While the holidays are an annual season of giving and kindness, there are many businesses that are dedicated to making a positive impact on the world throughout the whole year – including our partners. With a sense of corporate responsibility, these businesses and their employees donate their time, energy, and money to help make the world a better place and give back to their communities on local and global scales. From providing transportation for those in need or offering aid in times of disaster, to offering Fair Trade and green products or supporting organizations promoting education, these are some of the powerful ways our partners are giving back and helping others:
Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airlines
gives back to the community in the areas of youth and education, medical, and community outreach. In 2013, Alaska Airlines made cash and in-kind contributions totaling over $8.5 million to over 1,000 nonprofit organizations. A few of the organizations include Angel Flight West and the Shriners’ Hospital which provides medical transportation to treatment; the Make-A-Wish Foundation providing wishes of travel for children with life-threatening medical conditions; and contributing to the Museum of Flight Aerospace Education Center for STEM and aviation education.
Delta Air Lines
With their Force for Global Good initiative, Delta Air Lines and its employees volunteer and donate millions of dollars annually to support a variety of philanthropic causes. Delta employees have built over 200 homes in partnership with Habitat for Humanity, including homes in the Philippines built in 2014. In the past year, Delta employees also donated over 6,000 pints of blood with American Red Cross and raised over $250,000 in cash and thousands of toys for the Marine Toys for Tots campaign. Delta also teamed up with their customers to raise over $1 million each for the American Cancer Society and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation last year.
eScrip
Since 1999, eScrip has grown to be one of America’s largest loyalty marketing companies serving the school and nonprofit sector. To date, eScrip, with its partners, has contributed over $400 million back to our community’s schools, churches, youth organizations and nonprofits across the country. eScrip “Supporters” use their registered grocer cards, payment cards and/or special community cards to earn free contributions with a variety of merchants, including over 10,000 restaurants with the eScrip Dining program.
Fuel Rewards Network
Excentus Corporation powers the Fuel Rewards Network™ program, which allows members to earn fuel savings redeemable at participating Shell stations nationwide. Excentus also operates the Make An Impact! Charitable Foundation. This non-profit organization was founded in December 2001 with the goal to give back to the community. With financial and volunteer support, Make An Impact! supports charitable organizations including Els for Autism, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Boys and Girls Club of Greater Dallas and Christmas Providers, a program that helps provide families with gifts and food for the holidays. Excentus makes donations to Make an Impact! on behalf of its employees and customers, and the charity also receives individual donations from the Excentus’ executive management team and employees.
Hilton Worldwide
Hilton Worldwide (NYSE: HLT) recently celebrated Global Week of Service, the company’s worldwide annual volunteer event. Now in its third year, the company’s largest expression of community service included more than 3,500 projects designed to address the social, economic and environmental needs in 86 countries.
Global Week of Ser
vice provides Team Members and franchise partners with the opportunity to showcase the company’s culture of service and community hospitality. This year’s theme focused on two company commitments – youth opportunity and living sustainably. More than 1,100 properties and corporate offices in more than more than 900 cities around the world completed a wide array of projects, including resume building workshops with underserved young people, soap recycling, refurbishment of schools and community centers, park and seabed clean-ups and the creation of social enterprises.
Throughout Global Week of Service, Hilton worked with an international network of community-based organizations, including FareShare, Feeding America, Global Soap Project, Hilton in the Community Foundation, Playground of Hope, Points of Light, Room to Read, SOS Children’s Villages and Stop Hunger Now in addition to more than 2,800 local organizations selected by hotels and offices.
IHG InterContinental Hotels Group
One of IHG’s ongoing charitable efforts is their Shelter in a Storm disaster relief program. This disaster relief program is dedicated to providing emergency aid to survivors of disasters and helping people rebuild their lives in the aftermath. In partnership with CARE, the IHG Shelter Fund has helped thousands of people affected by disasters around the world, including Hurricane Sandy, typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, and the recent earthquakes in Mexico and China. IHG hosts an annual Race Around the World, in which thousands of their employees around the world participated in hundreds of activities to raise money and awareness for Shelter in a Storm. For each participant in this event, IHG made a donation to the IHG Shelter Fund.
Orbitz
Dedicated to supporting matters of social importance and making the world a better place to travel, Orbitz established its Orbitz Engaged corporate citizenship program. Orbitz promotes hybrid rental cars and eco-friendly hotels on its Green Getaways site and is a leader in the annual Bike Commuter Challenge in Chicago. After disasters like the Gulf Oil spill and Hurricane Sandy, Orbitz joined forces with Volunteer Vacations, which allows travelers to give back to communities in need. Orbitz has also helped encourage the hiring of military veterans and spouses with Joining Forces and helps mentor the next generation of technologists through supporting ChicagoNEXT and the Chicago Tech Academy.
Southwest Airlines
Through its current Project LUV Seat campaign, Southwest Airlines is repurposing the 43 acres of leather leftover from its
large-scale cabin redesign to make a positive global impact. With partnerships in Kenya and the United States, Southwest is upcycling this leather into new products including: 2,100 pairs of shoes; 1,000 soccer balls; 15,000 bags, wallets, and backpacks; and other leather goods. Through these partnerships, Southwest is also supporting training programs for young adults, women, and disabled persons.
Southwest Airlines Annual LUV Classic Golf Tournament has also raised over $12 million for Ronald McDonald House Charities, and Southwest’s Medical Transportation Grant Program assists those who need to travel for medical care.
Spirit Airlines
Known as the Home of the Bare Fare™, Spirit Airlines is dedicated to offering low-cost airline fares with one of the most fuel-efficient operations in the country. With this model, Spirit works to stimulate new economic activity while creating new jobs. Spirit Airlines is also dedicated to giving back to the community it serves by making charitable donations to worthy causes. With a focus on events in the health and medical fields, education, and military family and veteran service organizations, Spirit makes every effort to accommodate as many charitable donation requests as possible. Requests can be submitted via email to: community.affairs@spirit.com.
United Airlines
From employee volunteer campaigns to global charitable program sponsorship, United Airlines is committed to serving the communities where its customers and employees live and work. One of these efforts is United’s support of March of Dimes, which works to improve the health of mothers and babies. As a March of Dimes partner for ten years and a national sponsor for the annual March for Babies walk, United supports over 900 walks in communities nationwide. United’s Chief Financial Officer, John Rainey, is also the National Chairman for the 2015 March for Babies walks. United employees and customers can also support March of Dimes by donating MileagePlus miles, making cash contributions, or registering to walk.