All children deserve the chance to grow into healthy, educated and productive members of society no matter where or when they are born. But with almost half of the world’s youth not completing or having access to secondary education and only 4.5 percent of world GDP dedicated to education, the need for additional educational capacity and appropriate programs is enormous.


As a global leader in helping businesses communicate more effectively, Pitney Bowes has a vital interest in literacy and education. We also believe that by supporting literacy and education programs, we can improve countless lives, strengthen the fabric of our communities and help build a strong competitive workforce for the future.


How can companies like Pitney Bowes make a difference? Given the scale of the challenges, we believe the best way is through partnerships with outstanding nonprofits at the local, national and global levels. Through such partnerships, we have helped deliver demonstrable benefits to our communities, our young people and our workforce.


Each year, Pitney Bowes grants approximately $1.4 million to literacy and education organizations, with a particular focus on improving access to books, closing the achievement gap and preparing people for successful employment.


Last year, we made literacy and education grants to 50 organizations in the United States. Our grants typically focus on communities where we have a presence and where the population is underserved or at risk. Many of the programs we support focus on children aged 3 to 12 from pre-kindergarten through elementary and middle school. We support school-year enrichment initiatives such as Head Start, mentoring and after-school homework support, as well as summer learning opportunities to help consolidate gains made during the school year and minimize losses over summer vacation. We also support programs at the high school level and beyond, including mentoring, job training and ESL and GED courses.


In addition, we are increasingly leveraging our products, services and expertise for the benefit of these programs through in-kind donations and skills-based volunteerism. In 2012, organizations received in-kind corporate donations totaling $562,000. Meanwhile, employees invested their skills and expertise through more than 80,000 cumulative hours of hands-on and skills-based volunteerism at every level from tutoring and mentoring activities to strategic nonprofit board involvement.
Employees throughout the company are passionate about this commitment, as many of the examples in this section of the report demonstrate.


Our major philanthropic partnerships include

  • Read to a Child - Project LEAP (Literacy Enhancement Action Plan), supporting local and regional affiliates as well as national mentoring programs for low-income elementary students
  • National Center for Family Literacy - programs that help parents and children learn together
  • National Literacy Trust (U.K.) - receives funding raised through the Pitney Bowes Pushing the Envelope Campaign, an annual auction of artwork designed by celebrities and executed on envelopes
  • National Urban League - youth education programs
  • Network For Teaching Entrepreneurship - middle school summer camps and a high school competition to help young people from low-income communities build entrepreneurial skills and launch businesses
  • Reading Is Fundamental - early literacy support for children and caregivers through family literacy events, activity guides, lending libraries, and book distribution

More children in more places learn to Share the Message: Read!
Year after year, we continue to broaden and deepen our partnership with Reading Is Fundamental, the largest children’s literacy nonprofit in the United States. Pitney Bowes Chief Financial Officer Michael Monahan serves on RIF’s Board of Directors, leading a team of employee volunteers that now numbers nearly 800. Joint activity with RIF peaks in April during our annual Global Volunteer Month, when employees turn out for dozens of "Share the Message: Read!" events spanning not only the United States, but also selected cities in Australia, Canada, India and the United Kingdom. During the past three years, the program has served more than 10,000 children and their families, using a variety of enrichment activities to awaken them to the pleasures of reading and motivate them to keep on reading throughout their lives. In the photos: scenes from 2013 "Share the Message: Read!" events include employee volunteers and students at Shelter Rock Elementary School in Danbury, CT, and volunteer teams in Detroit, MI, and Troy, NY.

 

 

 

 

Pitney Bowes funds Young Readers program at three U.K. schools

A grant from the Pitney Bowes Foundation brought books and crafts along with employee volunteers to support 99 children at schools in Harlow, Watford and Manchester under the National Literacy Trust’s Young Readers program last year. The program, modeled on Reading Is Fundamental in the United States, encourages children and young people in disadvantaged communities to read for pleasure by providing books and challenges tailored to the individual interests of each child. The decade-long partnership between Pitney Bowes and the National Literacy Trust has yielded more than £100,000 in support of child and adult literacy programs throughout the United Kingdom.




Pitney Bowes continues support for A Billion + Change

The Washington, D.C.–based A Billion + Change campaign, managed by the Points of Light Institute, seeks to mobilize billions of dollars of pro bono and skills-based service by encouraging businesses to inspire their employees to apply their professional talents to community issues. Since 2011, Pitney Bowes has been a Billion + Change Pledge Company, reinforcing its commitment to skill-based volunteerism and honoring the many Pitney Bowes employees who regularly donate professional services to educational and charitable organizations. In 2012, the aggregate value of that volunteerism passed the $2 million mark.