VMLY&R Makes a Mark on Worldwide Foundation Day

Continuing a long-standing tradition, VMLY&R will close its more than 100 offices across the globe for business on Thursday, Sept. 29, to give more than 13,000 employees the opportunity to support worthy causes and nonprofit organizations of their choice through volunteer projects.

This year’s theme for VMLY&R’s Worldwide Foundation Day is “Make Your Mark” which encourages employees — regardless of whether they engage virtually or in person, individually or with a small group, or with family members — to do something that resonates with them. The day aims to highlight the collective impact of all employees rolling up their sleeves to give back in meaningful ways over the same 24-hour period.

“Giving back has been a core value to VMLY&R since day one,” said Jon Cook, VMLY&R global CEO. “Every year we continue to make Foundation Day the most diverse and far-reaching yet, and right now, purposeful connection is more vital than ever. Foundation Day is a fantastic opportunity to unite our entire agency family while supporting local communities we love serving.”

VMLY&R Worldwide Foundation Day is a signature feature of the agency’s overall community outreach program. In the U.S., the VMLY&R Foundation is an employee-funded and employee-led organization held under 501(c)(3) status that is nearing $3 million in charitable donations. Employees are invited to financially support the Foundation through payroll deduction contributions. Foundation members receive tangible benefits, including the ability to secure charitable grants and participate in a $2 to $1 matching gift program.

"Purposeful moments of connection have never been more important," said Lauren Ziegler, VMLY&R associate director of community outreach. "Worldwide Foundation Day provides an opportunity for team members to connect through shared charitable interests, providing meaningful ways to spend time together virtually and in-person."

Additionally, the VMLY&R Foundation supports an array of pro bono services for nonprofits. Each employee also has 16 hours each year of paid volunteer hours — over and above Foundation Day — to utilize however they see fit to improve their community.

To learn more, please visit vmlyr.com/foundation.

