What dollars can do

The Employees Community Fund is not just about dollars. As shown in these profiles, it's about what those dollars can do in the community.

BY SUSAN BIRKHOLTZ

A man at the end of his rope finds sobriety, a paycheck and a new outlook on life at a St. Louis-based homeless service agency.

A therapeutic riding center in Washington state helps a 12-year-old boy with cognitive and physical disabilities develop new skills, new confidence and new friends.

At-risk children have a place to call home on 125 acres just outside Mesa, Ariz.

A Houston-based nonprofit organization helps cancer patients, their families and friends cope with the emotional ravages of cancer.

What do these stories have in common? Answer: These organizations are among the many beneficiaries of The Employees Community Fund of The Boeing Company, the largest employee-directed fund of its kind in the world. Founded in 1947, the Fund currently operates in 67 Boeing sites in the United States and 13 locations internationally. Since 1998 alone, employee contributions have totaled more than $240 million, averaging $33 million a year.

However, The Employees Community Fund is much more than just a pool of money. Rather, it represents hope and opportunity for the countless people whose lives are being changed every day through the services of the 4,000-plus nonprofit organizations the Fund supports annually in the United States and around the world.

"If we think only about dollars, we're really missing the point," said Pam Drew, vice president and deputy for Airborne Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance in Integrated Defense Systems. Drew is ECF's executive ambassador for 2005.

"ECF has always been about what those dollars can do, the impact they can make, in the communities in which our employees live and work. And the more dollars, the greater the impact," Drew said.

Drew noted that in most locations, employees can contribute as little as $5 per paycheck.

"It doesn't matter if you can only contribute the minimum amount," Drew said. "Every contribution adds up."

In fact, Drew said that if the 55 percent of the employee population that does not currently give to ECF would contribute just $5 per paycheck, the total Fund would increase by $10 million annually.

"That's why we say that there's strength in numbers with ECF—we're stronger together than we are alone," she said. "And it's that kind of strength that can and does change lives through the organizations the Fund supports."

Boeing covers all associated costs for administrating the Fund so that employee contributions can have the greatest impact possible on the community. One hundred percent of employee dollars go to community nonprofit organizations, either at the direction of the local ECF board or committee or via personal designation by the employee.

"In this way, Boeing is supporting ECF so that it can support the community, via whatever nonprofit organizations the employee or the local board or committee sees fit to contribute to," said Drew. "It's Boeing's commitment to the community and to its employees, and that commitment will continue."

While May 2-5 marks the 2005 annual fundraising campaign for ECF, Drew pointed out that employees can begin contributing to ECF—or increase the level of their contributions if they already are a member—any time during the year.

"The money that employees contribute to ECF impacts the nonprofit organizations we support all throughout the year, so it's never too late or too early to become involved," Drew said.

Along with employee volunteerism and corporate community investments, ECF is an integral part of Boeing's identity as a good corporate citizen and neighbor, Drew said.

"It ultimately doesn't matter how or through what means we give back," she continued. "The important thing is that we do, whether we do it as Boeing employees or private citizens. The positive impact on the community is the same. The person whose life is changed through an organization we support—be it through ECF, company contributions or volunteering—doesn't see the difference. Helping others, changing lives, is really what it's all about."

susan.l.birkholtz@boeing.com