General Mills Honored as 2019 Halo Award Winner
General Mills was named the 2019 Gold Halo Award winner in the ‘Best Employee Engagement-Skilled Volunteering Initiative’ category
MINNEAPOLIS, June 4, 2019 /3BL Media/ – General Mills was named the 2019 Gold Halo Award winner in the category of Best Employee Engagement-Skilled Volunteering Initiative for its founding partnership and continued impact to support African food companies through Partners in Food Solutions (PFS).
General Mills founded PFS in 2008 as an employee volunteer program within the company to address one of the world’s greatest challenges – chronic food insecurity in Africa – in a new and lasting way.
Since Partners in Food Solutions began, more than 500 General Mills employees from 13 countries have volunteered 40,000 hours to more than 160 African food companies to help improve the quality, nutrition and supply of food locally produced across the African continent.
Today, PFS is an independent nonprofit and consortium of six world-class food companies whose employees and retirees volunteer by providing virtual expertise to PFS clients in Africa, who are small and growing food companies across Africa. Collectively, the corporate partners supporting PFS have nearly 700 years of food knowledge and tens of thousands of employees whose expertise and wisdom are helping to advance the African food system.
“On behalf of the many General Mills employees who have volunteered for Partners in Food Solutions, it’s an honor to accept the Gold Halo Award for our work founding PFS and helping it grow into a highly impactful global nonprofit,” said Nicola Dixon, executive director of the General Mills Foundation. “By sharing their expertise, our employees are strengthening hundreds of African food companies who are expanding access to safe, nutritious and affordable food for millions of people. We are grateful that PFS enables our employees to make this extra impact in the world while gaining such valuable experience.”
About the Halo Awards
The Halo Awards, presented by Engage for Good, are North America’s highest honor for corporate social impact initiatives and cause marketing and are presented by Engage for Good. This year marks the 17th event in which Engage for Good honors businesses and nonprofits with Halo Awards for ‘doing well by doing good.’
“The Halo Awards were created nearly two decades ago to publicly recognize best in class corporate social impact programs. This year’s winners are a wonderful representation of the effective and innovative ways companies and causes can work together to build a better world and the bottom line,” said Engage for Good President David Hessekiel.
A total of 24 category awards were awarded to the best cause marketing campaigns of 2018 at the 17th Annual Engage for Good conference in Chicago.
A list of the Cause Marketing Halo Award finalists can be found at http://www.engageforgood.com/halo-awards.
About General Mills
General Mills is a leading global food company that serves the world by making food people love. Its brands include Cheerios, Annie's, Yoplait, Nature Valley, Häagen-Dazs, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Old El Paso, Wanchai Ferry, Yoki, Blue and more. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, General Mills generated fiscal 2018 proforma net sales of U.S. $17.0 billion, including $1.3 billion from Blue Buffalo. In addition, General Mills' share of non-consolidated joint venture net sales totaled U.S. $1.1 billion.
About Engage for Good
Engage for Good, producer of the Engage for Good conference and Halo Awards, helps business and nonprofit executives succeed together by providing practical information and inspiration, opportunities to build valuable relationships and recognition for outstanding work engaging employees and consumers around social good and cause-related marketing efforts.
A wealth of information on cause marketing, corporate social impact programs and Engage for Good’s offerings can be found at http://www.engageforgood.com.
About Partners in Food Solutions
Partners in Food Solutions, a consortium of leading global food companies - General Mills, Cargill, Royal DSM, Bühler, The Hershey Company and Ardent Mills - is working to strengthen food security, improve nutrition and increase economic development across Africa by expanding and increasing the competitiveness of the food processing sector. We link corporate volunteers from our world class corporate partners, who share their expertise with promising entrepreneurs in eleven African countries.
