Organization Social Initiative

Organizational Social Initiative

ETH/316 Ethics and Social Responsibility

December 9, 2013

The organization that is the subject of this paper is The Hershey Company. They have dedicated several web pages exhibiting their involvement in the community of Hershey, Pennsylvania to include their corporate social responsibility (CSR) scores. The scorecard shows their performance on their material issues and progress toward their targets and goals for the fiscal year 2012, which is also the calendar year, January 1 to December 31, 2012.

Involvement and Responsibility

The Hershey Company's involvement and responsibility to the community are reflected by their employee giving and volunteerism, corporate contribution of time and expertise, as well as corporate philanthropy. Their focus of their philanthropic efforts are on non-profit organizations that support kids and kids at risk. They do this to follow the legacy of the founder of the company, Milton Hershey.

["Our deep commitment to running a responsible, sustainable business and contributing to society traces back more than a century to the values and vision set by our founder, Milton Hershey. I am proud of our many meaningful accomplishments during the past few years; but we recognize that this is a journey. The new goals we have set for ourselves are fundamental to our business strategy and linked to how we will grow our business around the world."]

John P. Bilbrey, President and CEO, The Hershey Company

The Hershey employees give their time, expertise, and money generously worldwide to a variety of organizations. Current and retired employees support many different causes including food banks, educational programs, environmental organizations and the United Way partner agencies. Jeanne Cashman a marketing manager at Hershey says "I realize I cannot save the world but I can make a difference in my community with my time, referrals, resources, and donations" ("The Hershey Company Community Outreach", 2013). This seems to be the outlook of the employees from every level.

Corporate philanthropy supports numerous nonprofit organizations. In their "Dollars for Doers" program, the company donates $250 to the charity of an employee's choice if they participate in 50 hours of community service over a one year period. They make product donations to the U.S. military to friends and family of employees serving overseas. Since the program began they have sent 1,320 cases of products. Two of Hershey's key partners in the community are the United Way and the Children's Miracle Network. Other organizations supported