Community Impact

We strengthen our communities worldwide in ways that improve education and keep women and children safe.

Volunteers from our Legal group donated roughly 5,000 hours in 2010.

The Verizon Foundation leverages our partnerships, our employee volunteerism and our technology to support the social issues of domestic violence prevention and education.

In 2010, the Verizon Foundation invested its capital, human resources and technology towards improving social issues in these key areas:

• Enhancing and improving education through the use of technology;
• Increasing awareness and preventing domestic violence;
• Using technology to fund programs that promote and employ rules and guidelines for Internet safety; and
• Making it easier for employees to volunteer their own time to the well-being of their communities across the world.

Verizon Foundation • 2010 Philanthropic Investments (in millions)

Domestic Violence Prevention

The Verizon Foundation rose to the upper echelon of corporate supporters of this cause by investing more than $6 million on domestic violence programs. Highlights include:

• Partnering with PBS to produce Telling Amy’s Story, a gripping documentary about the murder of a young Pennsylvania mother—and Verizon employee—by her abusive husband. It aired on 296 local public television stations, reaching 4.5 million viewers.

• Technology grants awarded to the Family Justice Center Alliance, the Safety Net Program and the National Network to End Domestic Violence.

Verizon’s HopeLine continues to be one of the most enduring domestic violence prevention programs. Through a recycling and re-use initiative that gives consumers an environmentally sound way to dispose of cell phones, HopeLine provides a simple way to make a difference in the lives of domestic violence victims.

HopeLine Statistics

Technology in Education

The Verizon Foundation is one of the largest cash contributors of education initiatives in the United States.

Our signature education activity is Verizon Thinkfinity — an award-winning web site of free K–12 teaching and learning resources for teachers, students and parents.

Nearly 3.5 million people visited Thinkfinity in 2010. The Verizon Foundation awarded nearly $5 million to 11 leading education organizations which created more than 6,000 new items for Thinkfinity, including more than 1,000 new videos.

This year also featured the launch of the Thinkfinity Community, a social networking site for teachers and parents to discuss the latest resources and exchange ideas. In six months Thinkfinity Community attracted more than 12,500 members.

Thinkfinity.org: The Best Education Resource on the Net

Employee Volunteerism

Our Volunteer Incentive Program awards employees who volunteer 50 hours a year with a qualifying nonprofit a $750 grant for that organization. In 2010, employees donated 733,806 hours to non-profits in the communities where they live and work, resulting in combined contributions of $14.6 million dollars.

Going to the Crisis

Verizon employees have a long history of donating time, money and expertise to assist communities in the wake of natural disasters and other crises, whether they occur around the corner or around the world. Major efforts include the following:

• The Verizon Foundation activated its Disaster Relief-Matching Gifts campaign in March 2011 following the tragedy in Japan with donations going to the American Red Cross, World Vision and Save the Children. Through the end of March some 3,700 Verizon employees had pledged approximately $442,000, which will be matched by the Verizon Foundation.

• To help Nashville residents recover from record-breaking rain and flooding in May 2010, Verizon employees set up two mobile communications stores. These special stores provided mobile devices to help people contact family and loved ones at no cost, a free battery-charging station and help for those who needed to establish new service, purchase new devices or pay bills.

• The Verizon Foundation conducted an employee disaster-relief appeal program for Haiti throughout 2010 that collected more than $1.1 million in additional relief funds. Included in that program were $100,000 in direct cash grants to World Vision and Food for the Poor.