In 2009, Intelius, led by CEO Naveen Jain, gave over $360,000 to several local and national non-profits; most of the money (nearly $260,000) given to local Washington State nonprofit organizations. Money was only part of what the company contributed, as several Intelius employees volunteered hundreds of hours to various local organizations such as Hopelink, Treehouse, Youthcare, Boys and Girls Club of Bellevue, Eastside Domestic Violence, Kairos Society, and many others. The group focused on organizations supporting education, family services, basic needs, and youth development.

Anu Jain, Intelius’ Vice President of Community Relations stated, “I’m proud to say that at Intelius, giving back and being a good neighbor is an essential part of our corporate culture. Each year we push ourselves to do more and find new ways to help our community and those in need. In 2009, we increased our giving by more than 75% from 2009, continuing our track record of growing our annual contributions every year since our inception in 2003.”

Puget Sound’s Corporate Citizenship Program is a unique publication designed to award and recognize companies and their philanthropic contributions. The publication shines light on businesses that “do well by doing good”.

Wal Mart’s record in corporate giving is also quite amazing. Reports released indicate that for FYE 2009, it gave over $423 million in charitable contributions all over the world, an increase by $85.6 million from the previous year.

The economic crisis has not slowed down Wal Mart’s commitment to corporate giving; it has in fact bolstered it. Together with its partner (domestic and international) foundations, Wal Mart has advanced its commitment to programs addressing hunger, homelessness, joblessness, self-sufficiency, education and basic needs all over the world. Wal Mart believes that it is precisely during times of economic hardship that companies must step up and support those hardest hit by the crisis. The company asserts its responsibility to come up more effective ways to raise funds that can have a positive and lasting impact in the communities.

Wal-Mart’s community involvement year after year is remarkable. Education is a primary beneficiary of Wal-Mart charitable giving. WMF has donated at least $701 million to education charities since 1998. Each Wal-Mart store awards a $1,000 college scholarship to a qualifying high school senior. The company also has a commitment to the United Negro College Fund, pledging $1 million. Wal Mart sponsors the Competitive Edge Scholarship, which makes four-year scholarships –– each worth $20,000 –– available to students pursuing technology-related courses. This year, the company gave the Institute for Higher Education Policy a grant worth $4.1 million.

A breakdown of Wal-Mart’s largesse for 2009 include: more than $378 million in cash and in-kind donations from its US-based stores, $45.5 million cash and in-kind gifts and donations from its international stores, more than $106 million raised through in-store giving program benefiting local charities. This totals a global contribution of nearly $530 million for the FYE 2009. Wal Mart’s in-kind donations include providing meat, agricultural produce and other foodstuffs donated to US food banks.

Wal Mart continues its partnership with nonprofit organizations to address hunger, disasters, nutrition, environmental sustainability, and health and wellness. It gave over $248 million to local and national charities including $5 million for YouthBuild, $4.7 million for Children’s Miracle Network, $3 million for The Salvation Army, and $3.4 million for the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Moreover, company volunteerism runs high. Wal Mart’s workforce and associates in the US contributed more than one million volunteer hours, a milestone to encourage increased community service.

Alice Walton, daughter of Sam Walton, works closely with the Walton Family Foundation (where she serves as a board member) and their philanthropic endeavors. Alice, born into an environment where philanthropy was championed, currently spearheads the Foundation’s involvement with Crystal Bridges, a museum of American Art. The museum is dedicated to American artists, and strives to be a place of learning within the community. The heart of the art collection at Crystal Bridges will include works donated by Alice Walton and the Walton Family Foundation, as well as gifts, loans, and donations from other private collectors. Alice Walton’s philanthropic ventures are reflective of those of the Walton family and the Wal Mart corporation.

As a global company, Nokia fulfills its responsibility to promote sustainable development in whichever way possible. Thus, it works with several international nonprofit organizations to pursue its social responsibility programs toward youth and children development, disaster relief, and community building.

The company targets providing youth with life skills to help them achieve personal and professional success. It collaborated with the International Youth Foundation (IYF) in 2000 to launch an international initiative to improve literacy, scholastic performance, active citizenship, and employment skills among young people. Nokia has contributed over $26 million and benefited 330,000 young people.

The company also donated an initial amount of €1,000,000 to Plan, a humanitarian international children’s organization in order to launch e-learning activities to educate African children of their rights and opportunities.

Nokia also regards community building as its social responsibility because its mobile technology has the capacity to influence and bridge communication for millions of people around the world.

