The Hitachi Foundation announced the launch of the Good Companies, Good Jobs Strategy that includes three final gifts totaling $11 million, including one to The Aspen Institute.
WASHINGTON, DC (NOVEMBER 28, 2016) – The Hitachi Foundation today announced the launch of the Good Companies, Good Jobs Strategy that includes three final gifts totaling $11 million and that the Foundation will cease operations in December 2016. The unrestricted monetary gifts and their recipients are $4 million to the Aspen Institute in Washington, DC; $4 million to the MIT Sloan School of Management in Cambridge, Massachusetts; and $3 million to Investors’ Circle in Durham, North Carolina.
As part of a three-year planning process in advance of closing, the Foundation’s board developed the Good Companies, Good Jobs Strategy to address a critical question of our time: In this rapidly changing workforce environment, how do we make work work for the many people who feel stuck and left behind? “Our vision for this strategy is to deepen the quality and accelerate the pace of progress toward a future in which good companies and good jobs are the norm,” said Patrick Gross, the Foundation’s board chair.
The Hitachi Foundation also developed the Good Companies, Good Jobs Strategy as a way to transition its financial, intellectual and human capital assets. “Anchored in these three remarkable institutions we have an opportunity to build something that far exceeds the sum of its parts,” said Barbara Dyer, the Foundation’s president and CEO. “Our hope is that the collective efforts across this strategy will enable the nation to tilt toward optimism and replace fear with confidence as Americans succeed in making a living and businesses succeed because of their people. Through these financial gifts, we hope to build each organization’s capacity and increase the number of good companies with good jobs across the United States,” Dyer concluded.
$4 Million to Aspen Institute
The gift to the Aspen Institute will enable the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program to launch the Good Companies, Good Jobs Initiative at Aspen as a way to incubate The Hitachi Foundation’s Good Companies @ Work program and resources.
The Institute’s efforts will build upon the Foundation’s focus in healthcare and manufacturing, and expand to new sectors such as retail, hospitality, and other service industries. As a way to better align capital deployment to firms with good jobs outcomes, the Aspen Institute will oversee the continued development of a Good Companies, Good Jobs Data Reporting and Analytics Tool. Ultimately, the Tool will help to identify “good jobs” companies based on their higher employee retention rates, increased earnings, and career advancement for their workers with incomes under $40,000 per year.
“We are honored that The Hitachi Foundation selected the Aspen Institute for this gift given our mission to create a diverse community of leaders committed to building a better society,” said Elliot Gerson, executive vice president of policy and public programs at the Aspen Institute. “We feel confident that the Good Companies, Good Jobs Initiative at Aspen will elevate the ways companies create good jobs and expand economic opportunities for workers, while building successful, profitable businesses.” Mark Popovich, vice president of the Foundation’s Good Companies @ Work program, will join the Aspen Institute as the director of the Initiative within the Economic Opportunities Program.
$4 Million to MIT Sloan School of Management
The gift to the MIT Sloan School of Management will support the Institute for Work and Employment Research (IWER) and will serve as seed funding for a new Good Companies, Good Jobs Initiative at MIT. The MIT program will identify, develop and advance management practices that are good for both business and society. The Initiative will engage in research concerning the impact, adoption, and diffusion of high road employment practices. It will be a hub for sharing knowledge and a center of practical learning for current and future business. Barbara Dyer, the Foundation’s president and CEO and a current senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School, will assume the role of executive director of the Good Companies, Good Jobs Initiative at MIT, which will be housed at IWER.
“The Good Companies, Good Jobs Initiative at MIT is an exciting new platform for deepening and spreading our understanding of how companies can compete successfully, support good jobs, and respect worker rights,” said David Schmittlein, dean of MIT Sloan School of Management. “It is the perfect match of the values, aspirations, and work of our Institute for Work and Employment Research and The Hitachi Foundation.”
$3 Million to Investors’ Circle
The gift to Investors’ Circle (IC) will integrate The Hitachi Foundation’s Entrepreneurship @ Work intellectual assets into IC’s early-stage entrepreneur and impact investor programs. It will allow Investors’ Circle to expand its “Impact DNA” resources to help entrepreneurs access appropriate financial capital, develop strong human capital strategies, and connect to peers and other networks that can enhance their business success.
