nomination season:
May 1-29, 2015
Corporate Citizenship Center | 202-463-3133 | www.uschamberfoundation.org
A program of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation Corporate Citizenship Center (CCC) invites your submission for the 2015 Citizens Awards during the month of May.
The Citizens Awards honors excellence in corporate citizenship. Over the past 15 years, some of the most accomplished social and community initiatives within the business sector have been recognized through the Citizens Awards. Dozens of industry leaders, including Abbott, Capital One Financial Corporation, DSM, Google Inc., IBM, KPMG, and UPS, and more, have been recognized for their outstanding contribution to addressing some of society’s greatest needs.
Individual companies, Chambers of Commerce, and industry associations are eligible to apply or be nominated by a third party.
It’s easy to apply. Use the information in this toolkit to help create a compelling Citizens Award application. Toolkit Contents: eligibility, category descriptions and criteria, judging process, publicity information, and tips for applying.
To access the nomination forms for the categories you are interested in, visit CCC’s website any time on May 1 – 29, 2015.
Eligibility
You must be a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to apply. Awards are open to any business or industry association that is a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. State/local chambers of commerce and American Chambers of Commerce can also apply. To verify U.S. Chamber membership status, email Rebecca Mousseau ().
Any eligible entity may nominate itself or be nominated by a third party. Given the public format of finalist information, third-party nominators should ensure the nominated entity is aware of the application and prepared to participate in awards activities.
Eligible entities can be nominated for more than one category, but a separate application is required for each category. Past winners are not eligible to submit an application for three years in the category for which they won.
A company will only be selected as a finalist in one category.
CATEGORY DESCRIPTIONS
Best Commitment to Education Program
Honors a strategic initiative focused on improving educational and career readiness outcomes for students.
Best Community Improvement Program
Honors a strategic initiative to improve local communities.
Best Disaster Response & Community Resilience Program
Honors a strategic initiative in disaster response and creating more resilient communities.
Best Economic Empowerment Program
Honors a strategic initiative to empower individuals through financial inclusion and business empowerment initiatives.
Best Environmental Stewardship
Honors a strategic initiative focused on environmental issues.
Best Health and Wellness Program
Honors a strategic initiative to improve the health and wellness in communities.
Judges will use the following information when evaluating applications in all categories above:
· Statement of need: Describe the social, community, or environmental issue you are tackling. (1/10 of Score) (150 words or less)
· Strategic planning: Describe the strategic alignment with your core business capabilities and priorities, the stakeholders consulted in the planning process, and any other information that demonstrates your planning process for this strategic initiative. (1/4 of score) (300 words or less)
· Execution: Explain the activities under this initiative that are making a positive difference; if challenges have arisen, how have you addressed them? (1/4 of score) (300 words or less)
· Proof of positive impact: Share the results, metrics, and/or stakeholder statements that show a positive difference is being made. (3/10 of score) (300 words or less)
· Lessons learned: What would you like to share about lessons learned through this initiative? (1/10 of Score) (150 words or less)
Best Corporate Steward
A corporate steward is a company that conducts its business in a way that creates “shared value.” This means creating value for shareholders, delivering high quality products and services to customers, providing a great place to work for employees, supporting the wellbeing and development of communities near and far, reducing environmental footprint, and helping suppliers to deliver shared value too. A corporate steward follows the letter and spirit of the law, and goes well beyond this to contribute actively to enhancing the communities in which it operates and care for the environment in a way that supports the long-term success of business.
The Best Corporate Steward honors a company for exemplifying the highest ideals of corporate stewardship through overall values, strategies, and operational practices.
This year the Foundation will be presenting the Best Corporate Steward award in two categories: Small and Middle Market Business and Large Business. Eligibility will be based on the company revenue for the last fiscal year. Companies with revenue less than $1 Billion will be eligible for the Small and Mid-Market Business Best Corporate Steward Award. Companies with revenue more than $1 Billion will be eligible for the Large Business Best Corporate Steward Award.
1) Company Profile (1/4 of score) (800 words or less)
a) Give an executive summary of the company (examples: industry, location(s), employees, core customer, brand awareness).
b) Give a brief summary of the company’s economic performance over the past five years.
c) How does the company create shared value – “doing well by doing good”?
2) Why does the company deserve to be recognized as an exceptional corporate steward? (3/4 of score) (entire section should not exceed 1,500 words)
a) Strategic Priorities: Describe the top three strategic priorities the company focuses on to deliver shared value. The priorities should tie areas such as social, ethical, environmental, community, or philanthropy practices to key business priorities such as products and services, manufacturing and production, supply chain, governance, risk, and compliance, R&D, marketing, or government relations among others. You may describe less than three strategic priorities, but not more.
b) Strategic Business Alignment: How do the strategic priorities listed above align with the company’s overall business strategy?
c) Strategic Management: Describe the company’s resources, strengths, and/or processes that have been brought to bear to be a responsible steward of the strategic priorities listed above. Describe how strategic priorities have been integrated into the day to day operations of the business.
d) Executive Leadership: How have corporate leaders participated in the company’s stewardship activities?
e) Proof of positive impact: Share the results, metrics, and/or stakeholder statements that show a positive difference is being made for both the business and society. Summarize results.
JUDGING
Finalists Selection:
· A committee of corporate citizenship professionals will be convened to review all applications in a single category.
· No more than five finalists will be selected in each category.
· The top applications in each category as designated by the committees will move on to the finalist round.
Winner Selection
· A select committee of business and societal experts is convened by CCC. The committees review each of the finalists and determine the winner.
· If there is a tie between finalists, a forced ranking will be based on the judges’ scores.
In all categories, the winner will be revealed at the Corporate Citizenship Awards on October 6, 2015 in Washington, D.C.
