FedEx Corp. and The Rockefeller Foundation, each applying core competencies, are heralding initiatives addressing critical community needs throughout the world.
FedEx has just announced a new global giving program, FedEx Cares, in which it will invest $200 million in some 200 global communities by 2020 using its “operational strength and business expertise to address social challenges.”
The new FedEx program to strengthen communities is centered on its Delivering for Good commitment: “Using the company’s global network to deliver resources where they are needed most in times of disaster and for special shipments.” In addition, FedEx Cares will focus on sustainable transportation, employment pathways for young adults in underserved populations, road safety initiatives and global entrepreneurship advancing women and minority-owned small businesses.
The program complements a well established global volunteer program. In 2015 some 17,000 FedEx team members took part in community service programs.
For its part, The Rockefeller Foundation recently released a report on progress of a U.S. national community improvement program it helps fund. Headlined,”The New Wave of Public-Private Partnerships Helping Communities Rebuild Better“, the report says the program’s central objective is to “help communities and states rebuild better in the face of climate change and other shocks and stresses, and shift the way federal disaster recovery dollars are deployed.”
The shift is essentially preparation for potential natural disasters. For example, as a winner in the related National Disaster Resilience Competition, New York City is receiving $176,000,000 toward building the “Dryline”, a coastal protection system that integrates retail and recreational space in lower Manhattan.
The foundation provided $11 million for such NDRC/Rebuild by Design programs.