April 19, 2022 By Olivia Pozder GlobalFoundries (GF) strongly believes in the power of philanthropy and is proud of its history of community involvement on the global and local level. GF’s giving program, GlobalGives, is a truly global program that provides our company and our employees an opportunity to pursue philanthropic causes. GlobalGives exemplifies what is at the heart of GF’s philanthropic commitment – our employees and the desire they have to enable a positive social impact. Support for employees’ passions is a key characteristic of GF’s philanthropic programs and efforts. “I am most proud of the response GlobalGives gets from our employees,” said Mike Cadigan, Senior Vice President of Customer Design Enablement at GF and executive sponsor of GlobalGives. “It is very rewarding to see the deep employee engagement in supporting these initiatives and the overall level of caring across the company.” What is GlobalGives? Companywide efforts to give back are driven by employees’ desires to contribute to the local communities in which GF operates. This strong culture of philanthropic giving paved the way for the creation of the GlobalGives program in October 2016. At its launch, the GlobalGives program served as a way for GF to quickly respond to disasters around the globe and enabled employees to donate to causes about which they were passionate. It did not take long to see how this new program would be an asset to company giving. A week after launch, GF leveraged the newly established program to quickly respond to Hurricane Matthew and provide relief to those in need. In addition to the $5,000 corporate seed donation, GF employees raised $21,513 to help victims in the wake of the destruction. The success of this initial campaign illustrated early on that our employee dedication and enthusiasm would guide us toward the GlobalGives program we have today! Kim Shinmoto Kim Shinmoto, Director of Employee Communications at GF, leads the GlobalGives team and has seen how the employee passion that fueled the program launch six years ago continues to thrive today. “Starting as a grassroots program by a few employees, the feature offering and employee participation continues to grow year over year. It’s truly an honor to drive a program that is so deeply rooted in the hearts and minds of the GF community,” she said. GlobalGives and GF’s Role in the Community Mike Cadigan Cadigan and Shinmoto agree that GF has a responsibility to be a good neighbor and good corporate citizen, including leading by example and enabling a culture of giving. “We take our role in the community very seriously, serving the needs of our employees, their families, and neighbors the best we can,” Shinmoto said. “It’s one important way we can show appreciation and respect to the communities in which GF has a presence.” Mike Cadigan echoed this sentiment, adding that the imperative for community involvement stems from the role that GF plays as a major employer in those areas. “It’s important to our employees, so it’s important to the company too,” he said. “GF is proud of its employees and surrounding communities, and strives to show appreciation by supporting our neighbors.” By enabling a culture of giving, GF encourages employees to take an active role in their communities and continually looks for opportunities to further support employee enthusiasm for giving. Cadigan said he believes that creating a giving culture includes seeking new ways to encourage involvement and make the program more inclusive. He sees it as one aspect of GF’s responsibility to its employees. “We have a responsibility to our employees to provide them with the things they need to succeed at work as well as to support the giving culture that they desire,” he said. COVID-19 Relief In January 2020, GF expanded its GlobalGives program, investing in an employee matching program to further support employee community efforts worldwide. Little did GF realize the vital role the new program feature would play in helping communities across the globe respond to the COVID-19 pandemic that was soon to follow. GF’s response to COVID-19 made clear the GlobalGives program’s ability to implement a coordinated, global response at the local level. Since the effects of COVID-19 were felt differently across communities, GF’s localized relief strategy ensured that company efforts delivered the largest possible impact based on regional needs. With the financial support of GF and a special 200% matching campaign, each global GF site determined the best way to support their community during this time of incredible uncertainty, focusing specifically on food insecurity, humanitarian needs, health, education, and community development. By the end of 2020, GF and its employees had collectively donated $2.2M in relief through the GlobalGives program. GF also allocated its reserves of personal protective equipment (PPE), including masks, to an employee-directed donation program to meet the needs of healthcare workers and first-responders in the region. In total, GF enabled employees to donate over 80,000 masks to at-risk people in their communities. Encompassing More Through Inclusivity and Employee Connection GlobalGives grew from employee demand, focusing on causes that were important to GF team members, and the program has evolved to continue driving this sense of inclusivity. To further embrace what it means to “give,” GF this year launched volunteer matching for those who want to give their time to the causes they are passionate about. As anticipated, employee response has been extremely strong. “Volunteer matching is a way for us to make GlobalGives even more inclusive by creating opportunities to recognize employee giving, whether individuals choose to donate money or their time,” Shinmoto said. The value placed on employee feedback supports connection and inclusivity. “Employees see GlobalGives as their program, which it really is,” Cadigan said. “Employees are excited to share what they care about, and to make suggestions of what causes and giving efforts that GlobalGives should help support. They also share ideas for how GlobalGives as a program can continue to improve. We encourage those suggestions, respond to them, have dialog around them, and quickly move to enable. This approach enables the agility of GlobalGives by providing a local focus and regional perspective on global causes and issues. Shinmoto agreed that the connection with employees and focus on inclusivity are key to the program’s success. “Many GlobalGives campaigns originate from an employee request or are shaped by their inputs and feedback,” she said. “Their perspectives help inform the campaigns we launch, the regions we support, the causes we select, and the program features we offer.” A Growing Program GF’s inclusive culture has helped shape the causes GlobalGives pursues. As a semiconductor company, one of GlobalGives’ early areas of focus included supporting science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programs. STEM remains a priority for GF today – the STEM@GF educational outreach program continues to grow in scope and size – however, GlobalGives has increasingly focused on a wider and more inclusive range of causes, including greater alignment with GF’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) efforts. In 2021, GlobalGives started working closely with GF employee-led Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) to support causes and initiatives chosen by the ERGs. Through this partnership, ERGs have been able to leverage the GlobalGives platform in support of causes important to each group, and GlobalGives has been able to further its goal of providing a structure for GF and employees to make an impact through philanthropy. ONEGF GlobalGives is defined and shaped by its grassroots origins, growing participation, employee enthusiasm, and the ability to deliver on both a global and local level. Underlying all of this, Shinmoto said, is another characteristic that makes the program unique. “GlobalGives is truly global in nature, connecting employees across the world to something bigger and to each other,” she said. “It’s incredible what we can accomplish working together as ONEGF.” GF is proud of how the GlobalGives program has grown and of the employees whose commitment and passion have made it what it is today. GF is excited to see how the GlobalGives platform will continue to grow and provide more opportunities for employees to give back. Click here to learn more about GlobalGives and the causes it supports.