“We are honored to receive this gift and to continue The Hitachi Foundation’s important work to ensure that good job creation is an inherent element of early-stage impact entrepreneurship and investing,” said Bonny Moellenbrock, executive director of Investors’ Circle. “As we integrate this into our pioneering 25-year history of impact investing, we are pleased to prove that building good companies from the start make great companies built to last.”
Investors’ Circle’s Good Companies, Good Jobs efforts will also support the expansion of #FundedByIC, a program that cultivates a community of impact entrepreneurs that receive funding from IC members or from its early-stage venture fund, the Patient Capital Collaborative. Renata Hron Gomez, vice president of the Foundation’s Entrepreneurship @ Work program, will join Investors’ Circle as their director of entrepreneur programs and will be based in California.
“Through these three final gifts, we feel confident that The Hitachi Foundation’s work to highlight the important role of business in our society will carry on,” said Patrick Gross, chair of the Foundation’s Board of Directors. “We anticipate that as the Good Companies, Good Jobs Strategy takes shape, collaboration opportunities will emerge between the three organizations. We also envision new partnerships with other aligned organizations that share our commitment to investing in the millions of lower-wage workers in our country.”
The Hitachi Foundation will close on December 31, 2016, as Hitachi, Ltd. has realigned its global corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs to be more region-specific and aligned with Social Innovation. “We wish to congratulate The Hitachi Foundation for over 30 years of outstanding achievement in improving economic opportunities in the U.S. and enhancing long-term business activities that improve society as a whole,” said Hiroaki Nakanishi, executive chairman, Hitachi, Ltd. “Since endowing the Foundation in 1985, Hitachi has been committed to supporting U.S. citizens through activities that contribute to long-term social progress by addressing complex challenges.”
About The Hitachi Foundation
Media Contact: Jeff White, VP for Strategic Communications
Email: jwhite@hitachifoundation.org Phone (202) 828-1656
The Hitachi Foundation is an independent, philanthropic organization that seeks to discover, demonstrate and expand business practices that both measurably improve economic opportunities for low-wealth individuals in the U.S. and enhance long term business value.
About the Aspen Institute
Media Contact: Claire Daviss, Communications Associate, Economic Opportunities Program
Email: Claire.Daviss@aspeninstitute.org Phone: (202) 736-3578
The Economic Opportunities Program (EOP) advances promising strategies, policies, and ideas to help low- and moderate income Americans connect to and thrive in a changing economy. Over its more than 20 years of work, EOP has focused on expanding individuals’ opportunities to connect to quality work, to start businesses, and to build assets and economic stability. For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org/eop.
The Aspen Institute is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, DC. Its mission is to foster leadership based on enduring values and to provide a nonpartisan venue for dealing with critical issues. The Institute is based in Washington, DC; Aspen, CO; and on the Wye River on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. It also has offices in New York City and an international network of partners. For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org.
About MIT Sloan
Media Contact: Paul Denning
Email: denning@mit.edu Phone: (617) 253-0576
The MIT Sloan School of Management is where smart, independent leaders come together to solve problems, create new organizations, and improve the world. Learn more at mitsloan.mit.edu.
About Investors’ Circle
Media Contact: Meredith Martindale, Communications and Marketing Manager
Email: mmartindale@investorscircle.net Phone: (919) 296-1166 x101
Investors’ Circle is the world’s largest and most active early-stage impact investing network. The IC network of angel investors, funds, foundations, and family offices has invested over $200 million into more than 300 enterprises dedicated to improving the environment, education, health, and community. A nonprofit organization, IC cultivates its community of investors, attracts and coaches impact enterprises and brings investors and entrepreneurs together to facilitate investment.
About Hitachi, Ltd.
Media Contact: Theodore Lowen, Director, Hitachi America, Ltd.
Email: theodore.lowen@hal.hitachi.com Phone: (914)-333-2986
Tamie Nagamoto, Manager, Hitachi America, Ltd.
Email: tamie.nagamoto@hal.hitachi.com Phone: (914)-333-2987
Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, delivers innovations that answer society’s challenges. The company’s consolidated revenues for fiscal 2015 (ended March 31, 2016) totaled 10,034.3 billion yen ($88.8 billion). The Hitachi Group is a global leader in the Social Innovation Business, and it has approximately 335,000 employees worldwide. Through collaborative creation, Hitachi is providing solutions to customers in a broad range of sectors, including Power / Energy, Industry / Distribution / Water, Urban Development, and Finance / Government & Public / Healthcare. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company’s website at http://www.hitachi.com.