Kathy Hopinkah Hannan
National Managing Partner, Diversity and Corporate Responsibility
KPMG LLP
2011 Corporate Philanthropy
In a place where nearly 80 percent of the population lives at or below the poverty level, employees and partners from KPMG llP are helping to make a difference. For the past four years, volunteers for KPMG’s Family for literacy (FFl) have traveled to Park brook elementary School in brooklyn Park, Minn., to visit students, talk about the future, and provide some encouragement and hope.
At every visit, each child receives a gift that means more to them than most people can understand: a brand-new book—in many cases, their first book—that they can take home, read, and always call their own.
Working with First book, a nonprofit delivering more than 80 million new books to children across the country, FFl provides children with their own new books. What happens as a result is nothing short of magical, according to Principal Scott Taylor. “The children feel encouraged to read the books, since they are a gift,” he says. “one teacher started a girls’ book club and the students are now spending their recess discussing the books they’ve read.”
But KPMG’s volunteers are providing much more than access to books. “They encourage the students to dream about their future by sharing things about themselves—their education, where they went to college, things about their work and position,” Taylor says.
“Through this program, we know we’re putting books in the hands of children who need them most,” says KPMG’s chairman and ceo John Veihmeyer. “We’re incredibly proud of the positive feedback we’ve received from our employees, partners, and their families, on the impact that KPMG’s Family for literacy has had on them personally.”
Since its inception in 2007, FFl has established programs in more than 30 U.S. offices, and volunteers have distributed more than 1.5 million books to children in more than 90 communities.
KPMG LLP
Corporate Headquarters: New York City
Website: www.us.kpmg.com
Primary Business: Audit, Tax and Advisory Services
Employees: More than 21,000 in the U.S.