VMLY&R Celebrates One Year Anniversary With Worldwide Foundation Day

In celebration of its one-year anniversary, VMLY&R will close all 82 offices across the globe on Thursday, Sept. 26, to give more than 6,500 employees the opportunity to support their local communities through volunteer projects.

This year’s theme for VMLY&R’s Worldwide Foundation Day is “Connecting Hearts, We Are One,” which highlights the collective impact of all employees rolling up their sleeves to give back in meaningful ways over the same 24-hour period.

“I can’t think of a better way to celebrate VMLY&R’s one-year anniversary as a unified force than by giving back in the communities that foster our success,” said Jon Cook, VMLY&R global CEO. “One of our core values is ‘abundantly generous,’ and Foundation Day wonderfully embodies that spirit. Our employees select the community partners we work with on Foundation Day, and volunteer project leads handle all of the planning, so we maximize our collective efforts.”

WPP announced VMLY&R on Sept. 26, 2018, uniting two leading brands to deliver a contemporary, fully integrated digital and creative offering to clients on a global scale. In its first year, VMLY&R has focused on agency leadership, client partnerships, and business development, and has added new clients to its global portfolio. VMLY&R was also awarded 31 Cannes Lions at the 2019 festival, including two Grand Prix. 

“The VMLY&R Foundation is a unique thread that unites the agency’s global network in a charitable, collaborative and fulfilling way,” said John Mulvihill, executive director of the VMLY&R Foundation. “VMLY&R’s ongoing commitment to charitable service — which manifests itself in volunteerism, pro bono work and community leadership positions — is present in all VMLY&R offices around the globe.”

VMLY&R Worldwide Foundation Day is a signature program of the agency’s corporate giving foundation. The VMLY&R Foundation, created in 2005 as an employee-funded and employee-led 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, recently surpassed $2.2 million in charitable donations. More than 50% of U.S.-based VMLY&R employees contribute to the VMLY&R Foundation fund through payroll deduction.

This year, VMLY&R employees will donate their time and talents to dozens of nonprofit and community organizations, including:

• VMLY&R Atlanta — Piedmont Park Conservatory and Trees Atlanta
• VMLY&R Chicago — Special Spaces room renovation for children facing life-threatening diseases, Chicago Canine Rescue, All Stars Project, IMD Guest House, Lakeview Pantry, Lincoln Park Conservatory, Read/Write Library, Working Bikes, Surfrider Foundation and the Chicago Park District
• VMLY&R Cincinnati — Boys & Girls Club of Greater Cincinnati
• VMLY&R Dallas — North Texas Food Bank, Metrocrest Services and National Breast Cancer Foundation
• VMLY&R Detroit — Focus Hope, assisting the elderly
• VMLY&R Kalamazoo — First Day Shoe Fund and Kalamazoo Valley River Trail
• VMLY&R Kansas City — Bridging the Gap, Community Linc, Cultivate KC, Habitat for Humanity, Happy Bottoms, Harvesters Food Bank, Heart to Heart International, Loose Park Rose Society, Newhouse Women’s Shelter, Pawsabilities, Union Hill Cemetery, Veteran’s Community Project, Wayside Waifs, Young Women on the Move, and mural projects around the city
• VMLY&R Memphis — FedExFamilyHouse at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital
• VMLY&R Miami — Hobie Beach and Bill Baggs Cape Florida beach cleanup
• VMLY&R Minneapolis — Habitat for Humanity
• VMLY&R Nashville — Nashville Humane Society and Project C.U.R.E.
• VMLY&R New Jersey — Morris County Park Commission’s GardenWorks program
• VMLY&R New York — Citymeals on Wheels, Partnerships for Parks in Brooklyn and Surfrider Foundation
• VMLY&R Rogers — Assisting a local teaching farm to help kids understand the importance of healthy nutrition, painting classrooms at a local children’s shelter and sorting donations at Potter’s House Thrift
• VMLY&R San Francisco — St. Anthony's Free Clothing Program
• VMLY&R Seattle — Lifelong, Farmer Frog and PAWS animal shelter
• VMLY&R Washington, D.C. — Capital Area Food Bank

Global Offices

• VMLY&R Aukland — Partnering with Aukland City Mission and skill sharing to help Rasnz tackle public prejudices against immigrants in New Zealand
• VMLY&R Buenos Aires — Yes Foundation, promoting the social inclusion of the most vulnerable sectors of Argentina
• VMLY&R Bogotá — Spending the day helping a local public school, “Altos de Cazucá,” with a variety of projects and activities with the students
• VMLY&R Brisbane — Communify beautification efforts supporting housing efforts for those in need
• VMLY&R Budapest — Cleaning an old river at the Hungarian Open Air Museum
• VML Brazil — Partnering with pro bono client the District Attorney’s Office of São Paulo promoting Brazilian citizenship
• Y&R Brazil — Planting trees and renovating a community center nearby the office
• VMLY&R China — Grassroots environmental effort to collect plastic bottles from the street and turn them into holiday décor
• VMLY&R Dubai — The Dubai Foundation for Women and Children
• VMLY&R India — Visiting a homeless shelter supporting at-risk youth
• VMLY&R Indonesia — Partnering with a local orphanage to help abandoned children 
• VMLY&R Istanbul — Spending the day outside with various environmental efforts
• VMLY&R Italy — World Wildlife Fund plastic cleanup initiative
• VMLY&R Lisbon — Partnering with local NGO AMI, which amplifies ongoing cause campaigns
• VMLY&R London — Living Under One Sun community center beautification projects
• VMLY&R Madrid — Red Cross Spain, renovating sport spaces in the city
• VMLY&R Malaysia — Kechara Soup Kitchen cooking
• VMLY&R Mexico City — Cleaning of El Madin Dam
• VMLY&R Paris — Cleaning the Seine river with Surfrider Foundation
• VMLY&R Peru — beautifying a local girls orphanage and hosting a cinema night on site
• VMLY&R Philippines — “EcoDrop” stations to turn excess holiday shopping packaging into public school furniture
• VMLY&R Prague — Creating a campaign for a local NGO, Člověk v tísni, celebrating 30 years since the Velvet Revolution
• VMLY&R Puerto Rico — Helping Corazón Azul renovate a new building to support those with severe autism
• VMLY&R Poland (Warsaw and Krakow) — Working with Shelterstock, an animal welfare grassroots effort promoting adoptions
• VMLY&R Russia — Recycling bottle caps to help raise awareness and funds for disabled children
• VMLY&R Singapore — Spending the day at three locations: NTUC Nursing Home, a local animal shelter and a community hospital doing rooftop gardening
• VMLY&R South Africa (Cape Town and Johannesburg) — Working with NOAH Project, Soweto school projects, Xchange Connexion, Underdog Project and Ladles of Love
• VMLY&R Sydney — Partnering with Clean Up Australia, the Salvation Army, Wesley Mission, and the local food bank
• VMLY&R Thailand — Partnering with Adopt Me Thailand to increase dog adoptions in the region
• VMLY&R Vienna — Charitable community fundraising event at a traditional Viennese Würstelstand benefitting a local organization
• VMLY&R Wellington — Helping InsideOUT with a new campaign to support young people of the LGBTQ+ community

Follow VMLY&R’s Foundation Day activities with our hashtag #WeAreVMLYR.