WASHINGTON -- The National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC) and Points of Light, the nation’s definitive experts on civic engagement, today opened The Civic 50 for 2013, an initiative to identify the 50 most community-minded companies in the nation. Through August 16, S&P 500 companies can complete a comprehensive survey at www.Civic50.org. Responses will be used to generate an overall composite score around civic engagement, resulting in a rank ordered 1-to-50 list. Bloomberg, The Civic 50’s media partner, will publish the results in late fall 2013.

At a time when corporate social responsibility is increasingly important to both employees and consumers, The Civic 50 ranking measures corporate civic engagement nationwide and showcases companies with best practices. It creates a roadmap for companies seeking to best use their time, talent and resources to improve the quality of life in the communities where they do business. Top-ranked companies for 2012 included IBM, Citigroup and AT&T.

“The National Conference on Citizenship is proud to continue The Civic 50 program,” said Michael Weiser, NCoC Board Chair. “By highlighting the 50 most community-minded companies, the National Conference on Citizenship is encouraging other companies to count community engagement as one of the essential elements to being a world-class organization.”

“Points of Light believes in the power of volunteerism to transform communities and change lives. Companies are an influential force in finding new ways to build and strengthen their communities,” said Neil Bush, Board Chairman, Points of Light.

“The Civic 50 shows that good corporate citizenship is good for business. The challenge is in how you do it. This ranking highlights the practices of top performers by recognizing how they tap their strengths and their employees to make a difference in local communities," says Norman Pearlstine, chief content officer of Bloomberg and chairman of Bloomberg Businessweek. “As companies increasingly look for ways to strengthen ties with all stakeholders, we hope this can become a valuable guide.”

The survey instrument consists of quantitative questions and qualitative responses for richer analysis. A cross-sector team of independent qualitative evaluators will review qualitative responses and help identify case studies and best practices that should be highlighted further. To calculate a corporation’s score, points are accrued in the following dimensions: Civic Commitment, Strategic Resource Allocation, Business Integration, Company Policies, Social Value Measurement and Business Value Measurement.

To learn more about The Civic 50, as well as the importance of civic engagement in corporate America, please visit www.Civic50.org.

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Contacts:
Leona Hiraoka
Lhiraoka@pointsoflight.org, 202–729–8148

Ilir Zherka
IZherka@NCoC.net, 202-303-2431