IMPACT 2030 Rallies Global Corporations to Help Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals Through Corporate Volunteer Efforts

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IMPACT 2030

Oct 07, 2015, 06:00 ET

NEW YORK, Oct. 7, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Corporations around the world are banding together with IMPACT 2030 and mobilizing their corporate volunteers to help combat the most critical issues that our world faces, including poverty, inequality and climate change. In advance of the United Nation's adoption of the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), fourteen global companies founded IMPACT 2030, a business-led coalition that aligns companies and their employee volunteer efforts with the newly-launched Sustainable Development Goals to address the needs of our rapidly changing world and create real and sustainable change. The growing network of businesses already includes: IBM, SAP, Google, GSK, TATA Consultancy Services, The Dow Chemical Company, Medtronic, and The Ritz-Carlton, amongst others.

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Leaders of IMPACT 2030 partner companies are formally declaring, via the IMPACT 2030 Communiqué, how their employees are contributing to global development and their commitment to continued support of human capital investment towards the Sustainable Development Goals. It is the largest commitment of its kind towards these global goals and one that will grow as IMPACT 2030 continues its mission.

IMPACT 2030 aims to convene hundreds of partner companies, mobilize private sector volunteer networks around the world, and collaborate with stakeholders in civil society, the United Nations, government, and academia. The overall goals of IMPACT 2030 are to:

Promote the Sustainable Development Goals as an opportunity for business to engage their employees;
Create and facilitate avenues for cross-sector and cross-industry cooperation between companies and stakeholders to initiate joint commitments and actions impacting the SDGs;
Develop methodologies and frameworks through which to measure the impact of volunteer efforts of our member companies and the collective results of the IMPACT 2030 network on the development agenda.

"This initiative was a direct response to the United Nations' request to expand the private sector's role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, and it's very exciting to see the powerful impact these companies have on the world when their efforts are aligned to these common goals," said Grady Lee, Founder of CorpsGiving/RockCorps and chairman of the IMPACT 2030 executive committee. "We look forward to growing this network and being a positive disruptor over the next 15 years."

SAP's CEO, Bill McDermott, highlighted his company's commitment: "SAP's nearly 75,000 employees focus on a singular purpose that inspires us every day: to help the world run better and improve people's lives. With a long standing tradition in corporate volunteering, SAP is proud to be a Founding Partner of IMPACT 2030 as we rally the skills and expertise of our employees behind the UN Sustainable Development Goals to end poverty, fight inequality and tackle climate change. Together, we can make a difference!"

Hervé Humler, President and COO of The Ritz-Carlton, the first Founding Partner of IMPACT 2030, called on other companies around the world to join the effort: "IMPACT 2030 is seeking partnership from companies of all sizes to join the initiative and align their volunteer efforts to the Sustainable Development Goals. By working and serving together, the power of many will be the force that will allow us to make a difference and accomplish what none of us can achieve alone."

IMPACT 2030 encourages other organizations to learn more and join the effort:

Learn more by visiting IMPACT2030.com and following @IMPACT2030 on Twitter
Visit the Global Goals Employer Toolkit (sponsored by IMPACT 2030, IBM, The Ritz-Carlton and SAP)
Join the conversation using #IMPACT2030
Get involved. Learn how your company can join IMPACT 2030 and contact Christine Johnston at [email protected]

About IMPACT 2030
IMPACT 2030 is a collaboration between the United Nations and the business sector to help achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 through corporate employee volunteering.

The organizations that have come together to found IMPACT 2030 are:

Founding Partners: IBM, SAP SE, TATA Consultancy Services, UPS, GSK, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, The DOW Chemical Company, Medtronic, Google, la Caixa, Perkins Coie, Chevron, and WE Communications.
Collaborating Partners: Alcoa, Singtel, Johnson and Johnson, Bank of America, Cemex, Edelman, Telefonica, CH2M, Marriott International, Ball, and the Royal Bank of Canada.
Founding Stakeholders: UN Volunteers, UN Office of Partnerships, Points of Light, Grameen Foundation, International Association for Volunteer Effort, Voluntare, The Nature Conservancy, and PYXERA Global.

Key leaders behind IMPACT 2030 include:

Grady Lee, Chair, IMPACT 2030 and Co-Founder CorpsGiving and RockCorps
Sue Stephenson, Vice Chair, Executive Committee, IMPACT 2030 and VP Community Footprints for The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, LLC
Chris Jarvis, Executive Committee, IMPACT 2030, Co-Founder and Senior Partner for Realized Worth
Will Kennedy, Programme Officer, UN Office of Partnerships (UNOP)
Jordi Llopart, Chief, New York Office, UN Volunteers
Ed Martinez, IMPACT 2030 Executive Committee Member and President, UPS Foundation,
Diane Melley, IMPACT 2030 Executive Committee Member and Vice President, Global Citizenship Initiatives, IBM
Balaji Ganapathy, IMPACT 2030 Executive Committee Member and Head of Workforce Effectiveness, North America, Tata Consultancy Services
Alexandra van der Ploeg, IMPACT 2030 Executive Committee and CSR & Global Corporate Affairs, SAP