Month: February 2023

In the world of philanthropy, businesses and corporations are uniquely positioned to make a positive impact. They often have practice in uniting a team around a mission, using existing resources to increase capacity, and spreading the word about their work. For companies looking to leverage their strengths to better the community, corporate giving is a great tool to make change.

A corporate giving program is an initiative that allows businesses to invest in social good. There are a variety of options when it comes to program design, and each offers its own advantages. For inspiration, check out what other companies are doing.

No matter what kind of corporate philanthropy programs you choose, the time, money, and effort you invest will benefit not only the community at large, but will strengthen your organization.

The benefits of a corporate giving program giving

Become a trusted brand

These days consumers want to support businesses and corporations that invest in causes they care about. In fact, over 75% of consumers polled said they are more likely to buy from a company that supports environmental, social, or governance causes.

Kristin Kenney, Senior Associate at Carol Cone ON PURPOSE, explains, “Consumers are much more savvy today. They’re asking, how are employees treated? Where are products coming from? Who are products made by? And they’re really good at research.”

Corporate giving builds positivity around your brand and allows you to align your outreach with your community’s values. This provides your customers new, meaningful ways to engage with your business. It’ll also help you build a reputation as a company that does more than talk the talk. You show up.

Though in the past corporate giving has been viewed as an optional program, today it’s imperative that organizations get engaged with this work.

If the social, health, and environmental crises of this past year are not enough to compel business leaders, then leaders need to hear this: You need a social impact strategy not just to do some good, but to remain relevant and competitive.

– Mark Horoszowski, CEO at MovingWorlds

Engage employees

A corporate giving initiative can also inspire your employees. Everyone wants to engage with a company that incorporates doing good into its mission—whether that means buying their products or being part of the team.

Giving back allows you to connect with your employees on a deeper level, helps them feel more fulfilled, and empowers them to make a difference. Plus it’s a great tool for recruiting. According to a recent survey, more than two-thirds of respondents said they’re more likely to apply for and accept a job with a socially responsible company.

Boost revenue 

Using donations to create a loyal customer base and a strong company culture can help you boost revenue in the long run.

Corporate giving provides a great story for your marketing and recruitment team. It allows you to get your name out into the community in a new way and gives you the opportunity to build partnerships with other organizations. These connections can translate into more sales and they create a strong foundation for future growth.

Support sustainability 

Beyond your bottom line, this form of corporate philanthropy supports long-term sustainability. Your business doesn’t exist on an island. It is part of a complex system that relies on the health and wellbeing of the planet, the people, and the social structures that connect them.

Investing in nonprofits that sustain the community and protect resources means you’re ensuring sustainability for your business and the world at large.

6 types of corporate giving programs

1. Community Grants

Awarding grants to nonprofits doing work in the community is a great way to leverage your resources and their expertise. Rather than picking a charity, you can set aside a designated amount of money to fund grants and invite organizations to apply.

If your team has a specific cause or population in mind, you can create targeted grant programs around an issue. Only organizations engaged in that specific work will be eligible to apply. For instance, you could create a grant dedicated to helping disadvantaged communities address climate change. In your grant application, you could ask applicants to explain how they are engaged in this work and what a grant will allow them to do.

Community grants allow your business to support the organizations already doing good work in the community. Forming relationships with these nonprofits helps you build trust with community members and shows that you’re willing to be humble in your approach to giving.

This model also fosters internal and external collaboration. By uniting around a common purpose, you can work together with the organizations you fund to make change. You can determine the program focus and help guide outcomes. Plus these connections can become long-term partnerships.

Meet community members where they are

As you build your grant program, be sure to center the people you’re aiming to support. Start by involving them in the conversations early. Get their input about what problems the community faces and what kind of solutions might do the most good. Remember: the people closest to a problem usually have the best insight about how to solve it.

Structure your grant application so that it is easy to access and complete. Nonprofits are busy. They don’t have time for a complicated application process. Choose a grant management software that streamlines the application experience and makes it easy on your internal team to review applications and communicate with grantees.

2. Charitable donations

A charitable donation allows your organization to give money or resources directly to a nonprofit. Structuring your giving this way allows your business to have an immediate impact.

This approach to corporate giving lets you minimize the time and effort your team puts into structuring and executing the program. All you have to do is choose a cause, identify charities that align with your values, and make a donation.

