Doing Well and Doing Good Businesses Contribute Worldwide

Chamber Honors Corporate Citizens

The U.S. Chamber's Business Civic Leadership Center (BCLC) hosted its eighth annual Corporate Citizenship Awards Dinner on November 7 to honor businesses and organizations of all sizes for the extraordinary contributions they make to their communities.

"Corporate citizenship and business success are not mutually exclusive," says Stephen Jordan, BCLC's senior vice president and executive director. "These companies show that community involvement and enhanced profits go together. BCLC is dedicated to helping companies become better citizens."

ChoicePoint Inc., of Alpharetta, Georgia, received the Corporate Stewardship Award for Small/Midsize Business. This award recognizes a business that exemplifies the highest ideals of corporate stewardship through its overall values, strategies, and operational practices.

ChoicePoint is a data collection company that provides decision-making technology and information to help reduce fraud and mitigate risk. Since 1997, ChoicePoint has more than doubled its revenues and has increased operating income from $46 million to $256 million.

The company's corporate giving program, ChoicePoint Cares, goes beyond financial contributions to its core competency-technology. Each year, the company donates background screening services to volunteers working with children and to nonprofit partners including Little League, Boys & Girls Clubs, Boy Scouts, Big Brothers Big Sisters, and Camp Fire USA.

ChoicePoint also works with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to find missing children and to support the Identity Theft Resource Center. "Our greatest ability to improve society lies in the information and technological skills we are uniquely qualified to provide," says Derek Smith, chairman of ChoicePoint. "Our most meaningful charitable contributions are in-kind donations of ChoicePoint products and services."

Other awards presented at the dinner were:

The Corporate Stewardship Large Business Award-presented to Microsoft for its global community investment. Last year, Microsoft donated more than $68 million in cash and $331 million in software to nonprofit organizations. The company's Community Technology Skills program provides the underserved around the world with IT education and skills training through community-based technology learning centers.
The International Community Service Award-presented to Cisco for its Cisco Networking Academy®, a program that delivers training in networking and information technology through the Least-Developed Countries initiative (LDCi), a partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development and the United Nations Development Program. It is one of the first public-private partnerships of its kind.
The U.S. Community Service Award-presented to Entergy Corporation for its Low-Income Initiatives Program to eradicate poverty in the communities that it serves in Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Texas. Since 2006, Entergy customers, employees, and shareholders have contributed $2.4 million to help more than 18,000 low-income elderly and disabled individuals pay for utilities.
The Partnership Award-presented to Aflac and the Aflac Center at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta for fighting childhood cancer. Since Aflac's initial $3 million donation to the hospital in 1995, the Aflac Cancer Center has become one of the largest pediatric cancer facilities in the United States, treating more than 300 newly diagnosed cancer patients each year.

The Awards Dinner was hosted by Ed McMahon and took place at the historic National Building Museum in Washington, D.C.

BCLC raises awareness about businesses' positive contributions to their communities; researches and reports on tools and strategies to help companies handle social issues more effectively; and facilities partnerships, coalitions, and networks to promote communication and coordination among the public and private sectors.

Nominations for the 2008 BCLC Corporate Citizenship Awards open March 3 and close June 31. Nomination kits will be available on www.uschamber.com/bclc/awards.

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