Cause Marketing/ Community Programs

E-commerce site Rakuten is expanding its corporate social responsibility efforts with several scholarship opportunities in Japan and around the world.

The cornerstone of its new efforts is its Global Citizens Summit, which will bring together 24 students from around the world at Boston’s Harvard Faculty Club from Aug. 2 to 9. The summit is being hosted with assistance from nonprofit Global Citizens Initiative, which works to build leaders among students, and the participants will meet throughout the week to discuss global issues.

Electronics company Vizio has kicked off a back-to-school contest for college students that will furnish a winner with electronics and $2,000 toward tuition and books.

The company is encouraging students to upload videos of themselves explaining a story of determination to Vizio’s website through Aug. 19.

In the lead-up to the 2014 Budweiser Made in America Festival, the beer company has launched a web series to find an act to add to the festival’s lineup in Los Angeles.  
 
The MADE Underground series — produced by Vice’s music arm, Noisey —follows a Brooklyn band, X Ambassadors, and London street musician, Jamie N. Commons, as they look in cities like St. Louis, Seattle, Rio de Janeiro and Athens.

For the third consecutive year, Office Depot has enlisted the aid of actor, comedian and America’s Got Talent host Nick Cannon to help execute an innovate back-to-school program.
 

The Home Depot has donated $81,000 to a rural retreat for wounded veterans and their families. The money will go toward building a barn and run-in for horses, as well as some garden project at the Boulder Crest Retreat for Military and Veteran Wellness.

Macy’s has announced a series of new initiatives in its multi-year strategic program to enhance environmental sustainability. They are consistent with the company’s sustainability principles first adopted in 2008 and implemented with increasing intensity during the past six years.

Results through 2013 include a 38% reduction in the company’s electricity usage since 2002 and a 95% adoption rate of recycled or certified paper used in the company’s marketing materials.

A $500,000 grant from the Sam’s Club Giving Program will help fund an innovative program to provide technical assistance to small child care operators in low income communities.

Seven hundred and fifty tons of plastic wrap — the equivalent of 1.5 million pounds — have been saved by Walmart China as a result of a simple change to warehouse operations.

The plastic savings were realized after Walmart developed a new system that involved reusable canvas belts to secure merchandise on pallets, thereby eliminating the need for one-time use plastic wrap. The canvas belt system is now in use at nine of Walmart’s distribution centers in China.