Being ranked one of the “Most Admired” companies in the world by Fortune magazine is a prominence few in Colorado experience, and it’s particularly of interest to B:CIVIC since social responsibility is identified as one of the nine key metrics for the world’s most admired list. And among the handful of Colorado companies named to Fortune’s 2017 list are three who are our B:CIVIC members: Ball Corporation, DaVita, and DISH.
All three companies have been highly proactive in responding to the recent major storms in Texas, Florida and the southeast, and are leaders in other areas of corporate citizenship and community engagement.
Ball Corporation has also been exemplary in their CSR programs and impact, and in playing a part in recent disaster relief efforts.
Ball is working with the CAN’d Aid Foundation to provide clean drinking water to U.S. communities in the wake of disasters. The company is donating one million aluminum cans to the CAN’d Aid Foundation, which will be filled with water at Oskar Blues Brewery facilities and distributed to communities in need. Ball Foundation has been a Disaster Responder member of the American Red Cross since 2014, and Ball and its employees have contributed more than $1 million to the Red Cross since 2013.
For the second consecutive year, Ball earned a perfect 100 percent score on the 2017 Corporate Equality Index, a national benchmarking survey report on corporate policies and practices related to LGBT workplace equality. It is administered by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. Ball is one of 517 major U.S. businesses that received top marks.
Ball Corporation’s 2017 “Let’s Can Hunger” campaign, now in its fifth year, set an all-time record by raising 1.5 million meals for communities in need throughout the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Over two weeks, Ball employees donated 269,655 pounds of canned food, as well as $332,000 in monetary contributions. If you haven’t already seen it, take a look at their fun and inspiring video.
More on Ball Corporation and their corporate citizenship.
Prior to the storm Irma hitting land, DaVita took a proactive care approach by enabling their patients in areas of Southwest Florida to get dialysis ahead of the storm. Centers were also helping to communicate evacuation information to patients and worked to coordinate with other dialysis and healthcare providers to try to ensure the continuation of care during and after the storm.
With the enormous destruction wrought by Irma, DaVita’s initial priority was accounting for patients and employees, and assessing facilities. The company used social media channels to good effect during the power outage to inform patients about dialysis facilities that were open, and various DaVita facilities accepted patients without appointments, no matter what type of insurance the patient has.
DaVita has also contributed to the American Kidney Fund and the National Kidney Foundation which offers financial assistance to patients and their families who affected by Hurricane Harvey.
DaVita employees are also playing a key role to help. Read the DaVita blog for a view of DaVita Dallas areas teammates rallying to the aid of their fellow Texans and patients in Houston in the wake of Harvey.
DISH has a pre-emptive approach to responding to communities and customers affected by the recent major storms, and their forward thinking has helped first responders in Texas. They partnered with the Information Technology Disaster Resource Center (ITDRC) to provide broadband services to seven disaster relief hubs and shelters and to help provide a communications hub for first responders. They also mobilized their work with Team Rubicon, a non-profit for military veterans who work with first responders. Together with ITDRC, DISH Cares has donated more than 245,000 hours of internet and television services to disaster relief efforts since 2015.
All this mobilization of services requires people with technical skills. DISH understands the need to nurture STEM learning and to attract more women to the field. Here in Denver, their philanthropic work with Girl’s Inc in Denver shows how a commitment to opportunity, coupled with a generosity in funding can make a difference to inspire girls in the STEM fields. See more on those efforts on the DISH web site and look for their Girls Inc video.