PositiveNRG, NRG's social responsibility arm, empowers employees, customers, and communities through positive impact initiatives. Engaging in volunteer efforts, charitable giving, disaster relief, and strategic partnerships, positiveNRG is dedicated to staying involved and active where employees live and work. Cultivating a culture of giving, positiveNRG embraces every individual and community within its family, aiming to create a positive influence and a better future for all.
On November 7-11, 2022, positiveNRG hosted the 15th annual week of giving (positiveNRG Week), bringing employees from across North America together to positively impact the communities where they live and work. Dedicated to tackling food insecurity, the team has connected and worked alongside nonprofits dedicated to addressing this pressing issue for the past couple of years. Throughout the week-long initiative, the outpouring of support was nothing short of inspiring, with hundreds of employees generously volunteering their time at soup kitchens, food banks, community and service gardens, and food distribution centers.
With an unwavering commitment to making a difference, positiveNRG aimed to increase employee volunteer participation by 15% in 2022 to match pre-pandemic involvement. Additionally, it focused on expanding the event’s reach to 25 new cities (a 15% YoY increase), providing new opportunities for employee engagement.
To bring positiveNRG Week to life, the social responsibility or positiveNRG team collaborated with the corporate brand marketing team to ideate and execute impactful philanthropy events on a large scale. The success of this endeavor hinged on seamless teamwork, not only within the team but also with other key departments. An awareness campaign, crafted in partnership with internal communications, encouraged registrations and participation from employees companywide.
To deliver a unique and polished experience, positiveNRG engaged the creative services team, resulting in custom assets like flyers, banners, videos, and digital signage for the internal campaign. The marketing team extended their collaboration to the external communications team, leveraging social media to generate awareness through engaging Instagram stories and sharing volunteer experiences post-event.
Challenges were met head-on, as the exponential increase in participating cities (30% YoY) and volunteer shifts (262% YoY) demanded resourceful solutions. Since the social responsibility team could not be at every event across North America, local employees, called Impact Leaders, were empowered to take charge and ensure a seamless volunteer experience. The team remained agile, accommodating last-minute registrations, and expanding volunteer opportunities to enable every employee to make an impact.
Through unwavering teamwork and collective determination, this companywide initiative thrived, marking a profound success for positiveNRG Week. By coalescing various departments and embracing creativity and adaptability, the team unveiled a unique and meaningful way to make a positive difference in communities, exemplifying the spirit of unity and compassion that defines the NRG family.
Thanks to the efforts of all teams involved, positiveNRG Week saw employee volunteer participation return to pre-pandemic levels, a testament to the company's commitment to fostering stronger, more resilient communities. 2022 marked a heartwarming milestone journey of collective action and camaraderie. Close to 900 volunteers (a 90% year-over-year increase in unique employee volunteers), across 30 cities and provinces throughout North America, devoted their time and energy to support 46 individual organizations during 76 events, all dedicated to promoting food security. Together, employees volunteered more than 3,200 hours and packed and prepared close to 103,500 meals and sorted almost 93,000 pounds of food during the week. As a result, NRG donated $48,000 to nonprofit partners.
Building on that momentum, NRG also sparked a wave of giving through an internal double-matching campaign. Witnessing a year-over-year increase of 197%, 60 dedicated employees from 10 different states chose to extend their benevolence further. Their contributions resulted in a total donation of $86,000 to more than 110 organizations.
In addition to our community impact, positiveNRG Week also greatly impacted the employees who participated as team leads traveled to be onsite with their teams or organized group volunteer signups to participate together. Adriana Garcia, an Executive Assistant at NRG shared, "Volunteering is important to me because it is a chance for us to come together, make a difference in the community, get away from our everyday norm, and connect with our colleagues over some laughs and fun times." These heartfelt words epitomize the joyous spirit that accompanies this week of giving back.
