Corporate Citizen Welcomes Amy Buchan as Vice President of Strategic Alignment

Phoenix, AZ. – March 19, 2013 – Corporate Citizen, a unique firm specializing in aligning non-profit social enterprise with business strategies in the private sector, announced today that Amy Buchan has joined the company as the Vice President of Strategic Alignment.

Buchan has over 11 years of experience in the sports industry as well as for a Fortune 500 corporation. Buchan will provide her knowledge of leveraging collaborations for a greater impact, event management, aligning partnerships between the public and private sectors, and public relations.

“Amy’s expertise and dual perspective is a perfect fit for our team,” said Kari Yatkowski, Chief Navigator with Corporate Citizen. “Her corporate social responsibility experience with the Arizona Diamondbacks, Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority and Apollo Group compliments her proven track record of fundraising and capacity building for non-profits in the valley and across the country.”

Buchan’s community involvement includes the executive committee for Valley Leadership’s board of directors, Suns Charities 88 founding member, Heart Ball committee and founding member of Valley of the Sun United Way’s Generation United committee. She is a graduate of Arizona State University with a degree in Journalism with an emphasis in Public Relations and a minor in Communications.

About Corporate Citizen

Corporate Citizen is a highly specialized firm that provides expert capacity building and engagement strategies for both the private sector and non-profit organizations that increase shared value for the organization, their stakeholders and the communities they serve. This dual perspective strengthens brand worth, leverages new and existing alignments and increases impact through proven methodologies that integrate business principles with social initiatives. Corporate Citizen helps businesses recognize that social responsibility is a critical component of a sustainable business plan by creating a culture of good citizenship. For more information, please visit the firm’s web site at www.corporatecitizen.biz.

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Media Contact:
Kari Yatkowski
602.538.7050
kari@corporatecitizen.biz

Three truths must be considered when creating social investment strategies:  You must be honest about your core values;  You must be honest about what social initiatives you wish to engage;  and you must be honest about the impact you seek to make in the community.  By engaging the truth,  companies will create authentic and integrated strategies that have integrity and in turn your stakeholders will trust.

ALIGN:  Connect the Right Partnerships. 

Authentic alignments must happen up and down the shared value chain.  Whether you are aligning internal partnerships within your company or supply chain or external partnerships with your customers, investors or the community, they must be strategically and dynamically managed.  It is CRITICAL to shift the emphasis from merely informing stakeholders to ENGAGING them. This creates  better business opportunities for widening your audience and opening dialogues that deepens understanding and trust.

Ignite: Leverage the right strategies

Creating mindful strategies is just the beginning.  You must leverage those strategies to create business returns which will  create enormous opportunities for innovation, reduced costs, brand worth,  market longevity, and  improved employee recruitment and engagement.  It boils down to  a short-term view vs. a long-term view.  Ask yourself….would you rather be “Silly Bands” a toy that was here today, gone tomorrow with opportunistic  profit taking– or Legos, an enduring brand which is consistently profitable and has endured for generations. Leveraging the right strategies and you will go beyond charity, philanthropy or simple compliance.

IMPACT:  Create the Right Social Change

Businesses can employ their impact to create social change while creating new business opportunities around basic human needs.  We see this in  5 major sectors:  health and wellness;  wealth and income creation  among low economic sectors; earth and environmental issues; equality and civil society; and trust and safety.  By driving social innovations companies can improve the triple bottom line through real, effective business strategies.

Propagate:  Spread the Right Word

Now you have identified your core values, aligned your partnerships, leveraged those strategies and created impactful change….DONT STOP THERE!  Tell your unique and compelling story.  By passionately propagating the message you will activate further engagement, create new giving and resources where before there was none and most importantly created measurable and impactful change.  It’s your story to tell. Corporate Citizen can help you share it with the world!

 Shared Values. United in Reponsibility.  

Molson Coors is poised to grow and take its place as a top-performing brewer in today’s global beer business. Our shared values of Integrity and Respect, Quality, Excelling, Creativity and Passion drive our decisions and our actions as we work to make our mark on the world. They make corporate responsibility part of everything we do.

“For us, it starts with ethical performance and treating our employees, our customers, and all of our stakeholders with integrity and respect.”

- Peter Swinburn

•It means brewing quality products that are marketed and sold responsibly, for legally-aged adults to drink and enjoy responsibly.

•It requires us to carefully consider environmental stewardship in all of our operations and our packaging.

•We support the development, engagement and health of our employees, and invest in the communities where we live and work.

•And we’re striving to extend these best practices throughout our supply chain, from grain to glass.

We take seriously the challenges that go hand in hand with our business, so these commitments are embedded in all of our business strategies, in every market.

