Over 7,300 community projects supported by US companies in Ireland last year
Ireland leads the way in terms of volunteer participation across Europe, and is well above average in terms of civic engagement, social support networks and trust in institutions, according to new figures.
A new report from the American Chamber of Commerce has highlighted the positive social impact of US investment in Ireland, with around 7,300 community projects across the country last year.
The figures show that 52,150 staff at US companies gave over 603,237 work supported volunteer hours, on initiatives in the areas of education, sport, health, STEM, culture, homelessness, social justice and inclusion.
The report also shows that, of the 700+ US companies with operations in Ireland, 69% of them had corporate social responsibility programmes, 61% support individual employee volunteering and 66% had formal budgets for such programmes. Similarly, the majority of companies supported youth-related projects as well as publishing corporate social responsibility statements.
US companies are increasingly active in seeking partnerships with organisations at the heart of local communities, like the GAA, CoderDojo, Junior Achievement and Young Social Innovators.
Bob Savage, President of the American Chamber of Commerce, says: “We are delighted to see the progress being made by US companies operating in Ireland in the area of corporate social responsibility. The figures are very significant […] I believe [it] reflects the growing importance that companies are placing on corporate social responsibility generally.”
