Embracing new ways to care for our communities

Every September, across the world, we place a special focus on community service, charitable work and volunteering as part of Global Caring Month. 

In previous years, our volunteers stepped up to plant gardens, clean and renovate shelters, and stock shelves at food pantries, among many other hands-on projects. But this year is different, with the COVID-19 crisis bringing new challenges and limiting social contact.

So, we’ve introduced two new initiatives – Acts of Kindness and Gratitude Grants – designed to engage our employees and non-profits or non-governmental organisations in strengthening communities and making people’s lives better around the world amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gratitude Grants are grants of up to $5,000 for non-profit or non-governmental organisations nominated by our employees in recognition of the important work they’re doing in response to COVID-19. Acts of Kindness is an encouragement for our employees to help friends, neighbours or families in need by performing an act of kindness – big or small. Whether calling to check in on someone who lives alone, donating blood, volunteering virtually or performing some other deed.

By submitting a photo of themselves doing good, they’ll receive a $15 gift card – in recognition of the 15th anniversary of the Ford Volunteer Corps (our network of employees and retirees who have contributed more than 1.4 million volunteer hours since 2005) – that can be used to support their choice of one of thousands of vetted charitable projects in more than 160 countries.

These are just the latest ways to help others we’ve embraced since the COVID-19 pandemic started six months ago . The COVID-19 Donation Match programme supported the relief efforts of 47 community organisations in 20 countries. Surpassing its $1 million goal, the programme raised more than $633,000 in individual contributions that were then matched by $500,000 from Ford Fund and personal contributions from our Executive Chairman Bill Ford.

Ford Fund also created a Read and Record virtual volunteering project that invited our volunteers to read children’s books in their own language for families to listen to when schools shut their doors and went to remote learning at the end of the 2019-20 school year.

Now, as the world continues to cope with new realities brought on by COVID-19, our volunteers are working closely with non-profits to carve a new path for what community service looks like moving forward. 

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