone, Brizard said. Arkeocean AUVs can currently pack a maximum 5 kilograms (11 pounds) of sensors and other gear and can operate to a depth of 300 meters (984 feet) although newer versions are being designed to reach 3,000 meters (9,842 feet). The AUVs receive commands through an attached acoustic antenna and can pinpoint their location. Battery-powered thrusters make the AUVs very stealthy and nearly undetectable, Brizard said, making them extremely useful for defense purposes such as surveillance in restricted waters. The AUVs can operate anywhere in the world thanks to an Iridium satellite antenna. The AUVs can also use undersea currents to roam, extending battery life. Another application is in the energy field where the submersibles can be used to detect seismic activity for offshore oil and gas exploration as well as finding suitable areas on which to build offshore wind and solar farms, said Brizard. Menelaos Hadjicostis, Associated Press
Category:
E-Commerce
Elon Musk is in hot water with our Canadian neighbors to the north. A parliamentary petition with 200,000 signatures and climbing is calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to revoke Musks Canadian citizenship and passport for threatening Canada’s sovereignty by engaging in activities that go against the national interest.” The British Columbia author Qualia Reed launched the petition in Canadas House of Commons, where it was sponsored by parliamentary member Charlie Angus over the weekend, as reported by the Canadian Press. Musk was born in South Africa, but obtained Canadian citizenship in 1989 through his mother, Maye Musk, who was born in Saskatchewan. The SpaceX CEO and current adviser to President Trump then went on to become a U.S. citizen in 2002. Like a growing number of Americans, many Canadians have had enough of Musk’s alliance with Trump and his extreme interference at the highest levels of American government. Canadians are also angered by the continued threats to slap high tariffs on goods from our longtime trading partner and ally, along with Trump’s outrageous calls to make Canada our 51st state. The petition, launched on February 20, only needed 500 signatures for presentation to the House of Commons to garner a formal government response. It calls on Trudeau to revoke Musks Canadian citizenship status and his Canadian passport “effective immediately.
Category:
E-Commerce
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