The Academy for Educational Development (AED) awarded Pitney Bowes Inc. its annual “corporate exemplar” award for the company”™s support of philanthropic causes, including the Pitney Bowes Literacy and Education Fund.
Based in Stamford, Pitney Bowes sells and manages mailing systems in corporate facilities. The company is among the largest employers in Fairfield County with 3,000 workers, though it has made significant cuts in its local work force in the past few years.
Through the first three quarters of 2008, Pitney Bowes reported a $346 million profit on $4.7 billion in revenue.
Pitney Bowes donates about $5 million annually through various charitable vehicles, with the literacy fund getting about 30 percent of that amount in a given year. Â In 2005, Pitney Bowes donated $1 million to Junior Achievement to support JA America Works, a program to teach middle-school students about how business contributed to the nation”™s development in the 19th century.
In the first year, more than 30,000 students participated in JA America Works, according to Kathleen Ryan-Mufson, director of corporate citizenship and philanthropy at Pitney Bowes.
More often, the Pitney Bowes funds make relatively small disbursements to charities in Connecticut, as well as Appleton, Wis., Spokane, Wash. and Washington, D.C. As the case with Junior Achievement, however occasionally Pitney Bowes will reach deeper into its pockets for a worthy cause. For instance, in the 2007 fiscal year Pitney Bowes committed $200,000 to the creation of the Connecticut Science Center, slated to open in Hartford next year.