You can choose to write a check or you can make an in-kind donation. Giving goods or services is great if you have the means and capacity and the community has a need for what you can offer.

Consider the timing of your gift. Do you want to align with a global giving event such as Giving Tuesday? Or perhaps you want the gift to coincide with an event you’re planning or a product launch you’re preparing. Adding a charitable component to business programs can be a great way to drum up more interest in both initiatives.

Root your giving in trust

When you make a charitable donation, you can choose to designate your gift for specific programs or you can make the funding unrestricted. Unrestricted funding allows the nonprofit to decide how best to use the resources they receive. It offers more flexibility for the charities as they seek to cover the costs of running programs.

Philanthropist Mackenzie Scott has become known for making unrestricted donations to nonprofits. She explains the decision: “Because we believe that teams with experience on the front lines of challenges will know best how to put the money to good use, we encouraged them to spend it however they choose. Many reported that this trust significantly increased the impact of the gift.”

3. Matching gifts

Matching employee contributions to nonprofits gets the whole team engaged in giving. A matching program allows employees to choose the causes they want to support. An employee donates to a nonprofit and the companies will match or double the donation to create a bigger impact.

This method gets employees involved by letting them determine how the company’s charitable funds will be distributed. They can choose the causes they care about most or those they have a personal connection to. By putting the decision in the employees’ hands, you ensure that company donations align with employee values.

For example, Related Group, an urban developer based in South Florida, has created a matching gifts program for their employees. This helps them get folks involved and boosts the assistance provided to nonprofit organizations.

Make giving quick and easy

These days, most employees expect companies to have some form of corporate giving and matching. According to the latest report from Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose, 85% of companies surveyed offer year-round matching gifts programs.

Despite matching gift programs being incredibly popular, participation can be a struggle. It turns out, one of the main reasons employees don’t participate in corporate giving programs is because the process is too complex. This is where technology comes in. One study found that nearly half of employees said an easy-to-use, online technology platform was a top motivating factor to donate. Choose a corporate giving platform that makes it easy for employees to get excited about giving and helps them track their impact.

4. Volunteering

When it comes to corporate giving, it’s easy to overlook one of your greatest resources: people. Your company has taken time to assemble a great team. The talent and enthusiasm each employee brings to the table is unique. Channeling these skills to help local nonprofits pursue their missions is a great way to leverage your resources and get employees engaged.

As part of a volunteer program, your employees donate hours to a local nonprofit. This can entail simple, non-specialized work that the charity determines. For example, your company could donate volunteer hours to a local food bank. Employees would go during their normal working hours to help the food bank with tasks such as packing boxes or sorting food. You can also find opportunities that encourage employees to use their professional skills in their volunteer efforts.

No matter how you structure your volunteering, this kind of program helps keep employees invested. It provides opportunities for folks to connect with team members they don’t often get to work with directly, enhancing cohesion and connection across the company.

Other forms of corporate giving can help employees feel a sense of purpose, but volunteering allows them to get their hands dirty and to truly get engaged in the work. This has countless benefits for morale and engagement. Plus it can actually improve employee mental and physical health.

Let employees lead the way 

Volunteering is most impactful when employees get to choose the causes they give their time to. Rather than making your volunteer program feel like a top-down initiative, put employees in the driver’s seat. Seek out employee feedback to help you organize volunteer opportunities. And empower employees to create volunteer events and invite their coworkers.

Taking this approach lets you build on the relationships that already exist within your company. It’s much more powerful to get an invite from someone on your team who’s excited about a cause rather than a company-wide email from HR.

5. Scholarships

Channeling your corporate giving into a scholarship program means you will be helping students further their education by providing money for tuition, books, or other living expenses.

For example A+ Federal Credit Union has a scholarship program for high school and college students in Central Texas. In 2021, they awarded a total of $100,000 to 50 students chosen based on academic achievements and community involvement. The scholarship money goes towards college tuition.

Funding scholarships is a valuable investment in the future. You’re helping students access education and easing the financial burden on them and their families. Of course, this can have an immediate impact on when and where they attend college, but it also has long-term effects on their job prospects, earning power, and financial stability.

Investing in education connects you with the up-and-coming generation. Showing up for them will help your brand stay relevant. These are your future customers and employees.