The following is an article written by Jason Saul and Cheryl Davenport in CR Magazine expands on how to measure the results from doing meaningful business: http://www.thecro.com/content/measuring-r-cr.

TRUST:  Engage the Right Priorities
Be honest about your core values; be honest about which social initiatives you wish to engage; be honest about the impact you seek to make in the community.

ALIGN:  Connect the Right Partnerships.
Align your relationships up and down the shared value chain.  Shift the emphasis from merely informing stakeholders to engaging them.

IGNITE: Leverage the right strategies
Create mindful strategies and leverage them to create business returns and opportunity for innovation, reduced costs, brand worth, market longevity, and improved employee recruitment and engagement.

IMPACT:  Create the Right Social Change
Improve your triple bottom line through real, effective business strategies driven by social innovations in 5 major sectors:  Health; Wealth; Environment; Civil Society; and Safety.

PROPOGATE:  Spread the Right Word
Tell your unique and compelling story. Activate further engagement, create new giving, and create measurable impact.

Contact:

Crissy Saint

Social Media/Communications Manager

crissy@mmidentitylab.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

CORPORATE CITIZEN LAUNCHES TO ALIGN BUSINESSES WITH COMMUNITY

Scottsdale, AZ (January 10th, 2011) – Corporate Citizen, a company focused on aligning corporate values with community needs, will host a private launch party on January 12^th, 2012 at Clayton in the Park in Scottsdale. An informal speech will be given by founder, Kari Yatkowski, in which the vision of the company will be shared with CEOs, VICCs (Very Important Corporate Citizens), and Executive Directors of non-profits here in the Valley and beyond.

“The disconnect that currently exists between corporations and their supporting communities is evident,” says founder Kari Yatkowski, “Corporate Citizen aims to mend this separation and break down the myths that often prevent corporate executives from taking their corporate responsibility to the next level to leverage their company values and business goals.”

Corporate Citizen is working to advise companies and non-profits on how to create shared value that not only has a lasting impact on the community, but is transparent to the true stakeholders involved. We have reached a point where Corporate Responsibility is no longer an option, but an expectation, and companies of all sizes are struggling to successfully meet the demand.

The Corporate Citizen event and future award ceremony will be held annually with a mission of bringing together corporate citizens (and aspiring corporate citizens) who are interested in creating shared value and leveraging social strategies in the name of good business.

Get involved with Corporate Citizen on twitter: @CorpCitizn to stay abreast of what they are accomplishing and to follow the upcoming unveiling of their website.

About Corporate Citizen:

Corporate Citizen brings knowledge and experience from both sides of the non-profit relationship to redirect the social and business value of corporate philanthropy. This dual perspective ignites a synergy that creates a maximized impact for the broader community and meets corporate goals. Corporate Citizen helps businesses recognize that social responsibility is a critical component of a sustainable business plan by creating a culture of good citizenship.

The Corporate Social Responsibility Awards are the only national honor celebrating corporate social responsibility, in which corporations successfully demonstrate that altruism, philanthropy and employee commitment to “do good” can go a long way towards making an impact on a community, key stakeholders and a company’s bottom line.

After discovering that very little corporate giving goes to community colleges, Avnet worked with Maricopa Community Colleges, the largest community college system in the United States, to create the Avnet Tech Games and provide students with an opportunity to showcase their talents, gain experience outside the classroom and receive greatly needed scholarships.

“Avnet has a history of good corporate citizenship, including a well-established community affairs program focusing on education and children’s issues – although it has long supported primary and secondary education as well as Arizona State University, the Avnet Tech Games presented an opportunity for us to help an underserved population within education,” said Al Maag, chief communications officer at Avnet. “By persuading others within the business community to get involved, we were able to make the Avnet Tech Games a much bigger event – and help more students in the process. Avnet is pleased to be recognized by PR News for its efforts, but even more pleased to have made a difference for Maricopa Community Colleges.”

Excerpt from Avnet Press Release written by Michelle Gorel

Myth # 1: Philanthropy is the main component of Corporate Responsibility.

Truth: Corporate Citizenship should be measured by its ability to create shared value, not just social benefit.

Myth #2: Social Initiatives aren’t relative to the brand experience.

Truth: Referencing a company’s products and services is at the center of the corporate responsibility. Own it. The best social programs directly reflect who a company is and what they do.

Myth #3: Social goals detract from economic ones.

Truth: Effective social strategies can increase brand worth, differentiate businesses from competitors, improve productivity, reduce costs, and lead to positive economic and social returns for all stakeholders invested.

Myth #4: Stakeholders aren’t paying attention.

Truth: Stakeholders expect socially responsible practices – they also expect transparency. Business partners, shareholders, employees, and citizens are demanding more and better reporting on the impact of corporate citizenship.