Corporate Citizenship Report - Weber Shandwick

Making A Difference
Weber Shandwick is committed to supporting the
communities in which it operates through pro-bono
community outreach programs.
These efforts are an important part of our company
culture and bring to life our commitment to serve as
advocates for causes we believe in. We recognize the
significant contributions of our colleagues’ pro-bono
efforts, which are as varied and diverse as our offices,
through “Making A Difference,” our annual, internal
awards program.
As we enter our second decade as Weber Shandwick,
we’re also taking “Making A Difference” a step further.
Building on our already established pro-bono program,
we’re now going to focus on three issues that are vital to
a more sustainable future, unifying across regions and
core to the work we do around our agency: Environment,
Education and Technology. We understand that our
employees have a unique skill-set, and that knowledge
can be applied to social need. So, we’re enlisting
colleagues worldwide to partner with local nonprofits,
to get people talking – and taking action – on the
creative ideas and solutions that offer the promise of a
more sustainable future. Specifically, we’re tackling the
questions that are at the heart of the matter: How will
we meet the challenge of resource scarcity? How will we
broaden access to quality education and skill building
opportunities? How will we leverage technology to
advance social progress? We aim to make a real impact
on this new initiative.
We’re proud of the work we’ve done to date.
Organizations benefiting from our efforts include local
community centers, The Canadian Foundation for AIDS
Research, War Child, Habitat for Humanity, WWF’s Earth
Hour, National Women’s History Museum, Compassion
for Migrant Children and Big Brothers Big Sisters. Our
Minneapolis and Boston offices host “Philanthropy
Days,” bringing together nonprofits for workshops
with Weber Shandwick and journalists on a variety of
communications topics. Our Tokyo office launched the
Real Voices, Real Japan initiative, focusing positive
attention on Japan’s earthquake recovery effort in
2011. And our “In China FOR China” campaign engages
and motivates staff and forges relationships with civil
society. Offices also rally around specific causes and
participate in events such as the JDRF Walk to Cure
Diabetes and donation programs including Verizon
Wireless’ HopeLine® cell phone drive. Our alliances
cover the key pillars of environmental sustainability
and social responsibility, with commitments that are
designed to be long-term rather than singular, one-
time events.
25 Corporate Citizenship 2012