Tag: 3BL

Blackbaud, the leading provider of software for powering social impact, has published its 2024 Impact Report, sharing how the company has advanced its environmental, social and governance priorities.
 
“At Blackbaud, we not only continue to fuel social impact through our innovative software solutions, but we also walk the talk by addressing the issues that matter most to our people, our planet, and our society,” said Mike Gianoni, president, CEO, and vice chairman of the board of directors, Blackbaud. “Our latest impact report provides an in-depth look at the standards we hold ourselves to as corporate citizens and the positive changes we’re committed to making in the world. Together we’re driving meaningful change and making a lasting impact.”
 
Achievements across Blackbaud’s key priorities in 2024 included:
People & Culture: Blackbaud is committed to fostering a great place to work with a focus on employee engagement, development, well-being, inclusion and philanthropic commitment. 

• Philanthropy: More than 70% of Blackbaud employees volunteered in 2024 (global median 23%).
• Talent Development: Provided 18,000 courses through LinkedIn Learning.
• Inclusion: 87% of employees feel that the work they do at Blackbaud is important.

Fueling Social Impact: We build a better world by fueling the impact of our customers. Blackbaud software enables individuals, organizations, schools, and corporations to secure the resources they need to drive change.

• Powering Giving: $100B+ is raised, granted or managed through our platforms every year, and in 2024, Blackbaud processed 20M donations from individuals for good causes through its JustGiving® platform.
• Empowering Changemakers: Millions of users and supporters in 100+ countries.
• Enabling Corporate Employee Engagement: 7.5M+ nonprofit organizations available for corporate workplace volunteering and giving through YourCause® from Blackbaud®.
• Supporting Teachers and Students: 7M+ assignments were created for K-12 students in 2024 through Blackbaud’s learning management system.
• Investing in the Future of the Social Impact Sector: In 2024, we unveiled six waves of innovation coming to our product portfolio to empower nonprofits, schools, corporate social impact teams, and individual changemakers.

Environmental Sustainability: Blackbaud is committed to reducing its environmental impact and supporting customers in their sustainability efforts. Blackbaud participates in CDP’s public disclosure and aligns its reporting with TCFD recommendations.

• Responsible Operations: 25% energy reduction and 21% water reduction in Blackbaud’s global headquarters office since 2019.
• Decarbonization: 100% carbon neutrality for 2024 emissions and a 92% reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions since 2019.
• Energy Efficiency: Blackbaud’s global headquarters earned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ENERGY STAR® certification for superior energy performance.
• Climate Impact Recognition: Blackbaud ranked 4th out of 450 companies on USA Today’s list of America’s Climate Leaders 2024.

Governance & Data Responsibility: Customer trust is a top priority and embedded in everything Blackbaud does. 

• Expertise: Blackbaud’s Chief Data & AI Officer Carrie Cobb was honored as one of DataIQ’s 100 Most Influential People in Data in 2024.
• Process: Blackbaud formalized its Employee Inclusion and Sustainability Council and established a Generative AI Council and a Deepfake Council to ensure oversight and input on key areas that both employees and customers care about.
• People: Blackbaud continues to increase the specialization of our team in the areas of incident response, vulnerability management, enterprise architecture, data protection, and more, and the company requires that all employees take trainings on cybersecurity and generative AI.
• Technology: Blackbaud is ensuring modern technology and platforms are migrating to public cloud environments across the board and has enhanced cloud-based security posture technology and on-premise encryption capabilities to protect against ransomware and malware.

To learn more about how the company is fueling change through its practices, commitments and technology, view the full 2024 Blackbaud Impact Report here.
 
About Blackbaud
Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB) is the leading software provider exclusively dedicated to powering social impact. Serving the nonprofit and education sectors, companies committed to social responsibility and individual change makers, Blackbaud’s essential software is built to accelerate impact in fundraising, nonprofit financial management, digital giving, grantmaking, corporate social responsibility and education management. With millions of users and over $100 billion raised, granted or managed through Blackbaud platforms every year, Blackbaud’s solutions are unleashing the potential of the people and organizations who change the world. Blackbaud has been named to Newsweek’s list of America’s Most Responsible Companies, Quartz’s list of Best Companies for Remote Workers, and Forbes’ list of America’s Best Employers. A remote-first company, Blackbaud has operations in the United States, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, India and the United Kingdom, supporting users in 100+ countries. Learn more at www.blackbaud.com or follow us on X/Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.
 