In Africa, it implemented a project called The Village Phone program, which made communication easier for villagers in the outskirts of Africa through village phones.

In the Philippines, Nokia launched BridgeIt under the program title “text2teach” in May 2003 to provide technology-based instructional materials to 5th and 6th grade teachers in order to boost academic performance of students. Its two years of implementation has benefited more than 122,000 students and 920 schoolteachers.

Nokia has rendered charitable contributions to several international nonprofit institutions such as the United Way and UNICEF. It also developed an employee philanthropy program which has raised over $500,000 for charity.

The company has also contributed to disaster relief efforts, working hand in hand with the Red Cross. It donated $1 million to aid the victims of Hurricane Katrina. In response to the Southeast Asian tsunami, Nokia initiated a long-term recovery program through a contribution of €2,500,000 Reconstruction Fund. It also provided 1000 mobiles phones to rescue teams and operators to support relief work. It also funded rebuilding programs in Pakistan and instituted a Nokia Education Fund for children who lost their parents to the September 11 attacks.

The foundation’s humanitarian efforts will provide healthy food for more than 93,000 children for the duration of the summer season. This program is aptly called Feeding Hungry Children and the Boys & Girls Club of America received the $1.2 million grant for the children’s meals. Various feeding programs in different American states will receive grants totaling to $250,000.

For the Food Bank Support program, a $3 million grant allows the distribution of at least 30 new refrigerator trucks to United States food banks. This will help ensure the smooth delivery of food to storerooms, kitchens, and to organizations backed by Feeding America.

The Food Donation program aims to fulfill their goal of donating 90 million pounds of food before the end of December 2009. So far, Walmart’s food contribution program has supplied over 59.8 million pounds of fresh meat and other nourishing goods to US Food Banks. This philanthropic act is being carried out by Sam’s Club and Walmart stores.

Walmart Foundation president Margaret McKenna assures that the foundation will continue to work towards the alleviation of hunger, especially where America’s children are concerned. The foundation is likewise committed to supporting programs that help homeless families and all those who are in need.

L’Oréal’s international philanthropy program focuses on three main focus areas: scientific research for ovarian cancer, education, and solidarity. For its exceptional contributions to society, Admical, or the French association for the development of industrial and corporate sponsorship, recently awarded the company with its 26th Oscar on March 24, 2009.

Its most prominent philanthropic initiative is in the field of ovarian cancer research. It is a fact that more and more women are battling this disease. According to American Cancer Society estimates, nearly 15,000 women out of the 22,000 diagnosed from ovarian cancer will die from it. Unlike other types of cancer, there is no efficient screening technology leading to its earlier detection.

Given this alarming state for women, L’Oreal Paris has committed to head the advocacy on ovarian cancer to fund research, help disseminate information and awareness about the disease, and educate women about symptoms and early warning signs. With its “Color of Hope” Campaign, it has become the largest corporate fundraiser for ovarian cancer efforts and scientific research – raising over $13 million since 1997 to benefit the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation. Proceeds of sales from its Color of Hope Cosmetics Bag, L’Oreal Paris Color of Hope Makeup Collection, and L’Oreal Paris Hope Necklaces are funneled to ovarian cancer research.

It has also promoted the increased participation of women in science. Its “For Women in Science” program, founded with UNESCO, awards five leading women researchers in five continents. In addition, it has granted more than 600 fellowships to women in order to cultivate a new breed of women scientists.

L’Oreal is a staunch advocate of HIV/AIDS prevention. A partnership with UNESCO bred the “Hairdressers Against AIDS” program, which resulted to a network of 600,000 salons in 27 countries all working to combat the disease through public awareness and prevention programs.

The Endowment traces its roots to Andrew Carnegie, a US steel tycoon and famed philanthropist. In 1907, Carnegie expressed his desire to promote world peace and believed that such can be possible through stronger international laws and organizations. On November 25, 1910, Carnegie’s 75th birthday, he created the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace with a starting fund of $10 million.

The primary aim of the Endowment was to “hasten the abolition of international war.” Carnegie tasked the Endowment’s Board of Trustees to seek any possible practical means to carry out this aim.

Today, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace is comprised of international offices in efforts to create more practical solutions to international matters by providing a strong international presence. While other think tanks are restricted by national boundaries and see the world from one country’s perspective, The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace was the first to break the trend and started operating beyond the borders of the United States in 1993.

With headquarters in Washington DC, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace works with offices located in Moscow, Beijing, Brussels, and Beirut, effectively covering the issues that affect and may affect international peace in the world’s main regions.

