Social Innovation Awards to Highlight Leaders in CSR and Sustainability

NEW YORK, Nov. 3, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- The deadline for the application to the 3rd Annual Social Innovation Awards is only two weeks away on November 15th.  The international awards program, considered one of the top honors in the field of sustainability, will recognize companies implementing groundbreaking strategies and programs that drive social and environmental innovation.  Over 40% of the Fortune 100 participated in the 2010 awards program.  Applications are available at www.socialinnovationawards.com and by emailing [email protected].

Award winners will be recognized at the 2011 Redefining Value: Integrated Reporting and Measuring Sustainability Conference, to be held in London on March 1st.  The event will bring together a who's who of leading executives, investors, policy makers, social enterprises, NGOs, and activists to explore recent advances in the field of non-financial reporting and sustainable investment.

The newly expanded categories for the awards program are:

• Best Social Investment Strategy
• Best Employee Engagement Strategy
• Best Use of New Media
• Best Integrated Report
• Best Online Report
• Best Stakeholder Engagement
• Best Sustainability Performance
• Best Product Design
• Best Incorporation of Ethical Sourcing/Certification
• Most Strategic Use of Philanthropic Funds

Some of last year's winners included:

Best Base of Pyramid Strategy: Thomson-Reuters, for its Reuters Market Lite short-messaging news and information service that tells BOP farmers in India the latest market and weather information, helping them to offset risk and plant/sell their crops more successfully.

Best Employee Engagement Strategy: eBay, for its Green Team, a grassroots effort started by a small group of eBay employees to make eBay a green place to work.  The Green Team has since grown into a group of more than 2,000 eBay employees, all supporting environmental causes in local communities and promoting sustainable business practices within the company.  A year ago, eBay invited its community of buyers and sellers to join the Green Team; after just six weeks, the team had more than 100,000 members.

Best Stakeholder Engagement: Cisco Networking Academy.  Since 1997, the networking academy has grown from a small-scale program designed to help schools get the most out of Cisco's networking equipment to Cisco's largest CSR program, with courses taught at more than 9,000 academies in 165 countries.  More than 800,000 students develop ICT skills through the program each year.

Best Internal Sustainability: Con-way, a $4.3 billion freight transportation and logistics services company based in San Mateo, Calif., for its aggressive internal sustainability program to cut waste, reduce fuel consumption, recycle equipment and supplies, and procure goods and services from companies that have clearly stated sustainability goals and values.

Most Influential Supply Chain Management Strategy: Dispensary of Hope, a nonprofit social venture that crowd-sources medication to uninsured populations.  The program is a partnership with three leading pharmaceutical companies, including Merck; the dispensary, founded in 2003, has so far filled more than 200,000 prescriptions for patients who otherwise couldn't afford them.

Best New Green Product: Tesla Motors, a Silicon Valley-based company that engineers and manufactures electric cars.  The Tesla Roadster, the company's first vehicle, can get 200 miles on a single charge, can accelerate from 0-60 mph in 2.9 seconds, and is roughly twice as energy-efficient as the Toyota Prius.  The company produced its 1,000th Roadster in January of this year.

About Justmeans

Justmeans provides companies with a one stop platform for managing the communications process on social and environmental impact.  Justmeans offers companies the best distribution platform for and the largest community in the corporate ESG (environmental, social, and governance) marketspace.  Hundreds of companies, including Manpower, Cisco, Dell, Intel, Cabot, and Dupont utilize Justmeans marketing and communications products for reaching key stakeholders across the web.  Learn more at http://www.justmeans.com/newsdistribution.

SOURCE Justmeans