Media Contact
media@blackbaud.com

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Oil and gas operators in California have a critical compliance deadline approaching. Under Public Resources Code (PRC) section 3285 and California Code of Regulations (CCR), title 14, sections 1765.6 through 1765.9, all operators must submit an annual sensitive receptor inventory and map by July 1, 2025, and every year thereafter.

This blog breaks down exactly what operators need to do to meet these regulatory requirements and avoid enforcement action.

What Is Required? 

All California oil and gas operators must:

• Identify and report all wellheads, proposed wellheads, and production facilities operated in a field.
• Submit a sensitive receptor inventory, map, and in some cases, a statement based on the proximity of these assets to Health Protection Zones (HPZs).

Step-by-Step Compliance Checklist 

1. Determine Whether Your Facilities Are Inside or Outside an HPZ

A Health Protection Zone is defined as the area within 3,200 feet of a sensitive receptor. First, categorize each wellhead and production facility as either:

• Inside an HPZ – within 3,200 feet of at least one sensitive receptor.
• Outside an HPZ – beyond 3,200 feet from any sensitive receptor.

2. For Facilities Inside an HPZ: Submit a Sensitive Receptor Inventory and Map

• One sensitive receptor per site is sufficient. You do not need to list every receptor—just a single, non-unique sensitive receptor that places the site inside an HPZ.
• Use CalGEM’s templates to complete and submit:
• Inventory file (.xls, .xlsx, or .csv)
• Map showing the wellhead/facility in relation to the sensitive receptor.
• You may use Piping and Instrumentation Diagrams (P&IDs) or facility plot plans, provided they:
• Show each wellhead/facility.
• Show the location of at least one sensitive receptor.
• Mark all pipelines clearly.
• When aggregating facilities using P&IDs, one receptor per group is still acceptable.

3. For Facilities Outside an HPZ: Submit a Statement

Operators must provide a statement for each wellhead or facility outside an HPZ, which must:

• List all features within 3,200 feet of the site.
• Explain why each feature is not a sensitive receptor as defined in CCR section 1765.1(c).
• Include detailed information to help CalGEM locate each feature and evaluate the determination (e.g., unofficial parks, open areas, residential zones).
• Avoid vague conclusions like “not sensitive”—explanations must be clear and fact-based.
• Statements may be submitted in Excel or combined with P&IDs and maps.

4. Submit All Documents via WellSTAR by July 1, 2025

Documents must be uploaded using the “Organization Questionnaire” in WellSTAR. Follow these steps:

1. Start a new Organization Questionnaire Form.
2. Complete steps 1–3.
3. Upload each document under the appropriate document type:
4. Annual Sensitive Receptor Inventory
5. Annual Sensitive Receptor Map
6. Annual Sensitive Receptor Statement
7. Finalize submission by completing steps 5–6.

For document format details and templates, visit CalGEM’s Annual Inventory Workbook Template and Maps and Statement Examples on their website.

Tools and Templates Available 

To support compliance, CalGEM offers:

• Excel and CSV templates for inventories.
• Mapping examples.
• P&ID and plot plan guidance.
• Example statements and formatting options.

Operators are strongly encouraged to use these tools to streamline their submissions.

Enforcement Risks for Noncompliance 

Failure to meet the July 1 deadline or to provide accurate and complete information may result in:

• Administrative penalties
• Civil fines
• Criminal enforcement

This includes non-submission, late submission, or inadequate documentation.

For questions or assistance with uploading into WellSTAR, contact: WellSTAR@conservation.ca.gov

Final Thoughts 

Staying compliant with PRC section 3285 and CalGEM’s regulations is essential for maintaining your license to operate and avoiding regulatory penalties. By preparing and submitting accurate inventories, maps, and statements, operators can ensure they meet legal obligations while demonstrating environmental stewardship.

Don’t wait—start your 2025 HPZ inventory now to meet the July 1 deadline.

Questions? Reach out to our team today for answers! 

Originally published on WorkLife 

As global VP of talent management for the past decade-plus at one of the world’s best-known spirits brands, John McCusker has witnessed firsthand the challenges faced by HR teams everywhere — but with a twist.

At a time when conversations about the workplace tend to revolve around AI, RTO, the impact of President Trump’s rapid-fire directives and other changes in the way business is done, McCusker remains focused on something fundamentally different at Bacardi Ltd.: preserving human connection.

