Corporate Community Impact Award
The Corporate Community Impact Award recognizes a corporation that uses the power of sports to help advance a social issue, cause or community organization. This may include: • A cause marketing campaign to raise funds or awareness for a charitable organization • Sponsorship of a league/team's community program • A community relations/corporate citizenship program that uses sports to advance a nonprofit's mission
The company is creating both social and business value through sports.
2021 Corporate Community Impact Award Winner
Microsoft
The abrupt onset of the COVID-19 pandemic created many challenges, including loneliness and isolation, which was especially felt by those with intellectual disabilities (ID). According to recent data released in March from Jefferson Health, people with ID were 2.5 times more likely to contract COVID-19, were about 2.7 times more likely to be admitted to the hospital and almost 6 times more likely to die from the infection than the general population. As a long standing partner of Special Olympics, Microsoft recognized that meaningful engagement was desperately needed as in-person events were cancelled, and launched the 2020 Special Olympics Xbox Virtual Gaming Event featuring Forza Motorsport 7 to bring athletes together virtually to connect and compete. The event was livestreamed on Xbox, YouTube, Twitch and Mixer, and engaged athletes from 11 state Special Olympics Programs garnering more than 118,000 views from cheering fans. The event showcased a custom-skinned Special Olympics race car and the first-ever Special Olympics award ceremony stadium in Minecraft that was gifted to Special Olympics for future events. This event showcased the positive impacts of gaming by creating meaningful connections, while spreading the message of inclusion to a global audience by celebrating people of all abilities.
Past Winners
2020: Burton Snowboards
In the United States there is a vulnerable segment of youth who do not have access to outdoor opportunities, and consequently limits their ability to access experiences beyond their own challenging environments and step away from their daily norms. The Chill Foundation was founded by the owners of Burton Snowboards, Donna Carpenter, and the late Jake Burton Carpenter. Chill was created to provide access to boardsports for youth who would not otherwise have the opportunity, providing them year-round programming to snowboarding, skateboarding, surfing and stand up paddleboarding lessons at no cost. The youth-development program also addresses the inequalities around access to boardsports, as well as the potential for personal growth and development, while focusing on the resiliency of the participants to help them transfer many of their new skills and ideas to different circumstances they may face. Through Chill, boardsports have become a vehicle for self-empowerment and overcoming obstacles for more than 25,000 young people since the program started.
2020 Finalists
Anthem Foundation
Nike
Peach Bowl
2019: Under Armour
Under Armour was named the winner of the Corporate Community Impact Award for creating Building Bridges Through Basketball with the NBA and RISE. The 10-week programs in Chicago, Charlotte and Los Angeles brings together youth, coaches and local law enforcement that combines on-court training with an interactive curriculum exploring topics ranging from identity and diversity to empathy and respect. The experience creates space for participants to have candid conversations, build trust-based relationships, have fun playing basketball and become leaders in their community. This partnership with NBA Voices is one of UA's #WEWILL initiatives focused on working with communities to provide opportunities through sport. From building and renovating hundreds of sports facilities in cities around the world to supporting leadership training and sports programming for millions of students, UA is committed to unlocking kids' potential, while inspiring and uplifting our hometowns.
2019 Finalists
Anthem Foundation
Burton Snowboards
Finish Line and Brooks Running
2018: UNIQLO
Homelessness has risen to crisis levels around the country. The number of homeless students attending schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District grew by 50% last year to 17,258 students, and in New York City, 24,000 children living in the area are residents of the city's shelter system. UNIQLO and Street Soccer USA have teamed up to reduce the stigma of homelessness. Street Soccer's programs allow youth who are economically and logistically excluded from team sports to have access to the benefits of rigorous exercise, camaraderie, the pursuit of common goals and the self-confidence it fosters. UNIQLO outfits all of the players in Street Soccer USA's Soccer-for-Social-Change Leagues so that participants can look good and feel comfortable as they train and play. Additionally, each quarter, UNIQLO brings youth to their stores in six cities for an employee training day, where participants get an introduction to a workplace environment and undergo mock interviews. Those who are of age and qualify can apply for a job on the spot. Together, UNIQLO and Street Soccer USA are using the power of teamwork and clothing to address youth homelessness.
2018 Finalists
Hospital for Special Surgery
Under Armour
Voya Financial
2017: DICK'S Sporting Goods
DICK'S Sporting Goods Billions of dollars have been cut from youth sports programs nationwide in recent years and 60 percent of children must now pay a fee to play. DICK'S Sporting Goods and The DICK'S Sporting Goods Foundation launched Sports Matter to help save youth sports. DICK'S has integrated Sports Matter across its major company initiatives highlighting the benefits of youth sports though documentaries and shorts films, spreading awareness and funding by selling "Green Laces" in stores and supporting over 200 Team USA Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls through flexible employment and sponsorship agreements. To date DICK's and its Foundation have pledged over $50 million to support youth athletics across the country, and in 2016 alone supported thousands of teams, helping these young athletes play sports.
2017 Finalists
Chevron
HOK
Under Armour
2016: Bank of America
Last summer, Bank of America and Special Olympics staged the first-ever Unified Relay Across America (URAA) - organizing more than 10,000 torchbearer participants and volunteers to walk, run and wheel the Special Olympics torch from Greece through all 50 states to start the Special Olympics World Games in Los Angeles. As a result of the Relay and Games, many more U.S. households identified as knowing a non-immediate family member, co-worker, neighbor or friend with intellectual disabilities (ID) from 24% pre-World Games to 31% post-World Games. Perceptions of the capabilities of people with ID saw similarly positive increases after the URAA and World Games. The Relay also served as the largest fundraising event in Special Olympics history, raising $4.3 million from more than 18,000 individual donors. More than 5,700 Bank of America employees volunteered in support of the Relay and World Games, serving as additional champions for a message of inclusion in local communities.
2016 Finalists
BASF
DICK'S Sporting Goods
Kaiser Permanente
Mercedes-Benz USA