Recruit top talent

Some companies focus their scholarship programs on disciplines related to their businesses. This approach can create relationships with a strong pool of candidates for the future. It also gives you the ability to reach out and support a wide range of students and, in turn, help diversify the pool of talent you can draw from.

For example, Acxiom is a customer data management firm. Each year, they offer $5,000 scholarships to students from diverse backgrounds who are enrolled in a full-time post-secondary degree program such as computer science or computer information systems. Through this program, the company is supporting diversity across the sector and connecting with potential applicants.

6. Sponsorships

In a sponsorship, a business helps financially support a community group, event, or activity. Often in exchange for the support, the company is featured in promotional materials. By affiliating with a beloved event or group, a business can build goodwill in the community. This form of outreach gives you a chance to subtly market your brand while spotlighting important community activities.

For example the Alaska Humanities Forum sponsors events that bring Alaskans together and encourage civil discussion. They support events such as the Blueberry Arts Festival and in return their logo is featured on the event website.

Sponsorships often entail funding, but you can also provide support through in-kind donations. Perhaps the goods or services you offer would be useful to organizers.

Align sponsorships with your mission

As you look for an event to sponsor, try to find one that aligns with your business mission. Think about your target customers and what kind of interests they might have. Not only will this give you a natural point of connection with the folks you most want to reach, but it will also make it easier for you to show up in an authentic way.

A great way to approach your search is by starting with the events and causes that your employees are already involved in. Perhaps you can include their input as you create your giving plans.

Create your corporate giving program today

Creating an effective corporate giving program is not so different from launching other business initiatives. You want to ensure success by building from strategy, setting clear objectives, and prioritizing transparency.

As Alnoor Ebrahim, author of Measuring Social Change: Performance and Accountability in a Complex World explains, “In the social sector, we tend to think a lot about impact but don’t necessarily give enough attention to strategy—and the two are completely intertwined.”

As a corporate social responsibility platform, Submittable can help you create a program that works for your whole team. Whether you’re managing grant applications, accepting sponsorship requests, or promoting a scholarship, Submittable makes it easy to launch, manage, and measure your program.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE: ROK) piloted an artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled control and machine learning application to help its customer, Eastern Municipal Water District (EMWD), save energy, reduce costs, and improve quality.

EMWD serves nearly one million people living and working within 558 square miles in Riverside County, California. A growing population and an expanding service area put increased demands on the district, and its four reclamation plants treat about 48 million gallons of wastewater a day removing impurities.

Earlier this year, Rockwell implemented an AI solution that learns the current state of aeration operations and, with minimal staff intervention, continuously and automatically adjusts the control system as conditions change.

The goal of the pilot was to improve efficiency and optimize aeration basin performance, conserve energy, reduce chemical use and reduce operational costs. As a result of the AI application remotely programmed and installed on the existing plant automation network, EMWD:

Reduced airflow delivered to the aeration basin by as much as 31%Will realize estimated savings of 2,330 kWh of electricity per day and more than $100,000 per yearImproved process control and effluent qualityReduced the need for disinfectant and staff interventions to maintain aeration

Learn more about how EMWD tackles sustainability goals with AI.

Rockwell Automation recently published its 2022 Sustainability Report. Learn more about how this provider of industrial automation and digital transformation solutions is helping to enable sustainability for manufacturers worldwide. Read the report.

“Our ability to connect a global network of experts across the industry allows innovative packaging solutions to be created, tested, and commercialized in a faster and more accurate way.”

Our future is circular

We believe the optimal future for people and planet, is a circular future. One where resources are not lost as waste, and never end up in the environment. At Dow, we are creating industrial ecosystems that transform waste and close the loop. We know packaging can contribute to a safe, sustainable world and vibrant circular economy. Pack Studios enables the future of packaging to be realized today.

We are accelerating the future of packaging

Innovation and collaboration are strongly connected. Pack Studios is where we connect all voices and aspects of the global packaging industry to accelerate the development of sustainable packaging innovation. Pack Studios allows us to design, develop and test new packaging at a pilot-scale, to quickly discover packaging solutions that are as effective as they are sustainable. We can design for circularity, and explore new ways to incorporate recycled materials and those made with renewable feedstocks. And it all happens in a collaborative environment where original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), converters, designers and brand owners, such as Nestle Purina, are able to work together efficiently and effectively.

