Employee Giving & Volunteering
Supporting and empowering employees to make a difference in their communities is part of Ball’s culture and a foundational component of Ball’s corporate citizenship program. Employees are encouraged to share their time and expertise across the world with many nonprofit organizations. In North America alone, Ball employees log more than 35,000 hours of community service each year. In fostering a culture of volunteerism, employees in the U.S. and Canada can track their volunteer hours and earn $20 per hour to be donated to the charity of their choice. A website is available for employees to find volunteer opportunities, create their own projects and track their volunteer hours. While employees can support any nonprofit, many support Ball’s key strategic initiatives in support of disaster relief, STEM education, recycling and food security. Collectively, Ball employees’ contributions make a great impact in local communities, contribute to individual development and drive overall employee engagement.
Ball Community Ambassadors Volunteerism Program
As part of Ball’s culture of volunteerism, the Ball Community Ambassadors volunteerism program encourages employees in the U.S. and Canada to support causes that matter most to them. Ball employees also have the potential to engage colleagues in volunteerism and to play a key role in enhancing partnerships in the communities where they live and work. In addition to financial support of volunteer hours, Ball matches up to $5,000 per employee per calendar year for qualifying nonprofit organizations.
Altogether, employee donations and the company match averages more than $2.5 million annually. Employees also log more than 35,000 hours of volunteer service annually.
Community in Action
Food security is a key focus area for Ball's community engagement efforts because it is closely tied to the business. Canned food provides safe, nutritious food to those who need it. Ball conducts an annual North America-wide canned food drive. Employees donate nearly 270,000 pounds of canned food and raise more than $330,000 and Ball matches, which provides more than 1.5 million meals to those in need in the communities where Ball operates in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
The food collected – combined with employee donations, The Ball Corporation match and The Ball Foundation's dollar per pound match of food – benefits l nonprofit organizations that help provide and improve local access to sufficient food resources for individuals and families in need.
“Ball employees are committed to helping ensure that everyone in their communities has access to nutritious food,” said Chris Chavez, director of global corporate citizenship for Ball Corporation. “Canned food provides safe, nourishing and easy-to-prepare nutrition to those who need it. We are proud that Ball and its employees will have such a positive impact in the areas where they live and work.”
All Ball locations in Canada, Mexico and the United States participate in the Let’s Can Hunger campaign.
Plant Participation in Community Programs
Ball plants and employees around the world contribute to their communities financially and through volunteering their time. Ball’s plants also donate their time to local causes such as community clean-up events (e.g., employees in Bellegarde, France, cleaned five miles of the Valserine river banks) and education (e.g., employees at our Velim, Czech Republic, plant supported a local environmental education fair in collaboration with the environmental agency). Ball Aerospace has supported programs such as FIRST Robotics (For Inspiration and Recognition in Science and Technology) through donations and employee volunteering annually. The program gives student teams the opportunity to design and build complex robots working side by side with Ball’s high-tech professionals. In addition to acquiring hands-on engineering skills, students gain self-confidence along with leadership and teamwork abilities.
IMPACT 2030
Since 2015, Ball Corporation has partnered with IMPACT 2030, a business-led effort with the goal to enhance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through corporate employee volunteerism. Three of the 17 SDGs (zero hunger, quality education, responsible consumption and production) are directly tied to Ball’s key focus areas and Ball employee volunteering programs. By partnering with other community-minded businesses, civil society, academia and philanthropic organizations, IMPACT 2030 will provide Ball with advanced tools to engage global employees in volunteer work and better measure the impact of volunteer efforts.Community in Action
In addition to The Ball Foundation grants, Ball employees volunteer thousands of hours for hundreds of vital causes across North America.
"Ball Corporation continues their long tradition of corporate responsibility and community leadership,” said Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper. "Colorado is indeed fortunate to have such corporate citizens at the core of our community. They are truly a leader."