“How do we keep humanity in the workplace?” he asks, recalling conversations with fellow HR leaders at a recent conference. While everyone else there was fixated on the implementation of AI, McCusker found himself wondering about a more pressing matter: how companies can deploy AI to help line leaders connect with their people on a more personal level.

That thinking comes at a time of intense challenges for the spirits trade — particularly as Trump’s trade policies threaten to turn that industry, as so many others, upside down.

The emphasis on people is not some touchy-feely proposition. A people-first approach to talent management is at the heart of the 160-year-old, family-owned spirits marketer, beginning with how the company views its employees — affectionately called primos, Spanish for cousins. The term originated years ago when the chairman was addressing senior leadership and noted, “When we talk to one another as family members, we say ‘Hola, primo!’ — because when we think about you as leadership and the rest of the organization, we see you as extended family.”

“In families there are no annual performance reviews — you have just-in-time, dynamic, in-the-moment, authentic conversations about what’s working and what isn’t working.”

– John McCusker, VP of talent management, Bacardi Ltd.

At Bacardi, that isn’t just corporate speak — it is at the core of how talent management functions. As McCusker explains, “Do you sit down with your spouse or your partner at the end of the year and have a formal year-end review? In families there are no annual performance reviews — you have just-in-time, dynamic, in-the-moment, authentic conversations about what’s working and what isn’t working.”

It is that perspective that catalyzed the creation of “Let’s Talk,” Bacardi’s distinctive approach to performance management, launched in 2016. Rather than traditional performance reviews, the program encourages natural, employee-driven conversations that happen across the year. “We said the world’s changing at a pace that we probably need to rethink,” McCusker said. “Is it really relevant to say on the first of April, ‘Here’s what we’re going to do’ — and then the world changes and you look back on the 31st of March to something that very quickly became out of date?”

The company’s timing executing an ongoing, fluid dialogue with its people couldn’t have been more perfect. When the pandemic hit and Bacardi’s workforce went remote, it meant the company already had a performance system in place built on trust, authentic communication and regular conversations. The results speak for themselves: employee engagement scores improved after the implementation of the policy, while metrics related to performance management showed marked improvement. Team members reported high satisfaction with both the frequency and quality of conversations about expectations and career development, according to McCusker.

Bacardi’s talent approach is anchored in what McCusker calls the “Three F’s”—Fearless, Family and Founders. The “Fearless” component carries dual significance, meaning the courage to, as McCusker puts it, “run through walls to deliver objectives,” as well as the vulnerability to “put your hand up and say, ‘I need help.’”

The emphasis on authentic leadership runs like a thread through all the company’s development programs, McCusker explains. “How do we move leaders from being heroes to humans?” he said, noting that corporate leaders are encouraged to embrace their own humanity and vulnerability versus maintaining some façade of perfection.

“John brings a level of expertise, empathy and vulnerability that creates an open dialogue central to creating a positive workforce where talent can flourish.”

– Tony Latham, regional president, Bacardi North America

Meanwhile, the “Family” element manifests in an “all-in mentality,” encouraging employees to think “Bacardi first, then team, then you.” The approach aligns incentives with collective success rather than short-term individual gains — a marked departure from the shareholder-first mentality of many publicly traded organizations.

For a company with a century and a half under its belt, balancing tradition with innovation can be a tall order. McCusker sees it not as a contradiction, however, but as complementary. “It’s not an either-or — it’s and,” he said, with team members encouraged to ask: “How do you celebrate the past as you build an even richer and more successful future?”

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Originally published on GoDaddy Newsroom

TEMPE, Ariz., May 29, 2025 /3BL/ – Nearly half of U.S. small and microbusiness owners expect the national economy to weaken in the coming months. Despite the outlook, most still believe their own businesses will grow, according to new survey data released today by GoDaddy.

In the latest findings from the GoDaddy Small Business Research Lab, formerly known as Venture Forward, 49% of 2,100 U.S. microbusiness owners* surveyed predict a weaker economy in the next six months. That is up 17 points from 2024. Even so, 66% of respondents have positive revenue expectations, and only 9% forecast a sales decline.

“Small business owners are realistic about the economy, but they believe in themselves,” said GoDaddy CEO Aman Bhutani. “GoDaddy’s research shows they remain intent on pushing their small businesses forward.”