“The positive partnership with Dow enabled us to imagine future solutions to transform packaging that was hard to recycle into simpler, more sustainable packaging that can be recycled. All of that without losing the characteristics of freshness during the product’s entire shelf life.”

Pack Studios provides access to technical expertise and capabilities such as fabrication lines, sensory analytics, prototyping and application testing—all of which can assist in facilitating the focused development of improved packaging. Since different products require different packaging needs, Pack Studios enables customers to work alongside Dow materials science experts to create sustainable packaging solutions tailored to their needs using ground-breaking technologies.

We are accelerating the future of packaging, and it’s happening now.

Learn more about sustainable packaging and our work at Pack Studios.

PNC | Insights

PNC established the Minority Business Development Group in an effort to deliver products, solutions and resources for the fast-growing area of minority-owned small businesses and to promote their effective growth, development and sustainability.

Minority businesses account for more than 50% of the 2 million new businesses started in the United States in the past 10 years. Despite that growth, minority-business ownership represents only 18 percent of total U.S. businesses, and the businesses face huge disparities when it comes to access to capital, contracting opportunities and other entrepreneurial development.1

“Small businesses are the fabric of our communities, and it’s our privilege to help and support them.” says Marshalynn Odneal, PNC’s national sales executive for minority business. “Through this work, we hope to become a true partner to minority business owners and arm them with the tools and support they need to be successful.”

Watch More Conversations About Minority-Owned Small Business and Entrepreneurship

Building a Winning Team of Partners: Insights for Black-Owned BusinessesPNC Presents Minority-Owned Businesses: Overcoming Financial ChallengesHBCUs: Catalysts for Economic Empowerment

Deepening Community Relationships

Led by Odneal, the Minority Business Development Group offers business owners the expertise of dedicated bankers, advocacy partners and technology designed to empower, educate and accelerate entrepreneurial success. She and her team of bankers will work in close collaboration with PNC’s Community Development Banking team, the Corporate Responsibility Group, as well as the bank’s regional presidents across the country.

“By making this investment, we are further reinforcing our local market commitment to small businesses, and in particular ensuring we are doing all that we can to help minority-owned businesses succeed and grow,” says Marc McAndrew, head of Small Business at PNC. “Marshalynn has dedicated her career to being an advocate and champion, so I’m excited to see her leadership help the team bring this commitment to life in communities across the country.”

Odneal believes helping minority-owned businesses goes beyond reaching out to business owners. She says it will take establishing and deepening relationships and strategic alliances with external organizations that support business development and offer technical support to foster business growth opportunities.

“When I think about the role of the Minority Business Development Officer (MBDO), it’s no different than a core business banker. They need to have that credit acumen, but they also need the ability to communicate effectively internally and externally while networking with nonprofit and community leaders,” Odneal says. “The MBDO is really someone who loves to operate outside of the four walls of their office. They need to feel the pulse of the communities we serve.”

A portion of the bank’s $88 billion Community Benefits Plan will support the Minority Business Development Group’s work to bolster economic opportunity. PNC plans to originate at least $26.5 billion in loans to small, low- to moderate-income, minority-, women-, and veteran-owned businesses through 2025.

“PNC’s Community Benefits Plan will have a direct impact on the work we’re able to do in these communities, including our ability to leverage and expand upon alternative lending options through external partners for Black and Brown business owners in low-and moderate-income communities,” Odneal says.

Tools to Make a Difference

Under the new group, PNC also launched its Certified Minority Business Advocate program, a voluntary advocacy training program available to all PNC employees interested in providing enhanced support for minority business decision-makers. The new certificate program focuses on helping PNC employees understand the distinct challenges facing diverse businesses.

The certified advocates will serve as PNC ambassadors within their communities and strengthen community engagement through volunteerism, mentorship and technical support. They also will be empowered to educate and guide these business owners toward valuable community resources.

“In a perfect world, there would be no need for the Minority Business Group. But because we’re working to solve known disparities among minority-owned firms, we know that we have to be intentional about providing the tools necessary to help these businesses thrive,” Odneal says. “It takes me back to our brand purpose, which is to help all move forward financially.”

