The Amcham Foundation

The vision statement of the Amcham Foundation has undergone several refinements over the years but its direction has remained the same.

Vision:

-To become an institution that encourages American business in social responsiveness to contribute to the welfare of society.

Mission:

-To serve the needs of the ACCP member companies in “doing good and looking good” by providing the projects and events to

a) Encourage more members to be involved in CSR work
b) Help in administering their CSR work
c) Recognize them when they do an excellent job

Values:

• Promote the idea that good CSR work and community development is good business policy and provide recognition for CSR best practices of member companies
• Provide ACCP member companies a forum to showcase their best CSR activities and community development
• Collaborate with ACCP member companies in developing, promoting, and administering some of their CSR programs when necessary
• Modernize our operations through the use of new technology (on line donation, SMS, computerization of data, etc.)
• Provide member companies and their employees the benefit of working with ACFPI whenever possible (volunteers for education)
• Train, develop, and recognize our employees; they are the keys to the foundation’s success
• Continue to build our endowment fund through “friend raising” projects and events to assure the sustainability of our operations

Amcham Foundation Achievements

Our achievement in almost three decades has been to position Amcham Foundation as the organization that helps companies in facilitating philanthropic work and in communicating the contribution to social development of many of the Amcham member companies.

In the area of education, where many of the members companies of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines had provided money to support the tuition fees of students or the workshop expenses of participants, the Amcham Foundation has supported many students and participants over the years.

School
Year -------Total

2011 ------36
2010 ------43
2009 ------36
2008 ------42
2007 ------59
2006 ------88
2005 ------126
2004 ------180
2003 ------82
2002 ------204
2001 ------217
2000 ------138
1999 ------135
1998 ------38
1997 ------14
1996 ------210
1995 ------10
1994 ------11
1993 ------10
1992 ------10
1991 ------51
1990 ------30
Total ------1,770

Our objective is to increase the number of scholars that we can support to no less than 100 every year

Some of the additional programs that we have provided for the scholars are the following:

1. Psychosocial Activities
- Monthly activities and workshops on personality enhancement, values formation, time management, and other areas that encourage scholars to take more responsibilities for their own development and growth.

2. Reproductive Health
- Monthly sessions conducted by selected peer educators, who are also scholars of the Amcham Foundation themselves trained for the job, to help the current scholars understand their own sexuality and how they can take care of themselves

3. English Proficiency Training
- Free training for all the Amcham Foundation scholars to improve their English language skills. The program consists of three phases: pronunciation, English idioms, and writing.

4. Participating in AmCham’s Business Orientation Program which invests in the
country’s most qualified youth leaders by offering them an opportunity to gain
new understanding of key global business and economic issues. The one-week
intensive program empowers the young leaders through site tours and in-depth
discussions with management professionals from a wide spectrum of leading
multinational companies in Manila.

Since 2007, the Amcham Foundation has been holding regular CSR Forums for member companies in order to feature the work of selected member companies and exchange ideas on CSR best practices.

2007
March 27 – Operationalizing CSR
June 22 – Role of the Business Sector in the Millennium Development Goals
September 7 – Building Employee Volunteerism

2008
August 12 – Your business & the environment
Sept 30 – Corporate Social Responsibility in Global Health
November 7 – Livelihood Connection

2009
June 10 – Leveraging Resources & Value of CSR during financial downturn
August 12 – Enhancing Corporate involvement in Disaster Management

2010
April 26 - Toward Safer Cities & Earthquake Preparedness
August 25 – Disaster Preparedness & Climate Change
Sept 12 – Crisis Management & Business Continuity

2011
March 29 – Preparing to the La Nina Year & The Big One

For 2012 we are organizing a regional conference in partnership with BCLC of the US Chamber of Commerce, CNDR, and MAP on Business Continuity and Community Resilience. The conference will consist of presentation by experts in the field, panel discussions and participation from the audience.