The GoDaddy Small Business Research Lab findings reflect a steady shift over time. In 2023, 73% of microbusiness owners said they expected to grow revenue in the first 6 months of the year. Now in 2025, it stands at 66%. Most respondents still expect growth, clearly, but the trend indicates weakening optimism.

Entrepreneurs are also adjusting their long-term goals. 40% now say they plan to remain solo entrepreneurs – up from 36% last year – versus aspiring to build mid-size or corporate enterprises. This points to a growing interest in right-sized businesses that match owners’ lifestyles and risk tolerance.

Rising Costs Put Pressure on Small Business Margins

While optimism holds, cost pressures are rising and showing up not just in what small businesses pay, but what they can charge. Over half (52%) of respondents cited limited cash flow as their biggest financial barrier, but existing expenses (34%) and pricing pressure on goods and services (33%) ranked highest among specific cost challenges.

These pricing pressures are especially acute among Construction & Home Trades (40%) and Creative-Media businesses (36%), with solo operators and small teams reporting they are feeling the pinch of existing operating costs the most. For businesses with 5–9 employees, wages emerged as the top cost barrier (45%), reflecting a shift toward labor-related pressure once headcount rises.

One in three owners (33%) also named financial strain as their primary source of stress—ranking it above challenges like adopting new technology, managing vendors, or finding and retaining customers.

Access to capital, often a major hurdle for new businesses, appears to be improving. Only 8% of owners say it is their top challenge, down from 10% the year before.

Sharing their perspective on the results, Victor W. Hwang, founder and CEO of Right to Start, a nonprofit that promotes U.S. small business growth, added: “The results of this GoDaddy survey demonstrate quantitatively the drive and resilience of entrepreneurs all across the United States. Their commitment to their enterprises is relentless and innovative. America’s entrepreneurs are an extraordinary resource for strengthening the U.S. economy and growing new businesses and jobs nationwide.”

Commenting on the findings, small business owner Leo Lopez owner of San Jose-based La Fenice Pizza said: “The economy is definitely uncertain right now, but as a small business owner, you learn to live with that. I’ve had to adjust, simplify, and focus on what really works, and that’s helped me grow stronger. For me, resilience isn’t about being unaffected. It’s about finding a way to keep going, even when things get unpredictable. That’s how I’ve built my business, and I think a lot of us are doing the same.”

“Entrepreneurs are planning for what is ahead,” Bhutani added. “They are navigating these times by staying focused and determined. At GoDaddy, our job is to make sure they have the tools they need to succeed.”

For more insights from GoDaddy’s latest small business research, visit the full report here:
https://www.godaddy.com/ventureforward/the-future-of-entrepreneurship-is-leaner-smarter-and-more-resilient

About GoDaddy

GoDaddy helps millions of entrepreneurs globally start, grow, and scale their businesses. People come to GoDaddy to name their idea, build a website and logo, sell their products and services and accept payments. GoDaddy Airo®, the company’s AI-powered experience, makes growing a small business faster and easier by helping them to get their idea online in minutes, drive traffic and boost sales. GoDaddy’s expert guides are available 24/7 to provide assistance. To learn more about the company, visit www.GoDaddy.com. 

* Microbusinesses are small businesses that typically employ fewer than 10 employees.

Source: GoDaddy Inc.

Patrick O’Connell, CFA| Director—Responsible Investing Portfolio Solutions and Research

John Huang, CFA| Director of Responsible Investments, Data and Technology—Responsibility

Erin Bigley, CFA| Chief Responsibility Officer

The materiality of ESG factors differs across sectors and markets. Investors need to understand how.

As environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors help contribute to—or detract from—security returns, it makes sense for active investors to integrate them into security selection. But there’s a wide disparity in the materiality of ESG factors across investment sectors and markets. In our view, understanding this dynamic is the key to successfully incorporating ESG risks and opportunities into portfolio construction.

For many investors, whether fixed income or equity, the process of integrating ESG factors into their strategies begins with correlating the relevance of each factor to individual industries. At a basic level this shows, for example, that greenhouse gas emissions are a particular risk for mining companies and electric utilities, while customer privacy is a key concern for the healthcare sector.

This is a good starting point but offers an incomplete perspective. We believe a much deeper dive is necessary to fully dimension the materiality of ESG factors for portfolio performance. Investors need to know how a particular factor may affect investment returns for a given sector or market.