February 22, 2023 /3BL Media/ – Lenovo has been listed in the 2023 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index (GEI) for the fourth year. The Bloomberg Gender-Equity Index framework tracks the progress of 484 companies, in 11 sectors and 45 countries and regions around the world in women’s empowerment and equality in the workplace.

Across the five pillars used to rate the companies measured in the index, Lenovo scored particularly well for building an inclusive culture; anti-sexual harassment policies; and leadership and talent pipeline.

“Lenovo has always pursued a path of inclusion, and we’ve built a culture where all can belong – and while it’s an honor to once again be recognized on the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index our work is not done”, said Calvin Crosslin, Lenovo’s VP of Human Resources, Chief Diversity Officer Lenovo and Lenovo Foundation President. “By measuring our progress through the Bloomberg GEI, we continue to evolve our approach of building inclusive leadership behaviors and fostering diverse and inclusive systems through increased accountability and training”

Lenovo has a global employee base of over 82,000 employees, operating in more than 180 markets around the world, with women comprising 36% of the workforce, and is working hard to address its commitment to move female representation in the executive leadership team from 21% in 2020 to 27% by 2025.

Read more about Lenovo’s diversity and inclusion efforts in our most recent Environmental, Social and Governance Report.

About Lenovo

Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) is a US$70 billion revenue global technology powerhouse, ranked #171 in the Fortune Global 500, employing 82,000 people around the world, and serving millions of customers every day in 180 markets. Focused on a bold vision to deliver smarter technology for all, Lenovo has built on its success as the world’s largest PC company by further expanding into key growth areas including server, storage, mobile, solutions and services. This transformation together with Lenovo’s world-changing innovation is building a more inclusive, trustworthy, and sustainable digital society for everyone, everywhere. To find out more visit https://www.lenovo.com, and read about the latest news via our StoryHub.

There is no separation for Chandra Bradley. The senior director of enterprise risk management at Oportun, responsible for all things risk management, also founded the Black Professionals Employee Resource Group (ERG). She sees equal need for empathy in both work and personal lives.

Bradley has found great success in bridging areas where others may see a divide. This includes humanity in risk management and governance, the need to be one’s true self in any environment, and even meditation in movement. That latter she achieves through “walking meditations,” which she describes as refreshing and educational.

Bradley was raised by two Belizean immigrants in the suburbs of Los Angeles, earned a degree from Pitzer College, and arrived at Oportun after spending two decades working in the financial sector. But it was her early career in consulting work that set her up for a future rife with success.

“I had so many amazing mentors early on who taught me business acumen and risk management,” Bradley recalls. “But they also taught me a lot of life skills. How to best handle living on the road, how to enjoy locations we stayed at for months at a time, and how to best dress for winter in Lincoln, Nebraska. These people took an interest in my professional development and provided a really supportive environment for growth.”

“When we feel comfortable and confident in bringing our authentic selves to work, there’s a strong correlation to how we thrive professionally and personally.” 

Chandra Bradley

That’s why Bradley has such a strong interest in helping develop her younger colleagues. She has worked with summer interns throughout her career as well as nonprofits that aid young people. The senior director encourages those fresh in their career to take a consulting gig, see the world, and develop discipline in driving results while learning from their experiences.

After absorbing as much as she could from traditional financial services spaces, Bradley was excited to come to Oportun because of its impactful and growing role in the fintech space. The role would be an incredible experiment in utilizing risk management strategies to positively impact the organization’s role in disrupting the financial services space.

This is where empathy plays a critical role.

“Enterprise risk is all about creating a top-down enterprise view of risk across an organization,” Bradley explains. “These are the most significant risks that can either threaten our ability to achieve our objectives and create opportunities to accelerate the achievement of those objectives. You need to be curious about people’s lives and interests, motivators, and limiting beliefs. Risk isn’t tangible widgets; it’s very complex and can often be very ambiguous.”Bradley says that cultivating an empathetic mindset factoring in the emotional and social considerations of risk has helped her better understand that ambiguity, and how to make that risk management more effective. More empathy-driven tools will ultimately make risk response and reporting strategy a more entrenched component of a healthy risk culture.

Empathy is another reason why Bradley helped found the Black Professionals ERG. After serving as an informal mentor for career advice, compassion, and understanding, Bradley saw 2020 as an important moment to create a community for Oportun’s Black employees.