Among the Endowment’s high profile programs are the China Program, Globalization 101; the Trade, Equity and Development Program; and the Russia & Eurasia Program.

James C. Gaither currently serves as chairman of the board of trustees, which includes Kofi A. Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations; and Jamie Gorelick as board members.

More information on the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace:

Official site of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

A detailed profile of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, including links to all board members.

The organization’s headquarters in Moscow, Beirut, and Brussles, Belgium.

The MacArthurs owned Bankers Life and Casualty, properties in New York and Florida, as well as other businesses. Prior to his death, John D. MacArthur stated in his will that his wife Catherine, along with Paul Doolen, William T. Kirby, J. Roderick MacArthur, and several of his executives should compose the Foundation’s first Board of Directors.

Since its inception, the Chicago-based John D. and Catherine MacArthur Foundation already gave more than $4 billion in grants and endowments, with an annual average of $300 million.

The John D. and Catherine MacArthur Foundation focuses its resources to four major programs – Global Security and Sustainability, Human and Community Development, General grant-making, and the MacArthur Fellows Program. Among of the Foundation’s interests include international peace and security, conservation and sustainable development, population control, reproductive health, and affordable housing programs.

The MacArthur Fellows Program is the Foundation’s flagship award given annually to 20 to 40 citizens or residents of the United States who demonstrate notable merit and promise for continued and enhanced creative work. The Foundation clearly states that the MacArthur Fellows Program is not a prize for a person’s past achievement, but an investment on that person’s potential.

The John D. and Catherine MacArthur Foundation has worked in partnership with other family-owned nonprofit institutions, notably the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Carnegie Corporation and the Rockefeller Foundation. One of their noteworthy collaborations is The Partnership for Higher Education in Africa, an educational program designed for higher education institutions in six African countries.

Today, the John D. and Catherine MacArthur Foundation is the largest nonprofit organization in Chicago and ranks as one of the 10 largest private philanthropies in the U.S.

Additional information on the John D. and Catherine MacArthur Foundation:

John D. and Catherine MacArthur Foundation is helping to build digital media and learning.

The Foundation is studying the socioeconomic effects on health.

A brief history of the Foundation on the Learning to Give website.

Today, the Urban Institute is a private, nonprofit organization that aims to perform independent surveys and research on a wide assortment of social and economic issues of specific significance, most of which are related to the betterment of the quality of life in major cities in the nation and throughout the developing world.

The Urban Institute makes use of interviews, statistical research, and polling to make accessible relevant information and details that will help in the creation of state and federal policies. Its reports, which are published in print or in the Internet, are readily accessible to interested individuals, researchers, and organizations.

The Urban Institute has nine research centers, with each center focusing on a specific field of urban living and experience. For example, the Education Policy Center heads research on all facets of education reform, specifically its relation to the needs of urban public school programs. On the other hand, The Health Policy Center busies itself analyzing the changing patterns and trending of insurance availability and, especially, the growing numbers of uninsured and underinsured. Other centers include the Labor and Social Policy Center and the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Center.

Individuals from the fields of academia, journalism, government and community service, and business make up the staff of the Urban Institute. Leading the research projects are small groups of senior fellows, who can also carry out independent research, represent the institute in the media, circulate in scholarly and mass-market publications, and present evidence before Congress.

The Urban Institute comments on why people lack health insurance.

The Transition from Jail to Community Program initiated by the Urban Institute.

Commentary on The Future of Public Education in New Orleans.

In 1985, pro bono lawyers led by DC attorney David Crosland convened the Ad Hoc Committee for the Homeless with the sponsorship of the DC Bar and from there the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless (WLCH) was born.

WLCH’s primary goal is to end the suffering caused by poverty and to champion the rights of the homeless and those who are in danger of losing their homes in the DC area by providing attorneys to represent these people. Aside from the no-cost representation, WLCH attorneys also provide assistance and legal services in other areas.

WLCH over the years has provided free legal representation for the homeless and the near homeless in the following areas:

• applications for public assistance and subsidized housing
• credit and other consumer matters
• wrongful evictions and shelter terminations
• discrimination, probate, health and mental health
• family law cases
• impounded property
• veterans benefits

Two hundred law practitioners and paralegals, all of whom are dedicated to the organization’s cause to end homelessness man WLCH.

While legal services may be expensive, WLCH has been able to continue their operations due to the nonstop influx of donations and support by people and companies who believe in WLCH’s cause.

Additional information about the WLCH:

The history of the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless.

The WLCH keeps the door open to legal services for the homeless.

Former Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick serves on the board of the WLCH.