Corporate Volunteers Respond to the Refugee Challenge
By Lorrie Foster, Director, Global Corporate Volunteer Council, International Association for Volunteer Effort
Over one million migrants and refugees left their homes for Europe last year and hundreds of thousands more poured in this year, creating the worst migration crisis since World War II. Many of the refugees are fleeing the brutal civil war in Syria and have landed in addition to Europe, in neighboring countries including Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. Acceptance of refugees has become a political hot button in many countries, roiling the political landscape and stirring heated debates. In the midst of it all a number of corporations have taken a leadership role to quickly address the needs of the refugees, leveraging their funds and their employees’ skills, often on a volunteer basis.
Earlier this year, The International Association for Volunteer Effort (IAVE), hosted a forum in Berlin to discuss what corporations and their employees are doing to respond to the challenge of the refugees. IAVE is a global network of NGOs, businesses, national volunteer centers and grassroots leaders of volunteering, with members in 70 countries across all the regions of the world. The organization, founded in 1970, exists to promote, strengthen and celebrate volunteering in the myriad ways it happens throughout the world. IAVE’s global corporate members share inspiring practices in employee volunteering through its Global Corporate Volunteer Council.
Many corporate philanthropic and volunteer activities were highlighted in the forum:
Google has been very active in the refugee response efforts. The company ran an external gift match campaign that in 48 hours raised €5 million ($5.6 million) to support the work of Doctors Without Borders, the International Rescue Committee, Save the Children, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. An employee gift match campaign raised $1.5 million. GooglersGive Disaster Corps, a crisis-volunteering program, was deployed and volunteers were dispersed to make connectivity in the region more widespread and reliable. Google partnered with NetHope and Cisco to deploy robust access solutions. Recently, the company made a $5.3 million grant to support the launch of Project Reconnect, a program of NetHope to equip nonprofits working with refugees in Germany with Chromebooks, in order to facilitate easier access to education for refugees.
UPS has been supporting relief efforts for Syrian and Iraq refugees for the past three years. The company serves as UNHCR’s emergency standby partner to transport critical supplies for refugees including high-energy biscuits, blankets, sleeping mats and solar lanterns. It also provides emergency funding to UNHCR. The UPS Foundation is funding the work of the Salvation Army to support Syrian refugees in Europe with food, housing and legal advice. Employee volunteers are working across Europe to assist refugees.
Telefonica has a robust program of employee volunteers serving in Spain as one-on-one mentors for refugees. Employees assist on a weekly basis with a variety of assimilation tasks, ranging from familiarization with the community, understanding the local transportation network, providing legal assistance and guidance on work-related issues. In another program, employees spend a week of their personal vacation time working with refugees on health, leisure or cultural activities.
IBM has worked with the German Red Cross to develop an information management system for a refugee reception center in Mannheim. In Italy, IBM created a mobile and web based application to enable NGO Intrersos’ staff to register migrants and to capture demographic, health status, family, and socioeconomic information by capturing textual and image data. Employee volunteers are also active in Austria, Turkey, France, and Sweden.
Ritz Carlton employees in Wolfsburg began working with the German Red Cross to help sort donated clothes. They quickly grew their involvement to work with the 1,000 refugees in their community by sharing their traditions including egg-painting events for children at Easter, volleyball and soccer games for children, and a women-only breakfast buffet.
RBC is developing employee volunteer activities in cooperation with local settlement agencies to support refugees settling in Canada. The bank is providing $1 million in funding to the Immigrant Access Fund in coordination with employee volunteer projects.
Siemens has launched a multi-stage, long-term program for integrating refugees in Germany. The company has donated €1 million to support the plan and is providing practical support in an equivalent amount. The company launched an internship program and provides German language classes and shelter facilities for refugees. Siemens is also supporting its employee volunteers with paid leave for voluntary work in aid organizations.
Deutsche Telekom employees are active volunteers in a variety of ways. They have launched a training program to help refugees learn how to apply for jobs. Employee volunteers also serve as German language mentors for adults, helping them regularly practice their new language. An internal online platform enables Deutsche Telekom employees to search for other opportunities to volunteer in their communities to help refugees and others in need.
KPMG is allowing its employees in Germany to receive paid time off while volunteering to help refugees.
In addition to IAVE’s members, other corporate collaborations include the “We Together” initiative of 36 German companies that have joined together to promote the integration of refugees. Another initiative announced earlier this year by Hamdi Ulukaya, CEO and founder of Chobani yogurt, through the establishment of the Tent Foundation, encourages companies to pledge money and jobs for refugees.
Clearly, a number of companies have taken corporate responsibility to a new level and are helping to meet the historic challenge of welcoming and integrating refugees in and beyond their local communities.
About the author:
Lorrie Foster
Director, Global Corporate Volunteer Council
International Association for Volunteer Effort
Lorrie Foster directs and facilitates the Global Corporate Volunteer Council and Research Working Group on Disaster-Related Corporate Volunteering for the International Association for Volunteer Effort. She previously worked for the Conference Board, where she managed conferences, research working groups, and then councils. Ms. Foster also led The World Trade Institute formerly located in the World Trade Center in New York. She began her career at AT&T International where she was part of the task force that developed the company’s first global strategic plan. Lorrie Foster earned a MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School and an A.B. in Diplomacy and World Affairs from Occidental College.
