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Key Partners
Status
Start year of the initiative:
2014 – still ongoing.
Next steps of initiative:
Global expansion: The partnership was introduced in selected locations initially, and it will be expanded internationally based on best practices, lessons learned and results achieved.
Impact
Country(ies) of impact:
The United States and Canada initially, with planned expansion to China, Mexico, India and other countries
Number of people impacted annually:
100-1,000 initially by MMC partnership, with the opportunity to increase to 10,000+ by all JA corporate partnerships
Time to intended impact:
Less than 2 years
Metrics:
- Employee engagement
- Reputation
- Return on investment (ROI)
- Social ROI
- Performance evaluation/grades of participants
- Graduation rates of participants
- Increased wages of participants
- Partnerships developed
- Content training/modules and training offered
- Health and security of entrepreneurs’ businesses
Benefit to organization:
- Direct benefit to organization
- Indirect benefit to organization
Key Partners
Status
Start year of the initiative:
2014 – still ongoing.
Next steps of initiative:
Global expansion: The partnership was introduced in selected locations initially, and it will be expanded internationally based on best practices, lessons learned and results achieved.
Impact
Country(ies) of impact:
The United States and Canada initially, with planned expansion to China, Mexico, India and other countries
Number of people impacted annually:
100-1,000 initially by MMC partnership, with the opportunity to increase to 10,000+ by all JA corporate partnerships
Time to intended impact:
Less than 2 years
Metrics:
- Employee engagement
- Reputation
- Return on investment (ROI)
- Social ROI
- Performance evaluation/grades of participants
- Graduation rates of participants
- Increased wages of participants
- Partnerships developed
- Content training/modules and training offered
- Health and security of entrepreneurs’ businesses
Benefit to organization:
- Direct benefit to organization
- Indirect benefit to organization
Junior Achievement and Marsh & McLennan Companies
Submitted by Marsh & McLennan Companies
Objective
To inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy.
Overview and Main Activities
Junior Achievement (JA) is a non-profit organization with global reach, strong partnerships with corporations and schools, well-developed programmes and a sustained record of achieving results.
In the United States alone, more than 18 million adults between the ages of 18 and 64 have not graduated from high school and therefore do not qualify for most of the jobs in the current and future economy (ACT 2009). JA programmes aim to prepare students for life after school, providing them with the skills needed to succeed in the workplace.
Marsh & McLennan Companies (MMC) provide funding and volunteers in support of the shared commitment to youth, education and employment. MMC’s engagement includes:
- JA BizTown: helping elementary students learn the fundamentals of entrepreneurship as they run their own business for a day in a real-world simulation
- JA Finance Park: helping middle school students navigate the world of personal finances as they assume the role of an “adult for the day” in a financial literacy laboratory
- JA in a Day: teaching financial literacy curriculum in the classroom to children in kindergarten through 5th grade
- Board Service: providing professional consulting expertise
- Individual volunteer experiences: delivering relevant, experiential curricula to students at a school and grade level of the MMC colleague’s choice in the community, including:
- Elementary schools: helping students learn how they can impact the world around them as individuals, workers and consumers
- Middle grades and high schools: helping students learn about financial literacy, college and career readiness and entrepreneurship
In these and all JA programmes, volunteers help students process information, apply basic skills, think critically and solve complex problems.
While still in the early stages, the partnership between JA and MMC is a win-win situation for all involved. JA also has partnerships with other leading corporations, and the model is highly replicable and scalable globally.
Success Factors and Challenges
Most critical success factors:
- Strategic alignment of the initiative with organization priorities and commitment to diversity
- Unique combination of central leadership (between the MMC corporate social responsibility team and JA USA/National who own the partnership) and local office engagement (colleagues in offices are members of local JA Boards and serve as partnership advocates)
- Policy support (including global month of volunteering, a paid day off to volunteer, the Dollars for Doers programme, etc.)
Main challenges:
- Funding/budget support: needed to build the business case, based on metrics and goals
- Communications: requiring multiple communication channels to achieve the reach and engagement desired
- Strategic volunteering: part of a broader transformation to encourage skillsbased volunteering
Recommendations for Others
The opportunity always exists to bring innovation for continuous improvement. With this in mind, each corporation should bring their unique business capabilities and assets to the partnership. Further, beyond growing the initiative internally by engaging additional colleagues and locations, it is also recommended to leverage corporate business relationships to engage other corporations (clients, partners and suppliers) in this initiative.
Replicability and Scalability
How easily could other organizations implement this initiative?
Very easy: JA’s global presence presents opportunities to connect to various locations.
How easily can this initiative be expanded to include a larger number of participants?
Very easy: With chapters across the United States and growing internationally, there are several geographies with which to engage and grow.
About the Organization
Website: www.mmc.com
Sector: Professional Services
Size (number of employees): 50,000-100,000
Headquarters: New York, USA
For Further Engagement
Contact name: Tara McTeague
Contact position: Programme Manager
Email: [email protected]