The Great Oak Awards: Large Companies

The finalists in the large companies category.

Berkeley College
Woodland Park
Industry: Education
NJ Employees: 993
Cash Giving: $67,700
Volunteer Hours: 2,800
Berkeley College sponsors community-service initiatives, volunteer projects, and events proposed by employees and students. In 2015, Berkeley collected 400 food items through on-campus drives (donated to Community FoodBank of New Jersey and other charities); 350 articles of clothing (given to the Salvation Army and Father English Community Center); and 335 toys (donated to organizations including Boys & Girls Club of Paterson and Passaic). On Berkeley’s annual Community Service Day, 40 charitable groups benefited from  1,200 hours of volunteer work.

Bristol-Myers Squibb
Lawrenceville
Industry: Biopharmaceuticals
NJ Employees: 6,500
Cash Giving: $7.48 million
Volunteer Hours: 8,000
Through employee giving and volunteerism, Bristol-Myers Squibb aims to support local communities. The company sponsored events such as Gabi Goes Green, an educational play about climate change, as well as high school robotics teams. The services provided by the Bristol-Myers Squibb Centers for Science Teaching and Learning at Rider and Montclair State universities help school districts prepare for new science standards. Bristol-Myers Squibb also supports HomeFront, an organization serving families in need, and Secure@Home Hamilton, which provides seniors with health care and social services.

Cedar Crest
Pompton Plains
Industry: Elder-care communities
NJ Employees: 1,123
Volunteer Hours: 50,000
Cedar Crest’s community support for the year included its Scholars’ Fund, which provides scholarships for New Jersey high school students working in dining services; and $200,714 in financial assistance for residents in need. Additionally, more than 800 staffers and residents volunteered at nonprofits, including Emmaus for Veterans, Hillside Elementary School, and local shelters and food banks. Cedar Crest’s volunteer program allows full-time employees to take off up to 40 hours of paid time per year to volunteer.

Celgene Corporation
Summit
Industry: Biopharmaceuticals
NJ Employees: 3,000
Cash Giving: $454,252
Celgene’s philanthropic efforts focus on health services and STEM education. The company supported organizations and events, including  the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the Valerie Fund and the Captain Turner Ocean Swim in Longport. STEM-related philanthropy focused on the Governor’s STEM Scholars program, the Student Partner Alliance and Rockefeller University’s Science Saturday Program. Celgene also supports Community Health Charities and United Way, among others.

The Dunkin’ Donuts & Baskin Robbins Community Foundation
Manasquan
Industry: Nonprofit foundation
NJ Employees: 1,000
Cash Giving: $101,900
Volunteer Hours: 298
In 2015, the foundation supported numerous nonprofits, including Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital in Hackensack; Special Strides Inc.; Make-A-Wish New Jersey; Table to Table; Elijah’s Promise; YMCA Burlington/Camden; and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Monmouth. During the company’s Week of Service, employees volunteered at the Food Bank of South Jersey, Community FoodBank of New Jersey, and the FoodBank of Monmouth and Ocean counties. Dunkin’ Brands offers employees four paid volunteer days each year.

Ericsson
Piscataway
Industry: Technology
NJ Employees: 1,500
Volunteer Hours: 7,000
From May to November 2015, 63 Ericsson volunteers participated in the Big Sweep. The volunteers—current employees and several retirees—dedicated 7,000 hours to the initiative to clean out 400,000 square feet of space and donated office supplies to 129 nonprofits in the metropolitan area, Haiti and Liberia. Some 90 tons of supplies valued at $232,300 were donated, from printers and whiteboards to paper clips and books.

Ernst & Young, LLP
Iselin
Industry: Accounting/advisory services
NJ Employees: 1,900
Cash Giving: $40,500
Volunteer Hours: 3,657
Ernst & Young’s Corporate Responsibility Strategy includes building a better working world while making a big social impact. The firm’s College MAP program, focused on empowering underserved high school students, covers 30 U.S. cities, including Secaucus. The EY Vantage Program allows their managers to work alongside entrepreneurs to address their biggest business obstacles at no cost. EY supports numerous organizations, including Junior Achievement, Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, United Way, College for Every Student and the Boy & Girls Clubs.

Kings Food Markets
Parsippany
Industry: Food retail
NJ Employees: 2,300
Cash Giving: $100,000
Volunteer Hours: 500
Kings Food Markets is committed to ending hunger in its neighborhoods. As part of Grow It Green Morristown, the company established the Kings Act Against Hunger Garden at Urban Farm in Lafayette to provide fresh produce to Morris County. Kings hosted a Buy Two, Donate One campaign encouraging customers to donate products to a local food pantry, as well as the Kings CheckOut Hunger campaign, which raised funds for the Community Foodbank of New Jersey. More than 2,500 turkeys were donated during Thanksgiving.

KPMG, LLP
Montvale
Industry: Accounting/professional services
NJ Employees: 4,000
Cash Giving: $3.54 million
Volunteer Hours: 2,706
Through INVOLVE, KPMG’s corporate volunteerism program, partners and employees demonstrate the firm’s core value of giving back to the communities where they live and work. Key initiatives include KPMG Family for Literacy, a program that provides new books to children in need; and the Community Giving Campaign, which raised more than $170,000 for New Jersey charities. KPMG employees made monthly visits to OASIS, the women and children’s support center in Paterson, to aid with various tasks.

NJM Insurance Group
West Trenton
Industry: Insurance
NJ Employees: 2,500
Cash Giving: $1.25 million
Volunteer Hours: 2,356
NJM pledged $250,000 toward the opening of the HomeFront Family Campus, a haven for the homeless in Lawrenceville. In the fall, 82 employees supported Junior Achievement of New Jersey’s Financial Literacy Program, making presentations to 848 elementary school students. NJM’s Safety Officers visited more than 110 New Jersey high schools, delivering 527 teen-driving presentations that reached nearly 23,000 teens.

RB (Reckitt Benckiser, LLC)
Parsippany
Industry: Consumer goods
NJ Employees: 936
Volunteer Hours: 1,130
RB employees give back through local efforts, as well as company-wide fundraising and volunteering for Save the Children. RB’s signature golf outing to benefit Save the Children is organized entirely by the employees; in 2015 it raised $600,000. Three of RB’s New Jersey employees took a mission trip to India with Save the Children.

Sanofi Foundation for North America
Bridgewater
Industry: Pharmaceutical
NJ Employees: 2,600
Cash Giving: $628,009
Volunteer Hours: 10,772
The Sanofi Foundation’s initiatives include the Sanofi Season of Solidarity (SSOS), an annual event that encourages New Jersey employees to volunteer in their communities. Another program, the Sanofi Patient Connection (SPC), works to provide insurance reimbursement and Sanofi pharmaceuticals at no cost to eligible patients. The Sanofi Foundation supports STEM initiatives in New Jersey schools, as well as the Christ the King Work Study Program for youths.

Tiffany & Co.
Parsippany
Industry: Retail
NJ Employees: 1,100
Tiffany & Co. matches the charitable donations of its New Jersey employees to a variety of causes and organizations. Merchandise and monetary contributions span an array of civic causes, including the arts, education and the environment.

Whole Foods Market
Englewood Cliffs
Industry: Food retail
NJ Employees: 3,500+
Cash Giving: $250,000
Whole Foods focuses on alleviating hunger and eliminating waste through daily food donations to local food-rescue organizations and other initiatives. Through the company’s Quarterly 5% Community Giving Days, local organizations receive 5 percent of store sales on a designated day each fiscal quarter. The company’s Whole Kids Foundation supplies salad bars and gives garden grants to local schools.

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