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

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

Global Community Partnerships

• VMLY&R Barcelona — Hosting a food drive in collaboration with Banc dels Aliments, an organization that recovers surplus food and delivers it to community members in need
• VMLY&R Brazil — Partnering with a local human services organization, providing basic hygiene resources and preparing a warm lunch for shelter residents
• VMLY&R Brisbane - Volunteering with Conservation Australia to clean up an island and national park area 
• VMLY&R Buenos Aires — Feeding the homeless and volunteering with a local animal shelter by walking and spending time with adoptable animals
• VMLY&R Chile — Volunteering with Fundación Emma, an organization that offers free socio-educational support programs for new mothers in vulnerable situations
• VMLY&R China — Supporting a local animal shelter by building safe, urban homes for stray cats
• VMLY&R Colombia — Supporting the district secretary of environment by cleaning and collecting waste in a wetland called “humedal” in Bogotá and supporting the Fundación Rescatame by beautifying their facilities, making repairs, painting, and refreshing the shelter
• VMLY&R Dubai — Partnering with Little People Big Hearts, preparing hampers of food and hygienic products and delivering them to large construction sites
• VMLY&R France - Dedicating the day to support,an association that helps improve the lives of people with disabilities and reduced mobility 
• An outdoor challenge in teams to reference places accessible to people with disabilities, according to predefined criteria for each type of place.
• VMLY&R Health — Leading second-annual patient partnership program providing skill-sharing to patient groups globally
• VMLY&R Health — Medical consulting: supporting Trekstock, developing a framework for website for tailored patient and HCP information
• VMLY&R Health — Medical and scientific communications: supporting GlobalSkin patient groups
• VMLY&R Health Milan - creating a creative campaign for the Italian Narcolepsy Society to tackle and promote awareness and reduce the stigma of narcolepsy 
• VMLY&R Hungary — Volunteering at Budakeszi Wildlife Park, repainting, collecting litter, weeding and raking, and more
• VMLY&R Italy (Milan & Rome) — Supporting WWF, the world’s leading wildlife conservation organization. Volunteers will have the opportunity to work in two nature centers, one in the Milan area and one in the Rome area, to promote biodiversity, remove weeds, plant new plants, paint and refresh animal shelters 
• VMLY&R Health Italy — Helping Melanoma UK update their marketing materials to support patient groups
• VMLY&R Madrid — Holding in-office consultation session with Mercy Ships, an NGO with hospital ships that are dedicated to surgery and health services for countries in need, in addition to training health professionals from the local country to improve their technical/health skills
• VMLY&R Malaysia —  Hosting a donation drive in partnership with Autrui Global collecting pre-loved items to be donated to a local refugee camp
• VMLY&R Melbourne – Volunteering with Legacy Group by reimagining the donation box model, organizing a St Kilda Beach cleanup, and sorting, folding and packaging clothing for redistribution at UPPAREL Recycling Centre
• VMLY&R Mexico City — Partnering with an organization called Voluntarios Mexico to clean canals and plant trees in Xochimilco
• VMLY&R Nairobi — Visiting and supporting Compassionate Hands for the Disabled Foundation, a full-time home and school to 104 children, ranging from age 1 to 21 years, all with special needs
• VMLY&R Peru — Volunteering at Hogar de Niñas, an all-girls orphanage in the community 
• VMLY&R Poland — Offering a week-long opportunity to engage in individual acts of kindness, in addition to small group activities such as running a clothing drive on campus, fundraising for the Pod Psim Aniolem Foundation shelter, and providing education about animal care and adoption
• VMLY&R Puerto Rico — Volunteering with Corazon Azul (Blue Heart), a local school for adults with autism
• Scholz & Friends Health — Supporting the Blood Plasma Donation Center, donating blood plasma to help personal social projects in return, and workng with Pe-ix, an organization helping women and men in prostitution in the Rhine-Main area
• VMLY&R Singapore — Kayak and clean up waterway at Marina Reservoir
• VMLY&R South Africa (Johannesburg) — Renovating Kelokitso High School and volunteering at the MES soup kitchen
• VMLY&R South Africa (Cape Town) — Working with Eros School doing gardening, kitchen work (preparing food), general cleaning around the school and in their hostel, assisting learners in the classroom as well as assisting with their mobile library. Also working with The Underdog Project, where we will be making some enrichment toys for dogs in the shelter, cleaning out dog and cat homes, and then spending time with the animals
• VMLY&R Sydney – Organizing Bondi, Wollongong and Manly Beach cleanup efforts 
• VMLY&R Thailand — Activities at local child services, library corner, donations and fun creativity and activities with them
• VMLY&R UK — Supporting Living Under One Sun (LUOS), gardening, painting and refreshing the space for local community members, organizing a river cleanup around the area by our offices on the Southbank, and participating in a 10-mile sponsored walk that will be in memory of one of our incredible colleagues who recently lost their battle with cancer
• VMLY&R Health UK — Supporting EVITA with a social media challenge project 
• VMLY&R and Ogilvy Ukraine — Fundraising for the Ukrainian army and local child services organizations
• VMLY&R Wellington — Volunteering with Clean Where You Walk, removing plastic from Wellington’s beaches, supporting the local Everybody Eats initiative, and contributing to public art installations with Sculpture Trust
• VMLY&R Istanbul — Participating in environmental efforts and hosting a donation drive for a local children’s organization supporting families separated by incarceration
   