Factors Can Have Wide or Narrow Impacts

Factor attribution using historical returns can reveal how ESG factors have contributed to investment returns in the past, whether for a sector or an entire investment universe, in equities or in bonds.

We’ve observed that some factors can be financially material for all companies in a market, regardless of sector. For example, we divided stocks in the MSCI All Country World Index into quintiles according to their total recordable incident rate (TRIR)—the number of workplace injuries or illnesses—then compared their returns relative to the parent index over 14 years. The results show that high TRIR consistently underperformed the market and that low TRIR consistently outperformed.

Similarly, in the bond market, “social fines” is a powerful, index-wide factor. Social fines are regulatory penalties imposed for nonenvironmental reasons, such as workplace health and safety and anticompetitive practices.

Other ESG factors with broad relevance across investment sectors include CEOs’ length of tenure and employee turnover. For investors wishing to integrate ESG factors into their portfolios, it’s useful, in our view, to know which factors have index-wide applicability.

Factor attribution can also reveal which ESG factors are particularly relevant to a specific sector and which have historically shown no financial materiality.

Another advantage of factor attribution is that it can lead to observations that are unexpected and even counterintuitive. We found, for example, that companies with high ESG disclosures broadly performed better than those with low or no disclosures, regardless of whether their ESG practices were good, bad or indifferent. In the case of ESG metrics where there was no significant under- or overperformance relative to the market—CFO tenure and split roles for CEO and chair of the board—companies that disclosed data outperformed companies that didn’t disclose, on average.

Fundamental Research Enhances Insights from Factor Attribution

But factor attribution alone is not enough, in our view; it should complement fundamental research.

Understanding the effect of ESG factors on performance is most valuable in the context of broader research into how well a company is managed. For example, fundamental research can show that a high TRIR affects productivity directly, through lost working hours, and indirectly, by creating a culture in which workers are undermotivated because they don’t feel safe. Additionally, factor attribution works best with long data series, which are not always available, stressing the importance of fundamental research.

Another way fundamental research can help is in measuring ESG factors appropriately to a particular sector, instead of taking the generic approach typically used by many third-party ESG databases. This could mean, for example, measuring carbon emissions in terms of miles per gallon for automakers, per passenger mile for airliners and per ton of cement produced for building-material companies.

And it can tease out the nuances underlying many ESG factors. In the case of the mining sector, for example, fundamental research can focus on tailings dam risk within the more broadly defined factors of water and hazardous materials management.

As this small snapshot of an ESG materiality matrix shows, these insights can be mapped very simply. But it’s the quality of the information behind it that gives the map its value: the understanding of how ESG factors can be financially material across investment sectors, industries and markets. By embedding such knowledge in their securities research and portfolio construction, investors, in our view, may significantly enhance the potential for outperformance.

The authors wish to thank Peter Højsteen-Ljungbeck for his contribution.

The views expressed herein do not constitute research, investment advice or trade recommendations and do not necessarily represent the views of all AB portfolio-management teams. Views are subject to revision over time.

MSCI makes no express or implied warranties or representations, and shall have no liability whatsoever with respect to any MSCI data contained herein.

The MSCI data may not be further redistributed or used as a basis for other indices or any securities or financial products. This report is not approved, reviewed or produced by MSCI.

Learn more about AB’s approach to responsibility here.

Mastercard

Loaded with microscopes, robots and VR headsets, Croatia’s “STEM on Wheels” mobile lab weaves its way from tiny mountain villages to Adriatic islands, giving kids the hands-on science skills they need to get ahead. From tips on investigating insects to using underwater drones, taking the van on the road gives the nonprofit Association Bioteka’s educators a chance to show kids in often under-resourced locations how to apply science to solve problems.

Its lively sessions have proven hugely popular, with more than 10,000 kids joining its STEM labs, workshops and camps. But that has left Bioteka President Jelena Likić and her three permanent staff little bandwidth — or opportunity to learn business development skills — to grow the nonprofit. Plans to build a center for STEM and sustainability in the Croatian capital, Zagreb, have repeatedly stalled because of limited capacity and resources.

That’s why Likić jumped at the chance earlier this year to join Mastercard’s Launch for Social Impact Challenge volunteer program, aiming to tap into the company’s deep talent pool to help make her STEM center a reality. The challenge is designed to encourage graduates hired for Mastercard’s 18-month Launch rotating job program to volunteer their time to help other organizations grow.

