Improving lives and building sustainable businesses

While the relationship between the United States and Ireland is based on ancestral, historic and cultural ties, today it is further strengthened by the immense contribution made by American companies to communities across the country.

Claire Cronin, United States ambassador to Ireland, reflects on the powerful connections: “Since my arrival in Ireland nine months ago, I have visited every county and one of the highlights has been meeting the amazing people working at American and Irish companies, whether in the board room or on the factory floor. The people I have met are truly passionate about the companies that they represent, the work that they do, and their contribution to both the US and Irish and economies.

“Many of the companies I have visited are engaged in corporate social responsibility practices that improve lives as well as build sustainable businesses. American companies are now more than ever considering how they use resources such as water, land and energy, the welfare and wellbeing of their employees, and how they respect local communities.

“They are investing in schools and infrastructure projects, responding to disasters, making available new technologies, providing medicines and much more. US companies in Ireland are also at the heart of important conversations on combating climate change and on green transition and decarbonisation,” she says.

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In one example, US giant Google’s Irish workforce has engaged with over 500 non-profit organisations and social enterprises in Ireland, whether as donors or as volunteers.

Rachael Bleakley, programme manager at Google.org says: “We are very proud to support our neighbours in the Dublin office with the fantastic work they are doing; from the Irish Nautical Trust who are training local youth in the maritime skills they need to obtain jobs skippering the boats in Dublin Port, to Ringsend Community Services Forum who are training local community leaders as trainers working with early school leavers in the local area, providing pathways to employment.

“Nationally, we have funded projects such as Rethink Ireland’s Rural Recovery Fund, which is working with organisations supporting education, job readiness and training programmes for underserved communities in rural Ireland.”

Google’s well known philanthropic arm Google.org also works to tackle big social problems by connecting non-profits and social entrepreneurs through four key aspects including expertise, products, funding and ‘Googler Giving’. The company matches key Google professionals with non-profits, social enterprises and civic entries, gives away free products, and grant-aids early ideas, bold solutions and thoughtful community-led work.

“We also work to support Googlers’ personal philanthropy where we match each employee’s personal donations up to $10,000 (or equivalent) to eligible causes each year,” says Bleakley. “Google also allows employees to use up to 1% of their work time to volunteer with eligible organisations, which amounts to 20 hours per year for full-time Googlers.”

Other US companies are not left behind. Toast, the all-in-one restaurant POS system, hosts two major volunteer campaigns each year internationally: Season of Giving and Toast to the Earth.

Paige Marino, employer brand programme manager at Toast, also hails local initiatives.

“The local committees select organisations in their own communities to set up ad hoc volunteer events, or events in honour of special days, like Earth Day and World Bee Day.”

For Earth Day this year, the Ireland Toast.org local committee organised a beach cleanup on Dollymount strand in conjunction with the Bull Island Action Group. For World Bee Day, the local committee invited Gilly and Brian from Wild Acres - a large nature reserve, honey farm and biodiversity education experience centre in Wicklow - to educate the local staff on gardening for biodiversity.

“The technology contributions Toast has made to the industry have been transformational given the unique intersection of the food ecosystem, restaurant industry and technology space, and so we also push ourselves to amplify our impact in the technology space whenever possible,” says Marino. “For example, the theme for our last hackathon was ‘Hack for Hunger’ and Toasters from all around the world were given the opportunity to work on projects focused on fighting food insecurity.”

Ambassador Cronin concludes: “We all want to live in a world where future generations have ample resources and opportunities. I’m proud that US companies are demonstrating this commitment in Ireland.”