VMLY&R Unites for Good on Worldwide Foundation Day

Continuing a long-standing tradition, VMLY&R will close its more than 55 offices across the globe for normal business on Thursday, Sept. 30, to give over 12,000 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 “Unite for Good,” which highlights the collective impact of all employees rolling up their sleeves to give back in meaningful ways over the same 24-hour period. Considering the ongoing pandemic, employees have the option to volunteer individually — in-person or virtually, with family members, or with agency-organized local small-group projects.

“Without a doubt, Foundation Day is the most connected day of the year for our entire agency family,” said Jon Cook, VMLY&R global CEO. “While each of us volunteers locally, we’re connected in purpose and spirit around our entire world.”

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 recently surpassed $2.5 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 Gifts program.

“The variety and breadth of projects is astounding,” said Lauren Ziegler, VMLY&R senior  manager of community outreach. “We’re inspired by the fact that the impact of Foundation Day has grown stronger and more widespread during the pandemic.”

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.

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

U.S. Community Partnerships

• VMLY&R Atlanta — Unearthing Farm & Market
• VMLY&R Austin — Austin Parks Foundation, Austin Pets Alive!, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Texas, Central Texas Food Bank
• VMLY&R Chicago — Adopt-a-Beach at Montrose Beach, Harbert-Payne Park, Heartland Alliance’s Chicago FarmWorks, Lakeview Pantry, Lincoln Park Conservatory, Working Bikes
• VMLY&R Cincinnati — Keep Cincinnati Beautiful
• VMLY&R Dallas — Afghan Allies, Carter BloodCare, Frisco Family Services, Frisco FastPacs, New Friends New Life, North Texas Food Bank, National Breast Cancer Foundation
• VMLY&R Denver — Growing Gardens in Boulder
• VMLY&R Detroit — Arts & Scraps, Forgotten Harvest, Habitat for Humanity, Motor City Mitten Mission
• VMLY&R Kalamazoo — Animal Rescue Project, First Day Shoe Fund, Kalamazoo Parks and Recreation
• VMLY&R Kansas City — Bridging the Gap, Cultivate KC, Giving the Basics, Habitat for Humanity, HappyBottoms, Harvesters — Community Food Network, Junior Achievement, NourishKC, ScrapsKC, United Inner City Services, Veterans Community Project, Westside CAN Center
• VMLY&R Memphis — Mid-South Food Bank, Memphis Animal Services, Metropolitan Inter-Faith Association, Shelby Farms Park
• VMLY&R Miami — The Allapattah Collaborative, Be the Change South Florida, Buddy System MIA, Camillus House, Green Haven Project, In Jacob’s Shoes, Ronald McDonald House
• VMLY&R Minneapolis — Ronald McDonald House of Minneapolis 
• VMLY&R Nashville — Hands On Nashville, Thistle Farms
• VMLY&R New Jersey — Community FoodBank of New Jersey
• VMLY&R New York — Ali Forney Center, Black Trans Femmes in the Arts, City Harvest, City Meals on Wheels, Little Essentials, One Love Foundation, Partnerships for Parks in Brooklyn, Surfrider Foundation
• VMLY&R Rogers — Apple Seeds, NWA Trailblazers, Samaritan Community Center
• VMLY&R San Francisco — San Francisco Food Bank
• VMLY&R Seattle — Clark County School District Mentoring Project
• VMLY&R Washington, D.C. — Rock Creek Conservancy

