Providing a culture for our employees that is in alignment with our values is critical for Cone. We accomplish this in several ways: First in our dedication to living our values every day in the way we work with each other; and second, in our offering an extensive and structured employee volunteer program that we call “Hours for Good.”
“Hours for Good” is Cone’s active commitment to strengthen our communities and enhance the capacity of nonprofit organizations to achieve their social missions.
Through “Hours for Good,” the Cone team applies their expertise and lends resources to our communities in the following ways:
-
Hour Time – Each Cone employee is encouraged to spend up to four hours a month volunteering for a personal project on company time – one of the industry’s most robust volunteerism policies.
-
Hour Teams in Action – Cone regularly undertakes a company-wide community service project to meet a local need.
-
Hour Counsel – Throughout the year, Cone team members provide professional counsel to select nonprofits, lending their Cause Branding and marketing communications expertise for key issues or small projects.
-
Hour Goods – On a regular basis, Cone collects office supplies and donates them to a recycling center for Boston public schools.
-
Hour Voice – Each year, Cone shares its research and expertise with nonprofit and business audiences in Boston and around the world, guiding them to action.
-
Hour Connections – Cone maintains memberships and relationships with leading community service organizations, including President Bush’s Business Strengthening America (BSA), Business for Social Responsibility (of which Cone is a founding member), Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship, and the Corporate Volunteer Council of Greater Boston (CVCGB).
Over the years, we have participated in large-scale company-wide volunteer efforts as a way to make significant contributions to our community and as team-building activities within Cone. Among the projects we have undertaken, we:
-
Financially sponsored and helped to build a Habitat for Humanity house in a Boston community.
-
Spent a day working in a community farm and an elementary school in one of Boston’s poorest neighborhoods.
-
Donated nearly $60,000 in staff time to help Cradles to Crayons, a nonprofit dedicated to homeless children, raising over $1 million through an event with President Bill Clinton.
-
Went “back to school” and worked with the Boston Renaissance Charter School, the largest charter school in the state. Cone employees visited 29 different classrooms, painted flower pots for an upcoming Mother's day gift project sponsored by Cone and read aloud to the students.
