IBM employees donate over 10 million hours of volunteer service

MANILA, Philippines - IBM announced recently that in the last five years it has surpassed more than 10 million volunteer hours of service in communities around the world, more than any other company. The community service milestone coincides with the release of IBM’s 2009 Corporate Responsibility Report, which provides an overview of the company’s community leadership, environmental stewardship, supply chain, employment policies and practices, governance and public policy. The report includes an in-depth discussion on the integration of IBM’s corporate responsibility with its Smarter Planet business strategy and incorporates points of view from global stakeholders. Details on performance and other data are available at www.ibm.com/responsibility.

“In IBM, our strategic business priorities are tightly aligned with our social responsibility efforts. IBM employees around the world are making an impact in their local communities by sharing relevant business expertise and talent – from designing smarter cities in Vietnam through the Corporate Service Corps to the fast response to natural disasters such as typhoons in the Philippines or the earthquake in Haiti,” said Andrea Escalona, marketing, communications and corporate citizenship & corporate affairs country manager, IBM Philippines.

IBM employees and retirees engage in volunteer activity through an initiative called On Demand Community (ODC). ODC provides a set of resources that volunteers can use such as technology training for preschool teachers, an introduction to Web design, and mentoring. The program provides access to IBM’s technology portfolio as well as to IBM employees with the goal of transforming cities, schools and communities.

In the Philippines, local IBMers and retirees contribute significantly to ODC by participating in several community service efforts such as the adoption of Building 17 at the Gawad Kalinga Paradise Heights, organizing “Back to School” activities for the kids of Building 17, hosting PC clinics using donated refurbished units, collaboration with a local Rotary Club for Every Reader a Leader program and various disaster response and recovery outreach.

IBM estimates that volunteer work performed by its employees is “worth” at least $25 per hour. With employees and retirees having spent 10 million hours since the formation of the On Demand Community, IBM’s volunteers have essentially donated at least one-quarter of a billion dollars, in addition to the $36.1 million they give annually in the company’s Employee Charitable Contribution campaign and the $180 million contributed by the company.

“These initiatives are not checkbook philanthropy. We call it sustained and engaged partnerships for positive change,” Escalona adds.

The company is also announcing that it will donate another $1 million to create a Global Service “Jam” in October. The objective of the Jam, an online conversation, is to expand collaboration between corporations, governments, individuals and all of civil society to improve service.