In the same year, the Amcham Foundation established the Amcham CSR Excellence Awards to recognize member companies who had done well in the Philippines and who had done “good” in their community. The award is divided into the following categories:

1. Education
-School building programs, student scholarship, teacher training, and book donations, etc.
2. Health
-Wellness programs, disease control, etc.
3. Environment/Habitat
-Infrastructure programs, land degradation control, pollution control,waste treatment, climate change, transportation, housing programs, etc.
4. Livelihood/Social Issues
-Employment programs, family planning, poverty alleviation, gender
equality, etc.
5. Peace
-Programs in areas of conflict.

Since 2007, the winners in the Amcham CSR Excellence Awards were the following:

2007
Health: Sitel Philippines
-Our Health, Our Wealth Program
Education: Coca Cola
-The Little Red Schoolhouse Project
Environment: Quezon Power
-Environment Component of Quezon Power s Sustainable Development Program
Livelihood: Philam Foundation
-The Goodwell Fund

2009
Health: Dole Philippines
-The Banga Pinoy: Ferrocement Water Tank Community Water System Project
Education: McDonalds
-Bright Minds Read
Environment: Calenergy
-Build Our Forest, Build Our Future
Livelihood: Chevron
-Kabataan at Pamilya Tungo sa Ikauunlad ng Dangal
Peace: Quezon Power
-Livelihood Program: Casignay 1 Multi Purpose Cooperative Inc.

2011
Health: Nu Skin
-Nu Heart, Nu Life
Education: IBM
-Computer Eyes
Environment: IBM
-Greener and Safer Philippines
Livelihood: Dole
-Crates for Trees
Peace: Johnson & Johnson, Special Recognition
-Early Childhood Growth and Development in Conflict-Affected Areas

We have also launched an Annual CSR Photo Contest and Exhibit for the Amcham member companies who are engaged in community work so that we could hold a public exhibit, at Glorietta 5, of the work that they do and the results were as follows:

2009
Health: Citi
-Lugaw
Education: Navitaire-Accenture
-I can show you the world
Environment: Chevron
-Caltex Good Roots
Livelihood: Ford Philippines
-Ford Bayanihan

2010
Health: Nu Skin
-Nourish the Children Feeding Activity with Vita Meal
Education: Globe Telecom
-Improving Quality and Access to Education
Environment: Quezon Power
-Tree Planting at the QPL Eco Center
Livelihood: Dole Asia
-Seeds of Hope
Peace: Globe Telecom
-Sagot Ka Ni Kap

2011
Health: Pilipinas Shell
-Movement Against Malaria
Education: Chevron Geothermal
-Busog, Lusog, Talino
Environment: Dole Stanfilco
-Coastal Clean Up
Livelihood: Chevron Geothermal
-Pottery Making
Disaster Risk Management: Dole Philippines
-Fire Drill
Peace: Dole Philippines
-Growership Program

YKL Color Laboratories in the Philippines, the official photo printer of the Amcham CSR Photo Contest and Exhibit, had been very generous in sponsoring the printing of the photo entries of the Amcham member companies for free and had even donated an expensive DSLR camera as a raffle prize at the launching of the project.

In disaster relief operations we have mobilized the resources of the American Chamber members and helped typhoon victims.

Typhoon Ondoy & Peping (September 2009)
-Cash Donation P1,077,612
Sing $ 4,757
US$ 25,424
-Number of donors: 43
-Number of beneficiaries: 4,532 families
-Affected areas: Taguig, Metro Manila
Los Banos, Laguna
Sta Rosa, Laguna
Licab, Nueva Ecija
Benguet, La Trinidad
Baguio City
La Union
Ilocus Norte

Typhoon Pedring, Quiel, and Ramon (October 2011)
-Cash Donation: P 518,450
-Number of donors: 35
-Number of beneficiaries: 1,000 families
-Affected Areas: Calumpit, Bulacan
Hagonoy, Bulacan
Candaba, Pampanga

Typhoon Sendong (December 2011)
-Cash Donation: P434,034.50
-Number of donors: 17
-Number of Beneficiaries: 300 families
Affected Areas: Cagayan de Oro

In the recent projects that we have administered for Philip Morris, we had done the following:

