ESPN’s
40,000 Acts of Service
2020 Social Impact Award Winner
To celebrate ESPN’s 40th anniversary, the company created the 40,000 Acts of Service initiative. The initiative went beyond a traditional volunteer program by encouraging employees to be “of service” to each other, thus fully living the company mission and inspiring others to act as well.
ESPN’s
Citizenship team created toolkits for human resources
and Employee Resource Groups to utilize at meetings
and events
with a goal of engaging employees across the company.
 An internal website, ESPNServes.com, was created to help employees quickly log their acts, track collective progress and post photos of their efforts. The site also provided useful guides, the ability to upload photos, commenting capabilities, and volunteer programs and project opportunities.
Every
Wednesday throughout the campaign, ESPN hosted pop-up
stations on its Bristol, Conn. campus to give employees
an opportunity to perform an act of service.
From writing cards to active military personnel, packing
back-to-school backpacks
and collecting
sports equipment, these unique opportunities on campus
allowed employees to perform an act of service and
log it. Similar
stations driven by Regional Volunteer Champions were
set up in ESPN’s remote offices to
include employees in all markets.
As
a sports organization,
ESPN employees live and breathe competition, so friendly
department challenges
and incentives
were
set up to encourage participation. As incentives to
participate, the Corporate Citizenship team provided
limited edition 40th
anniversary
Team ESPN jerseys to employees who logged at least
25 acts of service. Additionally, the
40
employees with the highest level of engagement at
the end of the program received grants to direct towards
their charities of choice.
The
program not only empowered employees, it
shifted their perceptions on how they can serve others
to create positive change,
big
and small,
in
their communities. One employee was so inspired that
he read to local students during his honeymoon in
Jamaica. While volunteering at a local food pantry,
an
ESPN business segment recognized that there was not
enough food, so they organized
a
food drive.
In
the
first two months of the program, ESPN employees across
14 office locations achieved the company’s goal
of performing 40,000 acts, and ultimately generated
over 80,000 acts to
celebrate the
company’s 40th
anniversary.
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