“Exactly those skills that Mastercard was offering were the ones we lacked,” says Zagreb-based Likić. “We have so many world problems that no individual can solve — we have to collaborate.”

The Mastercard/Bioteka affiliation is part of a growing shift toward nonprofits building deeper relationships with companies. These partnerships are valuable to both, enabling nonprofits to access critical skills and resources while giving companies an opportunity to connect with communities and gain real-world insight into their challenges.

It’s also helping companies attract talented staff, as research shows Gen Z is more likely to choose to work for a company that offers them the chance to do pro bono projects where they feel they can make a difference.

“This kind of program goes beyond traditional volunteering,” says Yasmin Mesbah, a senior program manager at Pyxera Global, a nonprofit that designs and delivers cross-sector programs to solve systemic social challenges. “It’s leadership development in action.” Pyxera Global partnered with Mastercard to shape the Launch for Social Impact Challenge into a transformative experience for both employees and communities. “It’s these kinds of experiences that grow globally minded leaders who can navigate complexity and act with agility,” Mesbah adds.

Krisztina Varsanyi, who joined Mastercard’s Launch program in Budapest last year, was one of about 200 people from across Europe accepted for the challenge. She hoped the experience would give her a chance to make an impact and expand her network.

When the monthlong program started in February, Varsanyi threw herself into the activities by leading a five-person team of Launchers, as they’re known at the company, tasked with devising a road map for Bioteka to finance, build and launch its STEM center. Slotting the volunteer work around her job as an associate consultant, she found that meeting with Bioteka for feedback on her team’s proposal to host events and camps was a hands-on way to build up her project management skills.

“It’s changed the way I think of volunteering,” says Varsanyi, 22. “It’s made me realize I can apply my knowledge and technical skills, and volunteer with my brain.”

Finding ways to create a collaborative team culture and steer volunteers toward tight deadlines also tested Barbara Kocsó’s management skills as the Launcher led another team in building a communications strategy for Bioteka. She found that her previous experience volunteering for HiSchool, a Hungarian NGO that supports high school students in choosing careers, gave her team a head start as they strategized a four-point plan to promote Bioteka’s programs and build relationships to support its fundraising.

“It fosters our ‘doing well by doing good’ company culture,” says Kocsó, 27, who, like Varsanyi, is an associate consultant in Budapest.

A few months down the track, Bioteka is already using the ready-to-implement plans drawn up by the Mastercard Launchers to fine-tune its communications strategy and highlight its science and sustainability work. The challenge served as a catalyst, helping Bioteka move closer to launching its STEM center and expanding access to science and sustainability education for more children — especially girls. (A 2024 UNESCO report showed that women made up only 35% of STEM graduates despite comprising more than half of university enrollment.)

For both Vasanyi and Kocsó, pulling teams together to resolve complex problems has shown them new ways to approach everyday workplace issues and gotten them hooked on working pro bono. As programs like this expand, they’re defining what it means to volunteer — not just offering time but contributing insight, building systems and shaping what inclusive innovation looks like on the ground.

“Volunteering gets us out of the bubble we all live in,” Varsanyi says. “No matter how small you start, how little you volunteer, it really does make a real-world impact.”

Originally published by Mastercard

Follow along Mastercard’s journey to connect and power an inclusive, digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere.

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah, May 29, 2025 /3BL/ — The West Valley City community, including families, children and business partners, came together in West Valley City’s Centennial Park May 20 to celebrate the recent opening of two futsal fields and meet players from Real Salt Lake and the Utah Royals. The new fields – made possible through support from RISE Athletics Foundation, KeyBank and Real Salt Lake – opened in late 2024.

West Valley City’s Parks and Recreation Department opened the new futsal fields in Centennial Park in late 2024 and were the first publicly available fields in the city. Futsal, which is a smaller version of soccer played by up to five players per team, is quickly growing in popularity with West Valley City youth.

“Our mission at KeyBank is to help our community thrive,” said Drew Yergensen, KeyBank’s Utah market president. “We are proud to partner with RISE and RSL to bring these new futsal fields, which are already making a positive impact in our community, to life.”

West Valley City is the home of KeyBank’s newest branch which opened in 2023. Since then, KeyBank’s presence in West Valley City continues to expand by supporting clients and the community.