“This is my first journey into ERG leadership but seeing all of the social injustice of 2020 just made me reach out to a number of Black colleagues because I knew I couldn’t be the only one who was feeling overwhelmed and dismayed,” Bradley says. “That was the impetus for finding others that identified like me and had a certain lens with how they viewed the world and what was happening around us.”

The ERG has enabled the building of a community, one where people of like experiences can support each other, hear one another, and increase their own feelings of belonging, security, and acceptance. Bradley knows what seeing Black leaders elevated to leadership positions can truly do for an organization that wants to walk its talk.

“You need to be curious about people’s lives and interests, motivators, and limiting beliefs. Risk [management] isn’t always tangible widgets; it’s very complex and can often be very ambiguous.”

Chandra Bradley

“It’s not a myth. I’ve watched it happen over and over again,” she attests. “It’s not just a key to diversity, but to increased engagement. When we feel comfortable and confident in bringing our authentic selves to work, there’s a strong correlation to how we thrive professionally and personally.”

Bradley didn’t plan on becoming a leader in this space, but she’s thrilled with the response and growth she’s seen both for herself and her peers in such a short period of time.

During the interview, the senior director points to a drawing made by her young nephew and warns that her own thirteen-year-old may come bounding in any moment to ask what’s for dinner. The point is that personal and professional lives have become intertwined like never before. Many of us know what our colleagues’ bedrooms, offices, and dining rooms look like after years of Zoom meetings.

“Empathy, more than ever, is critical. We put ourselves in vulnerable positions every day,” Bradley says. “This is our reality, so however I can continue to be curious and provide more support, and act as a cheering section for others in their wins and a support for their losses, I will do it.”

Long-term success starts with the decisions we make each day. That’s why we work to maximize recycling, reduce energy use and set the standard in sustainable forestry. It’s all made possible by thousands of individual team members who speak up, share ideas, promote safety and create mutual benefit to help people improve their lives. We also partner with thousands of philanthropic organizations to remove barriers to opportunity, strengthen communities and empower others to achieve their full potential. 

Learn more about Georgia-Pacific’s responsible sourcing practices and the company’s commitment to conservation: https://www.gp.com/sustainability

About Georgia-Pacific

Based in Atlanta, Georgia-Pacific and its subsidiaries are among the world’s leading manufacturers and marketers of bath tissue, paper towels and napkins, tableware, paper-based packaging, cellulose, specialty fibers, nonwoven fabrics, building products and related chemicals. Our familiar consumer brands include Quilted Northern®, Angel Soft®, Brawny®, Dixie®, enMotion®, Sparkle® and Vanity Fair®. Georgia-Pacific has long been a leading supplier of building products to lumber and building materials dealers and large do-it-yourself warehouse retailers. Its Georgia-Pacific Recycling subsidiary is among the world’s largest traders of paper, metal and plastics. The company operates more than 150 facilities and employs more than 30,000 people directly and creates approximately 89,000 jobs indirectly. For more information, visit: gp.com/about-us . For news, visit: gp.com/news

Originally published by CityA.M.

The cost of training for a scientific or technology-related career is seen as the number one concern of UK students, job applicants and career changers, a survey commissioned by IBM has revealed.

IBM found that job seekers who were eyeing up roles in science and tech areas saw the necessary training as unaffordable.

“Technology training can have a transformational effect on a person’s life,” said Justina Nixon-Saintil, IBM’s Chief Impact Officer. “This is why we must raise awareness of the breadth of science and technology roles that exist across industries.”

Continue reading here

Originally published by Venturewell

We’re proud to announce the 10 early-stage innovators recognized by the 2023 Innovator Stipend Program sponsored by Qualcomm! After the success of our first year piloting this program, we’re grateful to continue our partnership with Qualcomm—a longtime supporter of our E-Team Program—to advance equity in innovation and entrepreneurship.

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February 22, 2023 /3BL Media/ – On February 17, 2023, Herbalife Nutrition, the LA Galaxy, and the U.S. Soccer Foundation held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at DeForest Park in Long Beach to unveil two new mini-pitch fields that will provide kids in the community a safe place to play. Created in underutilized areas, the mini-pitches are made possible through the LA Galaxy Foundation and Herbalife Nutrition’s Joint Community Partnership Fund.

“Our partnership with Herbalife extends off the field and into the communities we serve to make impactful contributions towards the advancement of soccer in Los Angeles and around the world,” said Chris Klein, President of the LA Galaxy.

