GE named in top 50 community-minded companies

The survey, conducted by the National Conference on Citizenship and Points of Light (one of the biggest charity organisations in the US), is a national initiative to rank S&P 500 corporations on how they engage with the communities they serve.

GE was evaluated on a wide range of factors, including leadership, measurement and strategy, design, employee civic health, community partnerships, cause alignment and transparency.

This survey is conducted to identify and recognise companies for their commitment to improve the quality of life in the communities where they do business.

“I am proud that GE has been recognised as one of the most community-minded companies by the Civic 50. Thanks to the generosity of our employees around the world, we are making meaningful contributions in the communities where we work and live. With your support, I know we will continue to build on this success,” said Deb Elam, president of the GE Foundation and chief diversity officer.

Last year, GE employees contributed 1.3 million volunteer hours to community organisations in 55 countries. Over the past 60 years, the GE Foundation, employees and retirees have given more than $1 billion through corporate matching gift programme, which supports employees and retirees in their personal philanthropy/charitable giving.

Community engagement has been a vibrant part of GE’s culture for over 20 year presence in Vietnam. Accordingly, the GE Volunteers Council in Vietnam encourages members to actively participate in various volunteer programmes that benefit the community.

Such programmes range from beach clean-up projects, tree planting activities, to donations for underprivileged people, victims of natural disasters, to annual screening event for orphans in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, blood donation, and other meaningful charity activities in the areas of healthcare, education, community development and environment.

Meanwhile, GE Foundations initiated Scholar-Leaders Programme to provide financial assistance and development opportunities for excellent first-year students at some leading universities in Vietnam.

Each scholarship is worth $3,600 ($1,200/year/student) within up to three years, providing that the students can maintain their high academic achievements.

GE has also spent $300.000 on building a Training Programme for Master of Public Environmental Protection Policy in Vietnam between the National University of Vietnam and the US Duke University.

The Civic 50 for 2014 also honours many other big names such as Intel, Motorola, Hewlett-Packard, FedEx and Citi etc.

Community engagement is an integral part of business strategy for many big corporations around the globe. They are dedicating their time, talent and resources to strengthen their communities and are in turn, seeing a positive business impact, and enhanced employee engagement, skill-development, and diversity and inclusion.