Charitable efforts, being an active member of the community, and encouraging volunteer efforts among employees are all aspects of corporate citizenship.
This year”™s inductee to the Business Council of Westchester Hall of Fame for Corporate Citizenship, Entergy Nuclear Northeast, embodies all of those qualities, said The Business Council President and CEO Marsha Gordon.
“The corporate citizenship award recognizes contributions to the community and to businesses in the community,” she said. “Entergy, certainly by the dollars they give and their general support of community organizations, made them the clear winner.”
Gordon said the company”™s support of nonprofit organizations in the county is a prime reason for its selection into the Hall of Fame.
“It”™s the support of all the different sectors of nonprofit, such as social services and the arts,” she said. “Not only are they involved in a financial way, but employees and management serve as resources.”
The company has a committee that meets four times per year to issue grants to different nonprofits in the community. It gives out about 30 grants per year, usually totaling around $250,000, said Laurie Sheldon, communications specialist with Entergy.
Some recent nonprofit organizations that have been the beneficiary of grants are the American Heart Association, the Boys and Girls Club of Northern Westchester, and the Easter Seals. Easter Seals used the money to rebuild an old playground on its Valhalla campus.
Entergy also puts sponsorship dollars into arts and entertainment events, such as the Westchester Philharmonic concert series, said Sheldon.
One of Entergy”™s major contributions to the local arts community was providing money to renovate the old Paramount Theatre in downtown Peekskill.
The company has donated more than $200,000 to the theater over the last several years, for renovation projects including repainting and restoring the theater”™s historic ceiling, and putting in a new marquee and new stage curtain, said Sheldon.
Entergy continues to provide funding for ongoing programming at the theater, she said.
The company also donates money to different community organizations to help them put on galas or other formal events.
“We”™re really proud about that,” she said. “We want to be a good neighbor and these things are important to us.”
Besides providing funding for community organizations, Entergy also encourages its employees to take part in volunteer efforts.
The company has a program called “community connectors” that gives employees money to donate to a charity of their choice, based on how much volunteer work that employee does.
For each 20 hours of volunteer work and employee logs, Entergy will donate $250 to the charity of his or her choice, she said. There is a limit of 750 hours per year an employee can accrue for this program. Twenty-five employees took part in the program over the last year.
Sheldon said the company greeted the Hall of Fame designation as “wonderful news. We”™re being recognized as a do-gooder and that”™s great,” she said.
The Business Journal is profiling the five Hall of Fame winners. Last week, Co-Communications in Mount Kisco was profiled as the Small Business Success Award winner.
