Ford Volunteer Corps

In addition to the financial contributions made by Ford and Ford Motor Company Fund and Community Services to hundreds of organizations globally, thousands of Ford employees and retirees volunteered to help build stronger communities around the world in 2010.

Volunteerism has been an integral part of Ford Motor Company since its creation in 1903. Today, we help build communities by leveraging the volunteer muscle of Ford employees and retirees around the world.

Even in difficult economic times, we believe it is important to help the communities in which our employees work and live. Volunteer efforts help to build the morale of our employees. There’s a strong business case for volunteerism, too: our volunteer projects help to strengthen the name of Ford and enhance purchase consideration for future buyers.

The Ford Volunteer Corps comprises salaried employees and retirees across six continents who work to strengthen their communities. Ford Motor Company offers its U.S. salaried employees two workdays per year to volunteer in the community. Employees form “MODEL Teams” and volunteer to help nonprofit organizations. In 2010, more than 27,000 Ford employees and retirees in 41 countries provided more than 112,000 hours of volunteer time for their communities, or the equivalent of $2.25 million in in-kind corporate contributions.

In 2010, Ford held five “Accelerated Action Days” – concentrated one-day efforts to meet critical needs identified by our agency partners. Each has a special focus, such as families and children or the environment. Ford volunteers are mobilized into MODEL Teams that are matched with local social service agencies requesting their help. These daylong service programs benefit shelters and schools, children’s homes, soup kitchens and parks and playgrounds, to name just a few. More than 60 community organizations shared $236,000 in mini-grants to support volunteer projects (i.e., purchasing the paint and lumber needed to perform a project).

Software designed and launched by the Ford Volunteer Corps aligns our volunteer projects with the needs of nonprofit organizations across the U.S. Using this system, employees can go online to sign up for volunteer projects based on their interests and availability. In prior years, our volunteers would essentially tell the nonprofit organizations when we would provide hands-on assistance, without fully assessing when would be the best time for them. Now, our nonprofit partners can tell us when they need help and what manner of assistance they need. In 2010, the software was upgraded to help us expand our volunteer programs to other regions, strengthen data-collection capabilities and enhance the employee user experience.

In 2010, Ford held its fifth annual Global Week of Caring, a weeklong series of volunteer events around the world, coordinated by the Ford Volunteer Corps. During one week in early September, more than 12,600 Ford employees in 41 countries contributed more than 46,000 hours of their time to over 200 volunteer projects.

During the 2010 Global Week of Caring, participants built homes, cleaned nature preserves, wildlife refuges and beaches, and fed the hungry, to name just some of the efforts. Ford retirees participate side-by-side with current employees on these volunteer projects.