We have an interest in fostering healthy, vibrant communities, so when communities succeed, we succeed as a trusted partner.
We started to develop a new Philanthropy and Community Involvement (PCI) program in fiscal 2011. The aim is to provide a framework for community involvement and to improve the global coordination of our activities in order to maximize our positive impact.
Our first Corporate Responsibility Week (CR Week), in February 2011, was a great success and received a much higher level of employee engagement than we had expected. As a result of this, we have changed the direction of our PCI strategy away from the theme of education and learning. Our revised program now has the overall aim to engage our people in Corporate Responsibility though our PCI program. Instead of an overarching theme of education and learning, our PCI program will reflect some of our main Corporate Responsibility issues. We will share more information on this in our 2012 Corporate Responsibility Report.
Global focus, local delivery
Historically, Bacardi has had a decentralized approach to PCI, with local operations deciding how best to support local community needs. As a result, our strategy will be directional rather than prescriptive and will continue to provide the flexibility to be adapted to local circumstances. Our ultimate aim is to enable local operations to carry out and report PCI activities that are relevant to them and have an impact in their area of operation.
Our PCI program will reflect some of our main Corporate Responsibility issues.
Measuring our impact
London Benchmarking Group
We joined the London Benchmarking Group (LBG) in fiscal 2011 and started to phase in the LBG reporting model to calculate our contributions to the community. The LBG model provides a standardized way of managing and measuring a company’s community involvement. The LBG model will allow us to measure the overall contribution to our local communities – not just cash invested, but also time volunteered, in-kind donations and management costs. Establishing the LBG model across the Company is an ongoing process. We have already amended our community database to align better to LBG and have begun to record employee volunteering hours within the system in fiscal 2011. Community support in fiscal 2011.
$3.9 million was the reported giving of Bacardi companies and brands in 2011 measured using the LBG model.
The following are some examples of activities across our five key areas of Philanthropy and Community Involvement:
Environment
Bacardi China and Bacardi Asia Pacific partnered with non-profit organization, Shanghai Roots and Shoots, to create a “Bacardi Forest” as part of their Million Trees Project in China. Two thousand trees were donated and five volunteers went to Inner Mongolia to plant some of them.
Education
In the U.S., the BACARDI brand has committed to work with the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) to give US$350,000 of educational scholarships over four years.
Health and Social Services
Paddle for Cancer is a Geneva-based dragon boat racing festival that aims to raise awareness about cancer. In fiscal 2011, a team of 20 Bacardi paddlers took part in the race along with a support team of 20 more employees.
Arts and Culture
For the past 40 years, Bacardi in Puerto Rico has sponsored an annual artisans’ fair. We continue to be the main sponsor for this event.
Disaster Relief Assistance
After the Japan earthquake in early March 2011, we initiated our first employee donation matching program. On top of a corporate donation of US$50,000, the Company matched employee donations of US$36,217.31. In total, US$122,434.62 was donated to Japan Platform, the international emergency humanitarian aid organization. We also made corporate donations to relief for the Queensland floods in Australia and the mudslides in Brazil.
2,000 trees were donated forthe desertified region of InnerMongolia through the MillionTrees Project in China.
Corporate Responsibility Week
Corporate Responsibility Week (CR Week) was our first-ever company wide community initiative. It aimed to engage our people in community activities and work together to give back to our local communities in a globally coordinated way. The inaugural event lasted for one week between January 31 and February 4 – our Founder’s Day and the 149th anniversary of Bacardi. This year’s event was based on the simple idea of “Caring Together,” which provided a strong link to our value of Caring. Employee uptake for CR Week was beyond our expectations and in total 3,750 employees from 35 countries got involved, participating in 128 different community activities. One of the key enablers to such a successful event was our ONE Bacardi intranet. Although only launched in fiscal 2010, the intranet provided the global communication platform that CR Week needed, allowing information about the week to be shared across the Company and local markets to share ideas and achievements.
This year's event was based on "Caring Together", which provided a strong link to our value of Caring.
Thirty-five countries across the world took part in CR week. Some of these countries are highlighted below:
U. S. A. Bacardi Americas cleaned 14 boats and an island for Shake-a-Leg Miami, a not-for-profit universally accessible water sports facility for people with physical, developmental and economic challenges.
Mexico Employees at our CAZADORES plant refurbished a local school and employees at our Tultitlan site refurbished a local children’s home.
Bermuda Employees participated in the Meals on Wheels program, preparing and delivering meals.
Dominican Republic Thirty-one employees built two houses from scratch for poverty-stricken families.
Venezuela Employees cleaned and painted a local parkland, as well as planting vetiver grass which prevents soil erosion and landslides.
U .K. A team of volunteers painted the inside of the Winchester Night Shelter, a charity that helps homeless people by providing overnight accommodation, meals, and advice and support.
Germany Employees supported the Public Trust Alsterdorf, which helps the disabled to live independent lives, by painting and preparing meals.
India Bacardi employees repaired the walls and decorated Sankalp School for the Underprivileged, a school for children who may not otherwise have a basic education.