The mini-pitches, located south of the existing basketball court, will include a resurfaced area as part of the transformation. The surfaces underwent crack filling, asphalt repair, and acrylic resurfacing. The navy blue and white, 27 ½ x 9-foot state-of-the-art pitches were also anchored with two futsal goals at each end and showcase logos from each of the three partners, LA Galaxy, Herbalife Nutrition, and the U.S. Soccer Foundation. The mini-pitches offer the opportunity to rejuvenate abandoned courts and areas with limited space, creating a fun and active place to celebrate the spirit of teamwork, empowerment, and fitness around soccer.

“Living a healthy and active lifestyle is a value the LA Galaxy and Herbalife Nutrition share with the community to instill healthy habits among young soccer fans. We are continuously committed to giving back to and improving our communities,” said Humberto Calleja, vice president, Herbalife Nutrition, North America.

The mini-pitches also mark the latest development in the U.S. Soccer Foundation’s It’s Everyone’s Game national movement to ensure children in underserved communities can enjoy the health and youth development benefits of the game. To date, the U.S. Soccer Foundation has installed more than 500 mini-pitches nationwide. The goal is to install 1,000 by 2026.

“We’re thrilled to join our longtime partners at LA Galaxy to unveil two new mini-pitches in the Long Beach community,” said Ed Foster-Simeon, President & CEO of the U.S. Soccer Foundation. “We know that soccer has the ability to bring people of all backgrounds and skill levels together, and we look forward to seeing how the community utilizes these pitches to do just that.”

The mini-pitches were unveiled with the support of the City of Long Beach followed by soccer clinics led by the LA Galaxy with participation from Jordan High School’s boys and girls soccer team.

“I cannot wait to see all the kids and families playing on these revitalized courts,” said Mayor Rex Richardson. “There’s always a demand for great spaces like this for sports in Long Beach, and this amazing project is going to be a benefit to our community for years to come. I thank our partners, the LA Galaxy, Herbalife Nutrition, and the U.S. Soccer Foundation, for their generous contribution.”

To continue this mission, the LA Galaxy and Herbalife Nutrition, through the Joint Community Partnership Fund, are committed to implementing similar programs to promote soccer, healthy lifestyles, and nutrition education in underserved communities worldwide. Since 2012, the LA Galaxy and Herbalife Nutrition have donated over $2.5 million to global communities in need. As part of the extended deal, an additional $1.25 million will go to the Joint Community Partnership Fund designed to promote soccer, healthy lifestyles, and nutrition education in underserved communities.

Herbalife Nutrition (NYSE: HLF) is a global company that has been changing people’s lives with great nutrition products and a business opportunity for its independent distributors since 1980. The Company offers science-backed products to consumers in 95 markets through entrepreneurial distributors who provide one-on-one coaching and a supportive community that inspires their customers to embrace a healthier, more active lifestyle. Through the Company’s commitment to nourish people, communities and planet, Herbalife Nutrition pledges to achieve 50 million positive impacts – tangible acts of good – by 2030, its 50th anniversary.

The LA Galaxy are Major League Soccer’s most successful club. Based in Carson, Calif. at Dignity Health Sports Park, the Galaxy have won the MLS Cup a record five times (2002, 2005, 2011, 2012, 2014), the MLS Supporters’ Shield four times (1998, 2002, 2010, 2011) and the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup twice (2001, 2005), and one Concacaf Champions Cup (2000) since their inception in 1996. Led by LA Galaxy Head Coach Greg Vanney and President Chris Klein, the Galaxy are the premier club in MLS, with stars like Landon Donovan, David Beckham, Robbie Keane, Steven Gerrard, Riqui Puig, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Javier Hernandez and Cobi Jones representing LA over the team’s 27 years in MLS. For more information on the LA Galaxy, visit www.lagalaxy.com.

The U.S. Soccer Foundation’s programs are the national model for sports-based youth development in underserved communities. Since its founding in 1994, the Foundation has established programs proven to help children embrace an active and healthy lifestyle while nurturing their personal growth beyond sports. Its cost-effective, high-impact initiatives offer safe environments where kids and communities thrive. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the U.S. Soccer Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization. For more information visit http://www.ussoccerfoundation.org .