LoginPage 2: Coca-Cola and citizenship
For more than a century, The Coca-Cola Company has used its resources to benefit the global community and to demonstrate its leadership to such an extent that the Coca-Cola name has become synonymous with good corporate citizenship. According to a survey carried out by Fortune Magazine, Coca-Cola is the most admired company in the USA.
The Company believes that it is important to give something back to the communities in which it does business. This philosophy, grounded in the Company's value system, is a key part of the corporate culture. An organisation's culture is the way in which it does things - its culture defines what Coca-Cola considers to be important and what the company stands for.
The culture will be reflected in everything the organisation does. You should be able to get a feel for the way that Coca-Cola has a strong commitment to the wider community through every aspect of the way the Company operates e.g. the way in which it sponsors sporting activities or its commitment to recycling and minimum use of scarce resources etc. Philanthropy is a central part of the Coca-Cola culture and contributes to one of the Company's strongest assets - public goodwill.
Philanthropy can be defined as: 'An act or instance of deliberate generosity...a contribution made in a spirit of humanitarianism...goodwill toward one's fellow citizens especially as expressed through active efforts to promote human welfare...comprehensive benevolence, but often specific in its objectives.'
The Coca-Cola Foundation is the Company's main philanthropic arm. Its goal is to give something back to the communities in which the Company operates by supporting education and community development activities. The Foundation is nearing completion of a ten year goal of contributing $100 million, during the 1990s, in support of education. Funding includes support for:
- higher education
- classroom teaching and learning
- global education.
