Community and Society: The Americas
Charitable Giving and Volunteering
Americas Employee Matching Gift Program
The Americas Employee Matching Gift program allows our people to multiply their personal contributions to civic and charitable causes with funds donated by the company. Contributions to qualifying tax exempt organizations are matched up to a total of $250 per employee in each calendar year.
The program is expanded when tragedy strikes: the maximum limit is suspended, so that employees wishing to contribute to emergency causes like tsunami or hurricane relief efforts can do so without affecting their contributions to the groups they already support.
Jones Lang LaSalle Charities
In the Americas, Jones Lang LaSalle Charities, a tax exempt entity, allows us to collect tax deductible donations from employees, aggregate them and direct them for charitable purposes.
In recent years, the program has raised money for relief efforts for the tsunami, the China earthquake and Hurricane Katrina.
The Chicago Civic Committee: Supporting the Chicago Community
The Chicago Civic Committee supports our global headquarters area by coordinating volunteer activities for our local employees. In 2008/2009 the Chicago Civic Committee coordinated employee volunteers in support of:
§ American Cancer Society
§ American Diabetes Association
§ American Heart Association
§ Blind Service Administration
§ The CARA Program
§ Step Up for Kids Program
“The Changing Our World” bike team, created by the Chicago Civic Committee, included 15 riders that made an important contribution by participating in the American Diabetes Association’s (ADA) Tour de Cure in 2009. On two Chicago-area rides, teams of colleagues, family members and friends raised $8,650 in contributions for the ADA’s fight against diabetes.
The American Cancer Society's "Walk & Roll" event is one of four key programs that the Chicago Civic Committee is supporting in 2009. To spur participation, the committee creates friendly competitions between different business firms within the Chicago office. The committee also works to promote a high attendance rate among employees at the event. In 2008, the company raised more than $18,000 through this event. In 2009, before adding matching contributions from the company’s Employee Matching Gift program, $14,000 was raised.
To support both the American Cancer Society and the Cara Program, the Chicago Civic Committee combined these two philanthropic efforts into a single program. The group supported the American Cancer Society’s “Daffodil Days,” in which employees and their friends and families are encouraged to purchase daffodil bulbs, with the proceeds going to the Cancer Society.
Supporting the United Way in Boston
In November 2008, a group of Jones Lang LaSalle employees in Boston was honored by the United Way for being one of the largest donor groups in the organization’s 2008 real estate campaign. Our team raised more the $100,000 for the charity, exceeding its 2007 results by nearly $20,000.
Supporting the Hoop Dreams Scholarship Fund
Public Institutions team members in Washington, D.C. participate in the Hoop Dreams Scholarship Fund for economically disadvantaged high school students in the area. Each volunteer mentors a student to help him or her prepare for the transition from high school to college. The group also participates in an annual basketball tournament to raise funds for the program.
Assisting New Orleans Recovery
During a regional meeting in New Orleans in March 2008, the Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels Americas team devoted a half day to take part in the city's rebuilding effort of the Musicians’ Village in New Orleans’ 9th Ward. Partnering with Habitat for Humanity and Projects with Purpose, the team volunteered three hours to frame eight sheds behind a row of homes in the Musicians’ Village. The sheds will provide storage for sports and yard equipment. 90 Hotels employees devoted a total of 270 hours to project.