2011
Community Activities -Water tank project for Muntinglupa Bilibid Prison
Disaster Relief Operations
1. Typhoon Pedring
-Areas: Camarines Norte, Albay, and Sorsogon, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, -Baler, Marikina, Zambales, Bataan, Navotas, Malabon, Valenzuela, Bulacan, Isabela,
-Number of beneficiaries: 6,000 families

2. Typhoon Sendong
Area: Carmen, Agusan, Balulang, Iligan, Mandumol, Bulua, Canitoan, Bonbon, Kauswagan, Iponan, Bulao

Number of beneficiaries: 16,000 families

2012
Turnover ceremonies of the water tank project at the Muntinglupa Bilibid Prison with Senator Chiz Escudero and Chris Nelson
January 9, 2012


Current Situation

The current trends that we think will impact our work in the future are as follows:

• Increasing government and non-government organizations drive for improvements in the population health, education, livelihood, and environmental conditions
• Growing awareness of companies for the need to exercise Corporate Social Responsibility to avoid regulatory sanctions, negative publicity, and possible future costs.
• Information revolution that extends the reach of everyone globally
• Global financial crisis affecting the ability of business organizations to support traditional foundation programs
• Corporate scandals and the growing skepticism of the public toward corporate press releases
• Consumers and bloggers have new ways to voice their opinions which often times remained unanswered

The American Chamber Foundation of the Philippines has gained enormous experience in the field of community service and in advocating the value of corporate gift giving and service. It has helped American Chamber members gain good will and has gained the trust and confidence of its member companies in doing so.

Long-Term Objectives the American Chamber Foundation of the Philippines

As we continue to gather data about the CSR activities of our member companies we hope to be able to put together an opportunity map that can identify common areas of interest where member companies could work together to produce greater impact or more lasting results.

Plans

The Amcham member companies continue to support the Amcham Foundation work, in addition to their own CSR work in their particular field on interest. Some of the most active sponsors are the following:

-Quezon Power (Philippines) Ltd. Co.
-Peninsula Manila
-Goodyear Philippines, Inc.
-Oakwood Premier Ayala Center
-Ford Group Philippines
-Abbott Laboratories
-Zuellig Pharma
-Philip Morris Philippines Manufacturing, Inc.
-Asian Tigers Lane Moving Manila
-Bellevue Manila
-Carepak Moving and Storage
-Executive International Movers, Inc
-Coca Cola Far East Limited
-Smith Bell & Co., Inc.
-Belrewmond Trading, Inc.
-Flour Daniel
-Chevron Philippines, Inc.
-Coca Cola
-Mead Johnson
-Hanes
-3M
-Hawaiian Airline
-All Asian Countertrade, Inc.
-Delta
-Intel Technology Philippines, Inc.
-CB Richard Ellis, Philippines, Inc.
-Avaya Philippines, Inc.
-American Eye Center
-Belmont Agricorp
-S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc.
-Anflo Management & Investment Corp.
-CalEnergy International, Ltd.
-Philippine Sundt Construction &
Dev’t. Corp
-Watercare Marketing (Phils.)
-Clorox International Phils., Inc.
-Eagle Point Resort
-PepsiCo, Inc.
-Heinz UFC Philippines, Inc.
-Wyeth
-Fedex
-Dow Chemical
-Avis


We will continue working closely with these companies and also a few individuals who we were not able to list due to limitation of space

We will also continue to look at our own operation to ensure that we are operating efficiently as an organization. We will continue to provide training to our staff because we know that our success depends on them

Since education is very important in the progress and development of the Philippines, the American Chamber Foundation will continue to raise funds to make sure that we are able to help poor but deserving students.

We will encourage our member companies to continue exchanging CSR best practices through our regular CSR Forums. And whenever possible network with other American Chambers around the world to gain insights in new developments regarding CSR.

We will also continue providing public recognition to our member companies by holding the Amcham CSR Excellence Awards every two years and publish the winners in the Amcham Business Journal and in our own website and Facebook account. And because of its growing popularity, we will continue to hold an annual CSR Photo Contest & Exhibit among of our member companies and display the winning entries at Glorietta 5 which has become the official venue for the photo exhibit.