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2020 Progress Report: Helping Communities
Each year, we track several indicators that show progress toward achieving our community-service and philanthropy goals. The trends revealed by this data show us where we need to stay the course and where we need to make changes.
The company-paid community-service metric tracks "on-the-clock" hours our employees spent in community service activities, including half of time spent in ACE Mentor Program participation (see below) and up to one week of service for our Bridges to Prosperity team members. While the long-term trend is increasing participation, the COVID-19 pandemic limited in-person service opportunities and delayed the construction of a Bridges to Prosperity project in Rwanda in 2020.
Our volunteer day benefit allow employees to receive up to two paid working days a year for service in their local communities. This metric tracks time posted to the "volunteer day" code on timesheets. It does not include volunteerism by employees on their personal time. As noted above, 2020 hours are atypically low because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
We track the company-paid time U.S. employees spend as mentors or board members with the ACE Mentor Program of America. ACE volunteers are paid for 50 percent of their participation hours – an average of 15 per year – with the remainder a contribution of their personal time. With a change to remote programs in 2020, our employees were able to continue to serve as mentors throughout the pandemic.
Charitable contributions includes all payments in each year coded as “donations” in our accounting system. This includes annual contributions – such as those to the Thornton Tomasetti Foundation – and donations by our offices to local charities, which vary from year to year. The overall trend is toward increasing philanthropy, but in 2020 spending was reduced because of the pandemic.
2020 Year In Review: Community Service
2020 Year in Review: Charitable Giving
2020 Year in Review: Thornton Tomasetti Foundation