Take a Stand: Blog from Verizon Foundation's President

This post is from the Verizon Responsibility Blog from Rose Stuckey Kirk, president of the Verizon Foundation.

It’s not easy to stand up and do something; it’s even tougher to take action.  However, action is needed to make change and that’s what was discussed at a panel the 2012 CECP Corporate Philanthropy Summit yesterday in New York City.

I was joined by senior leaders at Chevron Corporation, Hilton Worldwide and Fenton Communications to discuss the challenging societal issues that our companies each address.  From ending domestic violence to human trafficking and HIV/AIDS, we have all made significant commitments and have made tremendous results over the years.

We discussed the course and decisions that led to us wanting to make change and collectively agreed that for other companies – large or small – to take a stand, the issue need to align with your business objectives and it’s imperative that you are able to measure your impact in the community.  Additionally, the societal issue that a company takes on needs to pivot to the impacts to the company’s employees and workplace.

Here at Verizon we have tackled a number of issues, specifically our Foundation helps people to live healthy, safe and independent lives by addressing disparities in education, health care and sustainability.  We have been bringing awareness of the issue of domestic violence and over the last decade, working to end, educate and help prevent it.

It started out with an act of kindness just to donate voicemail boxes and wireless phones to victims of domestic violence and it grew from there.  Did it make business sense?  Absolutely!  Are our employees engaged and doing their part to collect used phones, devices and more?  Yes, working together with our employees we are proud to take on this challenging societal issue.

Are we courageous?  We all are, if we just take a stand and do something.  Please don’t ever be a silent bystander.

To learn more about the work of the Verizon Foundation visit http://www.verizonfoundation.org/.