Global Group Volunteering Initiatives

• VMLY&Rx — Creating a volunteer program called Patient Foundation Day to help patient groups across all markets
• Scholz & Friends Germany — #HelpingFriends Rhine flooding cleanup efforts in Dusseldorf, Germany
• TAXI Canada — Honoring National Day for Truth and Reconciliation across Canada
• VMLY&R Aukland — Partnering with Lazy Sneakers, a local recycling program, as well as a women’s refugee organization
• VMLY&R Barcelona — Supporting Collserola Natural Park
• VMLY&R Buenos Aires — Volunteering with Fundación Sí, building toys and preparing meals for the homeless
• VMLY&R Bogotá — Partnering with Red de Arboles, an organization founded to reforest all areas affected by natural and human disasters
• VMLY&R Brisbane — Partnering with St Vincent de Paul Society Queensland, the organization behind the iconic Vinnies re/CYCLE retail brand
• VMLY&R Budapest — Outdoor community restoration at Budakeszi Wildlife Park
• VMLY&R Brazil — Hackathon for social startup New School
• VMLY&R Chile — Collecting donations for Fundacion Emma, which offers free programs and support for mothers in vulnerable situations
• VMLY&Rx China — Rx teams in Shanghai are going to help pediatric patients suffering from hematologic malignancies through the Patient Foundation Day program
• VMLY&R Dubai — Beautifying the community and planting trees as part of Sustainable City, Dubai
• VMLY&Rx Germany — Frankfurt Rx teams will continue their fight against domestic violence with the Women's Emergency Hotline as part of Patient Foundation Day
• VMLY&R Ho Chi Minh City — While in a very serious lockdown, employees are supporting their immediate communities through elderly care, sending food or cooking meals, and more
• VMLY&R India — Supporting a readathon with the Simbi Foundation— a foundation that supports education and learning across India and Uganda
• VMLY&Rx Japan — Rx teams in Tokyo are focusing on NPO Blood Disorder Information and Support Service Tsubasa for Patient Foundation Day
• VMLY&R Madrid — Spending the day beautifying the garden and outdoor space of a local organization supporting children and adults seriously affected by cerebral palsy, as well as volunteering at a nearby animal rescue shelter
• VMLY&R Malaysia — Individual acts of kindness
• VMLY&R Melbourne — Virtual and individual volunteer efforts
• VMLY&R Mexico City — Partnering with Voluntarios México to volunteer with RobinFood, Cruz Roja Mexicana and El Pozo de Vida
• VMLY&R Milan — Supporting the Vanzago Oasis with the World Wildlife Fund
• VMLY&R Montevideo — Hosting a food drive to support access to healthy food in Uruguay through a partnership with Redalco
• VMLY&R Nairobi —Participating in the End Period Poverty initiative for a marginalized community in Amboseli
• VMLY&R Paris — Partnering with ONF: Office national des forêts for a variety of outdoor sustainability efforts
• VMLY&R Peru — Volunteering at an all-girls orphanage: Hogar de Niñas — Hijas de la Misericordia
• VMLY&R Poland (Warsaw and Krakow) — Volunteering with a local animal shelter, beautifying wooded areas of Warsaw, and organizing a clothes and book swap for local homeless shelters
• VMLY&R Prague — Volunteer activities in district of Prague 7, cleaning and painting along the river
• VMLY&R Puerto Rico — Partnering with Corazón Azul, Inc. — an organization that offers services to adults with autism; the team will be painting, planting a garden and helping clean housing
• VMLY&R Singapore — Virtual volunteer activities with Animal Lovers League, Dignity Kitchen and PAssion WaVe
• VML&YRx Spain — Rx Spain team will be working with a patient group from Achalay that which focuses on mental health, to co-create a new campaign as part of Patient Foundation Day
• VMLY&R Sydney — Virtual and individual volunteer efforts
• VMLY&R South Africa (Cape Town and Johannesburg) — Supporting Domestic Animal Resource Group (DARG), The Underdog Project, Woodrock Animal Rescue, and Place A Pup (local animal shelters); a beach cleanup; building Matla A Bana care packs for abused and neglected children; baking bread for the Ratang Bana Bread Project; volunteering in the Impilo soup kitchen; supporting the Ipopeng senior center; and planting trees with Greenworks
• VMLY&R Thailand — Packing and delivering meal boxes to a local hospital
• VMLY&R UK — Individual neighborhood cleanup projects, and group volunteering with Living Under One Sun and the Marylebone Project
• VMLY&Rx UK — Rx UK teams will work with patient groups at Trekstock, ABC Global Alliance, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and Angioma Alliance for Patient Foundation Day
• VMLY&R Vienna — Planting trees in nearby mountain community
• VMLY&R Wellington — Partnering with Lazy Sneakers, a local recycling program, as well as a women’s refugee organization

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