About KeyBank

In 2025, KeyCorp celebrates its bicentennial, marking 200 years of service to clients and communities from Maine to Alaska. To learn more, visit KeyBank Heritage Center. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Key is one of the nation’s largest bank-based financial services companies, with assets of approximately $189 billion at March 31, 2025. Key provides deposit, lending, cash management, and investment services to individuals and businesses in 15 states under the name KeyBank National Association through a network of approximately 1,000 branches and approximately 1,200 ATMs. Key also provides a broad range of sophisticated corporate and investment banking products, such as merger and acquisition advice, public and private debt and equity, syndications and derivatives to middle market companies in selected industries throughout the United States under the KeyBanc Capital Markets trade name. For more information, visit https://www.key.com/. KeyBank Member FDIC.

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Baker Tilly’s podcast series specifically for professionals in the multifamily housing industry

On this episode of BuzzHouse, Don Bernards and Garrick Gibson sit down with Thom Amdur, Senior Vice President of Policy and Impact at Lincoln Avenue Communities. Thom shares what he’s tracking on Capitol Hill and what could be coming next for affordable housing, tax reform and federal regulation. From the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act to changes in NEPA and Davis-Bacon, he breaks down the legislative and administrative shifts likely to impact developers, investors and housing professionals heading further into 2025.

Multifamily housing resources

For articles, webinars and additional resources for developers, housing authorities, property managers, state housing credit agencies and lenders, visit our multifamily housing page.

For more information on this topic, or to learn how Baker Tilly specialists can help, contact our team.

In the fast-paced evolution of data centers, the spotlight on sustainability has never been brighter. As energy demands surge, finding innovative ways to reduce energy consumption becomes crucial. The transceiver power-control feature within Cisco MDS 9000 switches helps architecting sustainability in storage area networks and contributes to the broader goal of creating more environmentally responsible and cost-effective data center operations.

The Power Challenge in Data Centers

Modern data centers face a formidable challenge in managing escalating power demands. The sheer volume of servers, networking equipment, and storage arrays requires a substantial energy supply, leading to increased operational costs and a larger carbon footprint. The boom of Artificial Intelligence (AI) workloads and their power-hungry underlying infrastructure has changed trajectory and further exacerbated the situation. Addressing this challenge has become imperative for organizations striving for sustainability.

In the journey toward net zero, Scope 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions present a major hurdle for data center operators. With IT gear and network devices operating 24×7, their usage phase is the main contributor to GHG emissions. For network devices, the power demand of optical transceivers continues to rise. An SFP+ transceiver can reach 1.5 Watts, while a QSFP-DD transceiver can exceed 16 Watts. As a result, optical transceivers account for a significant portion of the energy consumption in modern switches and routers. In a typical 1RU switch, optical transceivers could represent 16% or more of its energy consumption under standard operating conditions.

Understanding Transceiver Power-Control Feature

Cisco MDS switches harness the advantages of the transceiver power-control feature to achieve a harmonious balance between performance and energy efficiency. This new capability represents an innovation for the entire industry. Organizations can experience a notable reduction in energy costs, contributing to operational savings while simultaneously lessening their environmental impact.

Typically, when optical transceivers are inserted into switch ports and a user administratively shuts down a specific port, the switch only disables the laser without cutting off power to the optical transceiver. This means that when the port is shut down, the optical transceiver still draws significant power despite a slight reduction.

Starting with Cisco MDS 64G platforms (DS-X9748-3072K9, MDS 9124V, MDS 9148V, and MDS 9396V), there is an SFP FPGA hardware support for controlling power to the transceiver at the per-port level. The transceiver power-control feature utilizes this hardware capability to turn off the power to the transceiver when a port is administratively shutdown. Upon an administrator performing a ‘no shutdown’ on a port, the power is restored to that transceiver. Older Cisco MDS platforms, as well as competitive solutions, do not have this hardware capability and cannot turn off the power when a port is administratively down.

With Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 9.4(2) onwards, the transceiver power-control feature is available and enabled by default on all MDS 64G platforms. With this feature, ports are always-ready, not always-on. In other words, a port is always ready to be powered up, but when administratively down, the port would stay powered off and consume no energy.

Lab tests show that 34 Watts of power are saved for 24 ports in the admin down state with their short-wave transceiver being powered off. Higher savings are achieved with long-wave transceivers.

One practical scenario sees a customer with 6000 ports having 20% of spare ports. The transceiver power-control feature leads to about 1680W saved, equivalent to 14717 kWh/year. For a data center with PUE = 1.5 and assuming 0,27 euro/kWh, this translates into 5960 euro of savings in the energy bill each year.