U.S. Community Partnerships

• VMLY&R Atlanta — Restoring the historic Oakland Cemetery
• VMLY&R Austin — Gardening at Urban Roots Farm
• VMLY&R Chicago — Cleaning beaches with Adopt-a-Beach Great Lakes, sorting donations at Cradles for Crayons, preparing for an art exhibit with the Chicago Design Museum, working in the food pantry and serving meals with Friendship Center, supporting home builds and accessible housing needs with Habitat for Humanity and Habitat ReStore, beautifying public parks with Lincoln Park Conservatory, gleaning fresh produce with St. Vincent Family Services, food sorting and packing with Nourishing Hope, and building bikes for the Working Bikes initiative
• VMLY&R Cincinnati — Volunteering at Matthew 25 Ministries, which provides nutritional food, clean water, clothing, housing, medical care and humanitarian supplies to those in need around the world
• VMLY&R Cleveland — Organizing a stream cleanup at a local metro park 
• VMLY&R Dallas — Volunteering with Habitat for Humanity and packing food kits for Weekend Wonders 4 Kidz
• VMLY&R Denver — Supporting Boulder Community Gardens, a local organization providing sustainable agriculture education and food donations to over 136,000 Boulder County residents
• VMLY&R Detroit — Supporting Arts & Scraps, Brilliant Detroit, Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Focus Hope, Forgotten Harvest, Friends for Animals, and Habitat ReStore
• VMLY&R Kalamazoo — Volunteering with First Day Shoe Fund, Animal Rescue Project, Kalamazoo Nature Center/DeLano Farms, and Loaves and Fishes
• VMLY&R Kansas City — Organizing a blood drive, planting trees with Bridging the Gap, serving children and families at Children’s Mercy Hospital, beautifying school centers at earlystART, skill-sharing with small business owners at GIFT KC, serving in the warehouse at Giving the Basics, packaging food donations at Harvesters Community Food Bank, harvesting for the fall at Indigenous Community Center (ICC), helping to eliminate food deserts with Kanbe’s Markets, urban gardening with KC Community Gardens, supporting Melissa’s Second Chances, cooking meals at Nourish KC, repurposing recycled materials at Scraps KC, cooking meals at Thelma’s Kitchen, restoring historic gravestones at Union Hill Cemetery, building tiny homes at Veterans Community Project, registering voters, supporting Westside Community Action Network (CAN), and creative projects with Young Women on the Move
• VMLY&R Los Angeles — Volunteering with Midnight Mission & the Union Rescue Mission Warehouse preparing meals and sorting donations
• VMLY&R Memphis — Volunteering at Youth Villages, a local youth and family services organization. We will be participating in activities with the youth and helping with campus cleanup! 
• VMLY&R Miami — Cleaning litter from Bill Baggs State Park, planting produce at a community garden in Overtown, helping to maintain the grounds at the historic Vizcaya Museum & Gardens, making memory enrichment packages for the elderly with United Way, serving meals through the Chapman Partnership, and helping with senior care at the Signature Healthcare Center of Waterford
• VMLY&R Minneapolis — Volunteering at Sleep in Heavenly Peace, building beds for underprivileged youth in the community
• VMLY&R Nashville — Metro Animal Care & Control, making enrichment treats for dogs, walking dogs and helping support needs of the animal facility 
• VMLY&R New Jersey — Sorting and packaging food donations for the Community Food Bank of New Jersey
• VMLY&R New York City — Beautifying a residential space for the Ali Forney Center, helping Bottom Line high school students with their resumes, serving warm meals for the Bowery Mission, working on a marketing project for Black Trans Femmes in the Arts (BTFA), delivering meals for City Meals on Wheels, hosting a diaper drive and serving at the warehouse for Little Essentials, helping to prevent opioid overdoses with Next Harm Reduction, harvesting food with Our New Way Garden, renovating a park in Harlem with Partnerships for Parks, packaging emergency response meals with Rise Against Hunger, helping to create recreation accessibility with Rocking the Boat, virtual skill-sharing with small business owners through Start Small Think Big, and cleaning Rockaway Beach with Surfrider
• VMLY&R Health New York City — Running half-day workshop with the National Breast Cancer Foundation to identify key moments that matter for Hispanic women dealing with breast cancer risk or diagnosis
• VMLY&R Rogers — Volunteering with Apple Seeds, NWA Trailblazers, Botanical Garden of the Ozarks and Community Creative Center
• VMLY&R San Francisco — Combating food insecurity by volunteering at a local food bank 
• VMLY&R Seattle — Partnering with Vote Forward, PAWS animal shelter, ACRS food bank, Club Bamboo Kitchen, DNDA Nature Consortium, Farmer Frog, Lifelong and Green City Partnerships 
• VMLY&R Washington, D.C. — Volunteering in the food pantry at Bread for the City

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About VMLY&R

VMLY&R is a global brand and customer experience agency that harnesses creativity, technology, and culture to create connected brands. Named a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Global Marketing Agencies for five consecutive years, VMLY&R is made up of more than 13,000 employees worldwide with principal offices in Kansas City, New York, Detroit, London, São Paulo, Shanghai, Singapore and Sydney. The agency is behind award-winning campaigns for blue-chip client partners including Colgate-Palmolive, Danone, Dell, Ford, Intel, New Balance, Pfizer and Wendy's. For more information, visit www.vmlyr.com. VMLY&R is a WPP company (NYSE: WPP).