PUBLICITY FOR FINALISTS AND WINNERS
Finalists will be asked to provide multimedia material such as high-resolution (min. 300 dpi) photography and, when available, video footage for use in the related publicity efforts. Additional text may be requested, as well.
Each finalist receives an individual page on CCC’s awards portal. The materials cited above may be used on these pages, as well as in related media and event materials.
CCC provides a toolkit to each finalist to help finalists communicate their awards status to their stakeholders. The toolkit, which contains sample media materials, sample social media messaging, and more, will be delivered to finalists one week prior to public announcement of the finalists.
CCC’s own communications outreach will include but may not be limited to: national, local, online, and trade media; social networking outlets; the U.S. Chamber network; and CCC’s 22,000 email subscribers.
WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT
Award winners will be announced at a ceremony held on November 20 in Washington, D.C. All honorees will be showcased through a professional video montage and in the printed event program. Award winners will accept the trophy on-stage and be allotted one minute to make an acceptance speech. We suggest that all finalists’ CEOs attend the awards gala to represent their organization’s corporate citizenship leadership and be prepared to accept the award.
TIPS FOR APPLYING
· Third parties may nominate a business, Chamber of Commerce, American Chamber of Commerce, or trade association but should notify the nominated party prior to submission.
· The Citizen awards are not public relations awards; they are dedicated to corporate citizenship planning, execution, and results. The strongest nominations read more like corporate citizenship case studies rather than a PR summary.
· Your nomination is judged solely on how you answer the questions on the nomination form. You are strongly urged to not stray from the question format presented, as it may result in an ineligible submission.
· Avoid copying and pasting language from a previous award application. Other programs measure different criteria; each of our categories ask for specific criteria. The better each question is directly addressed, the stronger the application.
· Prove impact:
o Show how the program affected the targeted people and/or communities.
o Show the impact through data – metrics and measurable results.
o Show how the program has benefitted the company and its employees.
· Think strategically through the questions and collect the accompanying data ahead of time. Finalists’ descriptions will be posted publicly using information drawn from the application.
· Remember, applications should reflect corporate citizenship planning and execution, not PR success.
· Plan ahead! Late nominations cannot be accepted.
2015 CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP AWARDS NOMINATION FORM
All Applicants, All Categories: Complete this cover sheet and then find your relevant nomination form in the following pages. Once complete, submit both together. You may apply for multiple categories, but a separate cover sheet and nomination form is required for each application.
Submit completed form and essays to Nominations are due no later than 5 p.m. Eastern Time on May 29, 2015. You will receive a receipt confirmation by email within three business days of submitting your nomination. If you do not receive confirmation, please call 202-463-3133. Visit http://ccc.uschamber.com/citizens-awards for more information.
Thank you for your nomination and good luck!
I, the nominator, have read and understand the Eligibility Requirements for my category of interest.
Please select the category for which you are applying:
Corporate Citizenship Center | 202-463-3133 | www.uschamberfoundation.org
A program of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation
Best Commitment to Education Program
Best Community Improvement Program
Best Economic Empowerment Program
Best Disaster Response & Community Resilience Program
Best Environmental Stewardship
Best Health and Wellness Program
Best Corporate Steward – Small and Middle Market Business
Best Corporate Steward – Large Business
Corporate Citizenship Center | 202-463-3133 | www.uschamberfoundation.org
A program of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation
ALL INFORMATION IS REQUIRED:
Nominee:Contact:
Address:
City / State / Zip
Country
Phone / Fax
Is the award candidate a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce? Yes No
If a business is being nominated by someone outside the company, complete the following:
Nominator:Contact:
Address:
City / State / Zip
Country
Phone / Fax
Best Commitment to Education Program
The Citizen award for this category is dedicated to a single strategic initiative focused on improving educational outcomes for students. Eligible initiatives could focus on a number of topics including (but not limited to):
· Career readiness,
· STEM,
· early education,
· K-12,
· teacher training,
· access to technology & resources,
· continuing education.
The initiative must show a commitment to improving student achievement and demonstrate measurable results. Do not nominate a g a eneral, overarching program or strategy; instead, focus intensively on a single initiative within a larger business or corporate citizenship strategy. Initiatives should be created and managed from within the nominated organization and provide results from either the year 2013 or 2014.
Statement of need: Describe the social, community, or environmental issue you are tackling (1/10 of Score) (150 words or less)
Strategic planning: Describe the strategic alignment with your core business capabilities and priorities, the stakeholders consulted in the planning process, and any other information that demonstrates your planning process for this strategic initiative. (1/4 of score) (300 words or less)
Execution: Explain the activities under this initiative that are making a positive difference; if challenges have arisen, how have you addressed them? (1/4 of score) (300 words or less)
Proof of positive impact: Share the results, metrics, and/or stakeholder statements that show a positive difference is being made. (3/10 of score) (300 words or less)
Lessons learned: What would you like to share about lessons learned through this initiative? (1/10 of Score) (150 words or less)
Best Community Improvement Program
The Citizen award for this category is dedicated to a single strategic initiative focused on community improvement. Eligible initiatives could focus on a number of topics including (but not limited to):
· green space,
· arts & culture,
· neighborhood revitalization,
· youth development,
· safety.
Do not nominate a g a eneral, overarching program or strategy; instead, focus intensively on a single initiative within a larger business or corporate citizenship strategy. Initiatives should be created and managed from within the nominated organization and provide results from either the year 2013 or 2014.
Statement of need: Describe the social, community, or environmental issue you are tackling (1/10 of Score) (150 words or less)
Strategic planning: Describe the strategic alignment with your core business capabilities and priorities, the stakeholders consulted in the planning process, and any other information that demonstrates your planning process for this strategic initiative. (1/4 of score) (300 words or less)