2001 - 2002 Winners

SBC Communications Inc.

SBC Communications Inc. is being recognized for its Supplier Diversity Program. SBC has long recognized the importance of diversity in the supply chain and for more than 30 years, has aggressively pursued continued diversification in its marketplace. In 2001, SBC spent $2.8 billion with women-, minority- and disabled veteran-owned businesses-23.5 percent of all spending and the company's highest percentage of diversity procurement to date.

SBC is committed to setting clear, aggressive supplier diversity goals, having executive leadership and accountability, employee involvement, and implementing best practices throughout its supplier diversity program. Best practices include:

• The assignment of Supplier Diversity Business Development Managers to each of SBC's cross-functional sourcing (purchasing) teams.
• The Prime Supplier Participation Program, which encourages prime vendors-those with contracts over $500,000-to include diverse businesses in their supply chains.
• Special loan programs such as SBC's founding sponsorship of the California Economic Development Lending Initiative (CEDLI)-a multi-bank community development corporation that makes loans to small businesses and provides financing outside of the normal bank lending practices.
• Educational initiatives such the founding sponsorship of UCLA's Management Development for Entrepreneurs Program and scholarships for diverse suppliers to the Amos Tuck School's Minority Business Executive Program at Dartmouth College, the Community Minority Business Advancement Program at the University of Texas, and the Advanced Management Education Program at Northwestern University's J.L. Kellogg Graduate School.
• Free e-commerce training seminars and organized business-to-business forums to close any digital gaps looming on the horizon for women-, minority- and disabled veteran-owned businesses, ensuring that they are not left behind in the current digital revolution.
• Recognition of SBC's outstanding business partners with its annual Supplier Diversity Awards Program.

SBC's supplier diversity efforts are part of the company's holistic approach to diversity, complemented by the company's initiatives to promote a diverse workforce and philanthropic outreach to organizations supporting diversity.

The Timberland Company

The Timberland Company is being recognized for its Path of Service program. As part of its commitment to making a difference by actively contributing to its community, Timberland employees are given the opportunity to spend up to 40 hours of paid time per year to participate in community service activities.

The Path of Service provides Timberland employees the opportunity to experience the power of working together for positive change by volunteering in communities worldwide. Employees have contributed over 200,000 hours toward improving and strengthening the lives of people in the communities where they live and work. In addition to strengthening communities, working with each other outside of the office builds the company's teams and provides a fresh perspective to bring back to Timberland.

Timberland's Path of Service program began in 1992 with 16 hours being granted to each employee. Currently, immediately upon hire, full-time employees receive up to 40 hours of paid community service time per calendar year and part-time employees get 16 hours per year. Employees may choose to use all or part of their individual service time for company-sponsored service activities.

Today, the Path of Service program is the cornerstone of Timberland's community investment. Its employees have contributed over 200,000 total hours of service around the world. That commitment has benefited over 200 community organizations in 13 countries, 26 states and 73 cities. Departments and cross-functional teams utilize their service hours to build team and morale, improve communication skills and discover unique and hidden assets of colleagues. Individuals utilize their hours to develop a skill, find motivation and spend valuable time in the community. Nearly 95 percent of employees use their Path of Service benefit, and an overwhelming majority cite it as one of their top two Timberland benefits.

A major component of the Path of Service happens one day each year when Timberland closes for service. It is a day of service and celebration called Serv-A-Palooza, which was introduced in Timberland sites worldwide as part of their 25th anniversary celebration in 1998. Timberland celebrated with service days in Europe and Asia and capped it off with over 1,000 people participating throughout southern New Hampshire in over 25 community projects. In 2002, over 1700 employees, business partners and customers will come together to serve their communities in 21 countries around the world including Russia, Italy, Ecuador, Lebanon and South Africa.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Wal-Mart Stores' simple philosophy is that each store should be a pillar of the community as well as a pillar of commerce. Founded in 1979, The Wal-Mart Foundation's Good.Works. community involvement programs have raised and contributed more than $1 billion to benefit both local and national charitable organizations and worthy causes. With a commitment to philanthropic leadership centered on local communities, the company's associates work to improve the quality of life in each community by supporting local education initiatives and scholarships; family health and welfare needs, particularly youth; economic and workforce development programs; environmental issues; volunteerism; and community-based 501(c)(3) organizations.

Local stores are empowered to make their own decisions about supporting local community organizations, making the company's ongoing community involvement efforts easier to manage, feasible for stores to implement largely on their own, and sustainable for the company to coordinate and fund year after year. Local store managers and community involvement coordinators are "community ambassadors" and this local connection enables Wal-Mart's charitable giving efforts to address key hometown needs. For example:

• The Community Matching Grant Program is the largest program funded by the Good. Works. program. Last year, Wal-Mart and SAM'S CLUB associates raised and contributed more than $71 million to 40,000 community organizations, including public schools, churches, libraries and other charitable organizations.
• Wal-Mart's corporate sponsorship of the Children's Miracle Network, raised more than $221 million for local CMN-affiliated children's hospitals over the last 14 years.
• In a joint effort called "Together We Stand," Wal-Mart and SAM'S Club associates, together with customers, raised and contributed an impressive $15.2 million to support the victims of the Sept. 11th tragedies and their families. The company is also contributing $1 million to UNICEF to support the children of Afghanistan.
• When an associate volunteers a minimum of 15 hours per quarter under the Volunteerism Always Pays (VAP) Program, the Wal-Mart Foundation contributes $100 to the organization in the name of the volunteering associate. Year-to-date through August 2001, the company has awarded more than $1 million in Volunteerism Always Pays grants to non-profit organizations.
• Code Adam became one of the country's largest child safety programs when it was implemented in all Wal-Mart and SAM'S CLUB facilities in 1995. Wal-Mart associates in Indiana created the special program that issues an alert over the public address system when a customer reports a child missing in a Wal-Mart store. Thanks to a series of workshops by Wal-Mart and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), other retailers have been taught how to implement this in-store safety program. Code Adam is now used by other retailers at more than 16,000 locations nationwide.
• In 1995, Wal-Mart associates in Indiana created Code Adam, a special program that issues an alert over the public address system when a customer reports a child missing in a Wal-Mart store. Thanks to a series of workshops by Wal-Mart and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), Code Adam is now used by other retailers at more than 16,000 locations nationwide.
• Since 1996, more than 1,800 missing children have been found, 50 as a direct result of Wal-Mart's Missing Children's Network bulletin boards displayed in Wal-Mart and SAM'S CLUBS.