IBM will today allow the company’s employees, retirees, clients and business partners to donate their time and expertise during the company’s Centennial year. A large number of the company labour will go towards volunteering in more than 5000 projects in 120 countries in community service. This will be done as a celebration of the company’s 100 years as a corporation. (Wow! IBM is that old!!) They intend to share skills to make an impact on communities around them.
The IBM Celebration of Service spans more than 120 countries where IBMers live and conduct business. Today, June 15, is the day before IBM officially recognizes its founding 100 years ago, and culminates months of volunteering with an official IBM Centennial Day of Service.
A selection of IBM Celebration of Service volunteer activities on June 15 include:
- Chairman and CEO Sam Palmisano will teach a classroom of middle school students in his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland about science and math through a discussion around Watson, the computer system that IBM invented which triumphed on the popular TV game show Jeopardy! ;
- In Nigeria, IBM employees will mentor 100 small businesses for 100 days using the SME Toolkit to coach entrepreneurs on various areas of business ranging from how to write a business plan, sales and marketing and small business accounting. Each entrepreneur also will have a “meet the mentor” session where IBM volunteers will help them achieve business goals;
- In New Zealand, IBMers will work with Age Concern to assist senior citizens in using mobile phone technology to help prepare for emergencies such as natural disasters, earthquakes or personal health issues;
- In Turkey, IBM will host a ‘volunteer marketplace’ for 600 employees, bringing together 21 leading NGOs to discuss and initiate skills-based volunteering projects. Some projects include reading and book recording for the blind and an introduction to science and technology for middle school students.
- In Uruguay, IBMers will mentor young Uruguayans from impoverished neighborhoods to help them find their first jobs by partnering with NGO Projoven through the National Institute of Employment and Vocational Training.
- Together, IBM and its client Citigroup are partnering to improve literacy and technology awareness. In Mexico, with The Hunger Project, the companies are leveraging an IBM Reading Companion project to help reduce the level of illiteracy among the indigenous population which will improve their overall quality of life.
- In New Jersey in the United States, 100 IBMers will come together to support Newark, New Jersey Mayor Cory Booker, the city’s Chief Service Officer and local schools through multiple activities both inside and outside the classroom with the theme of having fun with math and science.
- In China, IBMers will collaborate with the Wuhan Municipal Government, business partners and NGOs to build a “City Cloud” computing platform. Through the platform, Internet of Things and cloud computing technologies will be used to commemorate the cultural heritage of the Xinhai Revolution (1911 uprising that overthrew the Qing Dynasty). This is the first time that historical and humanistic elements have been integrated in the construction of a Smarter City as a part of diversified city development.
- In multiple locations throughout India, local IBMers will host science fairs to promote and demonstrate the importance of science to more than 1,000 school children.
The corporation will also donate volunteer activity kits like solar car experiment, clean water project and a children’s’ internet safety kit. The kits have how-to instructions on how to implement a volunteer activity in the community, get more details here.