One feature, many benefits

The transceiver power-control feature is an example of static power control, well-suited for networking devices, where planning for additional connectivity is possible. Customer evidence shows that spare ports account for 10% to 50% of all installed switching ports, indicating that transceiver power-control could drive substantial energy savings.

The transceiver power-control feature has many benefits, including:

• Up to 32% energy savings for a switch
• easy operations with remote settings for power control
• full real-time inventory even for interfaces that are administratively shut (power off), leveraging a highly engineered flow of operations within NX-OS software
• high reliability under power cycles and without an impact on failure rates, achieved by optimized design and tight qualification of Cisco SFPs
• SFP agnostic operation, applicable to any type of SFP qualified on 64G devices
• ubiquitous operation on both 64G switches and director line cards
• faster restart to avoid any delay for reaching mission mode on links
• included in the base offering at no additional cost

Enabling/Disabling Transceiver Power-Control Feature

The transceiver power-control feature is enabled by default on Cisco MDS 64G fibre channel switches. The feature can be turned on using the following CLI command:

Enable/disable status of the feature can be viewed using the below CLI command.

Transceiver power status for each port is displayed in the “show interface” CLI command output. In the example below, interface fc1/3 shows that transceiver power-control feature is enabled, and the port is administratively shut. As a result, its power would be zero.

Conclusion

The deployment of Cisco MDS switches supporting the transceiver power-control feature represents a proactive step towards creating more sustainable and cost-effective data center operations. The potential benefits include energy savings, reduced energy bills, improved compliance with environmental standards, and a positive contribution to a more sustainable future.

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• $10,000 awarded to the City of New Port Richey for its Youth Scholarship Assistance program
• Program provides summer camp and swim lessons through scholarships for low-income families

NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla., May 29, 2025 /3BL/ – In recognition of the May 15 designation as International Water Safety Day, Duke Energy Foundation announces a grant to the City of New Port Richey for swim lessons and summer camp scholarships.

“Safety is central to how we operate at Duke Energy. Providing water safety education through swim lessons is a fun but important way to keep children in our community safe this summer,” said Melissa Seixas, Duke Energy Florida state president. “We thank the City of New Port Richey for providing programming to families throughout the year and are happy to make these programs available to more children this summer.”

The City of New Port Richey is offering summer day camp to residents June 2-Aug. 8 this summer. Registration is available by calling the Recreation and Aquatic Center at 727.841.4560 or visiting www.citynpr.org. Limited spots are still available.

“We’re incredibly grateful to Duke Energy Foundation for supporting our efforts to keep kids safe and active all summer long,” said Kevin Trapp, assistant parks and recreation director. “This funding helps remove barriers for families and ensures more children can enjoy swim lessons and camp experiences that build confidence and lifelong safety skills.”

Below are the top water safety tips from the American Red Cross, as an important reminder to all of us, on how to keep yourself, your family and friends safe in and around the water every day.

• Swim in designated areas supervised by lifeguards.
   
• Always swim with a buddy.
   
• If you go boating, wear a life jacket.
   
• Install and use barriers around your home pool or hot tub.
   
• Actively supervise children whenever around the water.
   
• Always stay within arm’s reach of young children and avoid distractions.
   
• Reach or throw aid to distressed swimmers – don’t go.
   
• Keep toys not in use away from the pool and out of site.

For more information on water safety, please visit American Red Cross’ water safety resources here.

Duke Energy Foundation

Duke Energy Foundation provides more than $30 million annually in philanthropic support to meet the needs of communities where Duke Energy customers live and work. The Foundation is funded by Duke Energy shareholders.

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is one of America’s largest energy holding companies. The company’s electric utilities serve 8.6 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, and collectively own 55,100 megawatts of energy capacity. Its natural gas utilities serve 1.7 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky. 

About Duke Energy Florida
Duke Energy Florida, a subsidiary of Duke Energy, owns 12,500 megawatts of energy capacity, supplying electricity to 2 million residential, commercial and industrial customers across a 13,000-square-mile service area in Florida.  

About City of New Port Richey:

With a strong local government, an attractive historical downtown, and a unique riverfront landscape, New Port Richey is one of Florida’s best walkable, waterfront, historic hometowns. For more information, visit www.cityofnewportrichey.org.

Media contact: Laitin Sterling
Media line: 800.559.3853

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