Measurement, Disasters and Optimism: What Allstate Has Learned

Sep 1, 2011 10:00 AM ET
Welcome to the Allstate When Good Hands People Give Back newsletter. This isn't an advertisement or a sales pitch. It's our way of sharing what we've learned about how corporate social responsibility can educate, engage and empower individuals, families and communities. In turn, we hope to learn from you how we can accelerate our efforts to create positive change in our society.   I'm fortunate to work for a company that truly makes giving back a priority. We're helping reduce motor vehicle crashes - the number one killer of teens. We provide domestic violence survivors with financial knowledge, skills and services to break free from abuse. We respond to natural disasters to make our customers and communities whole. And, we're engaged in the dialogue about achieving and preserving the American dream. Across the country, the Good Hands® agency owners and employees of Allstate are hard at work improving the world around them.   
Let's turn up the volume on community leadership. There are so many positive stories to share and so much we can learn from each other. I hope you'll join us in the conversation. Respectfully,   Victoria Dinges | Vice President | Public Social Responsibility   Setting Goals, Being Open and Reporting Back: The Makings of a Strong Social Responsibility Report We've long had a commitment to being an active and responsible corporate citizen. As part of nearly every community in the country, we understand our responsibility to have a positive local impact. It's not enough to aspire to be a good corporate citizen and it's not even enough to do good work. We have to set clear priorities, specific goals and measurement metrics. And then we have to be transparent and report what we were able to accomplish and be equally honest about [read more]   Don't Go It Alone: New Research Stresses Importance of NGOs in Disaster Recovery This year we've seen first-hand the effects of devastating storms, starting with mile-wide tornadoes and surging floodwaters and ending with last weekend's Hurricane Irene. Clearly, now is the time to [read more]   Belief in Economic Opportunity Unites Americans Across Ethnic and Racial Lines
In today's politically charged environment, it's easy to focus on the things that divide us. However, the most recent Allstate-National Journal Heartland Monitor survey found that Americans of all racial and ethnic backgrounds agree about access to economic opportunity and the path to success. People remain split, however, on [read more]    What we're reading this month..... Corporate Foundations  The Foundation Center recently released its latest "Key Facts on Corporate Foundations" report. It includes top funding areas for corporate foundations, a historical look at funding levels, predictions for the future and other interesting facts from the world of corporate foundations.                       Nonprofit Marketing  "Problems don't come from single sectors and the solutions won't, either ... We have silos of good: good business leaders, good nonprofit leaders, etc. What we need is a horizontal line among them." This quote from Darell Hammond, founder of KaBOOM!, a nonprofit that helps communities build playgrounds for children, comes to us via Katya's Nonprofit Marketing Blog. We couldn't agree with him more.   Volunteering  VolunteerMatch's "Volunteering is CSR" blog gives us "9 Stories to Plant Seeds in Your Volunteering & CSR Program." 

                         

EVENTS  2011 INDEPENDENT SECTOR ANNUAL CONFERENCE R-EVOLUTIONARY TIMES Chicago | Oct. 31-Nov. 1   Allstate is proud to help sponsor the Independent Sector 2011 Annual Conference. Join us and more than 1,000 of the brightest minds from nonprofits, foundations and corporate-giving programs for new ideas that will challenge all of us to think differently about the issues we face and how we move forward in our R-evolutionary times. Act fast! Summer special registration rates apply until Sept. 15. Learn more and register. We hope to see you there!    www.allstate.com/social-responsibility  |   www.allstatefoundation.org  |  Subscribe

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