Employees in Cisco Civic Councils worldwide plan local volunteer projects, develop partnerships with NGOs, identify opportunities for product and cash grants, and solicit feedback from Cisco nonprofit partners to monitor the effectiveness of social programs.

Here are some examples of Cisco Civic Councils at work in China, India, Ireland, and the United Kingdom:

• Eight years ago, Cisco employees donated time and money, matched by Cisco Foundation funding, to build classrooms, playgrounds, and other facilities for the students of rural Huachangyu in Hebei Province in northeastern China. Since then, employees have helped build five elementary schools in rural China with direct involvement, cash contributions, and Cisco Foundation funds. In FY08, 580 students ages 5 to 12 attended the four schools that have been completed.
• Last September, as part of a pilot program to encourage employees in emerging countries to contribute, Cisco lowered the level at which Cisco matches employee donations in India from $50 to $12. As a result, donations rose from 12 in the interval between 2005 and October 2007 to 1268 donations between November 2007 and January 2008, a hundredfold increase. This year, $151,000 in employee donations were matched by $141,000 from the Cisco Foundation and $129,000 from the Morgridge/Tosa Foundation. The $421,000 total went to the Akshaya Patra Foundation to provide a midday meal every day for one year to 10,700 children within a 10-kilometer radius of Cisco’s Bangalore campus.
• During an Ashwini Charitable Trust community service day, the India Civic Council donated and installed a library system and computer network. It also held a Kids Teach Kids day in April 2008, during which children of Cisco employees taught first-generation learners at Ashwini how to use the Internet. In addition, a video essay contest invited these children to learn digital technology and create videos that were posted on YouTube.
• About 100 Civic Council volunteers in the United Kingdom and Ireland engaged in a variety of activities with over 300 school children, including mentoring, training in basic IT skills, engaging in Cisco TelePresence sessions with students in the United States, and organizing Enterprise/Business Days when students come to Cisco to learn about our company, engage in business tasks, and give presentations. More than 20 Cisco U.K. volunteers helped organize a variety of events for Sport Relief 2008, one of the biggest fundraising events in the U.K. More than 1000 employees participated in these events, raising £38,500 ($66,714).

Cisco Citizens in the Silicon Valley Civic Council were also active on many fronts:

• Cisco Citizens partnered with Second Harvest Food Bank in a “Share Your Lunch” program that provided more than 26,000 meals to low-income children during the summer months when they do not receive government subsidized meals at school.
• Silicon Valley Civic Council received a commendation by the City of San Jose for Project Homeless Connect, an event that brings together residents without permanent housing and local service providers under one roof. Cisco employees provided hands-on services to homeless clients, such as helping them to fill out forms, to take care of their medical and dental needs, and to renew identification cards. The employees also provided networking infrastructure support for the program.
• Cisco Citizens partnered with Habitat for Humanity to coordinate a “Cisco build day” and our first campus “2"x4" Campaign,” in which Cisco employees from the San Jose campus purchased lumber and used it to build homes for needy families. The employees were invited to write well-wishes on the boards they purchased.
• Cisco Citizens helped sponsor the American Diabetes Association’s Tour de Cure bicycle ride, which contributed to $100,000 in donations, an increase of almost 500 percent over last year’s campaign.
• The Council received a “Corporate Citizen of the Year” award from the City of Milpitas. The city cited the Family Giving Trees annual campaigns, specifically the Backpack Drive, in which employees cover the cost of students’ backpacks and supplies to prepare them for the school year, and the Holiday Drive, in which employees contribute gifts to children, seniors, and homeless in the area.