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Responding to the dire need that countless families face during the coronavirus pandemic, the organizations behind Giving Tuesday — which for the past several years has fallen on the first Tuesday after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday — launched today's Giving Tuesday Now.

Today’s global fundraising push is happening in addition to the one scheduled for later this year on Dec. 1. This movement is now urging citizens to donate what they can afford, or help however they can, in order to stop the spread of this virus and support those affected. These five organizations show what today's fundraising effort is all about.

Facebook

Say what you want about Facebook, but it’s been one of Giving Tuesday Now’s critical communications partners for this spring’s fundraising push. The social network says it has contributed $20 million in matching donations for today’s efforts, and it is hosting this resource page to provide ideas for people willing to donate time or resources.

Keep America Beautiful

This nonprofit, which has advocated for community improvement, neighborhood beautification and litter removal for almost 70 years, is taking a different approach for today’s event. Keep America Beautiful has launched a “virtual park” in which people can interact and learn about community beautification in a digital environment. Participants can earn points by completing various activities and, in the end, help identify the next site for one of this organization’s community beautification projects once it reaches a fundraising target — and, of course, when volunteers can finally safely work together again.

PayPal

One of the key supporters of Giving Tuesday Now, PayPal has launched fundraising efforts to support six global nonprofits. The fintech giant is also partnering with the Cherie Blair Foundation to provide virtual mentoring sessions for women entrepreneurs across the globe. PayPal is working with credit card companies to arrange ways for consumers to donate any rewards to charity, too.

T-Mobile

The mobile carrier says it will mobilize resources during this day of giving in order to support and recognize the work of frontline healthcare workers. T-Mobile has promised to donate 500,000 medical face masks to the CDC Foundation. In addition, the company is donating funds generated from the purchases of cell phone accessories (up to $100,000) to a Boys and Girls Clubs of America fund that is helping to provide childcare services for healthcare workers. A day-long social media campaign serving to thank these frontline healthcare workers is also part of T-Mobile’s plan for Giving Tuesday Now.

The Thanks-Giving Foundation

There’s no shortage of local nonprofits that need our help so they can continue doing good work within their communities. So, if we highlight one such organization, it’s this Dallas-based nonprofit, which seeks to bring together people of different backgrounds and faiths in order to build mutual respect and understanding. The group has launched an effort that seeks to accomplish two tasks: Show healthcare workers appreciation while keeping local restaurants in business. The Serving Up Gratitude program seeks donations to purchase a meal from a local restaurant and then sends it on to a local healthcare worker or first responder. Visitors to this site can nominate a person who he or she feels is deserving of such a gesture.

Giving Tuesday Now a timely response to nonprofits' struggles

At a time when we’ve seen pitches from companies that say they are doing good by donating fruit cups or slices of pizza, programs driven by compassion and authenticity, like this one run by the Thanks-Giving Foundation, show how funding one good deed can take care of two huge challenges with which COVID-19 has burdened local communities.

In any event, nonprofits across the U.S. are on the brink as fundraising activities have been shelved and families fearful they could have to file for unemployment at any moment are cutting back on spending. Today's event is making it clear that any little bit of cash or time can help.

Curious how you can donate some cash, your time or even some kind words? The people behind Giving Tuesday Now offer plenty of ideas here.

Image credit: Sharon McCutcheon/Unsplash

The White House is pushing to “reopen America” even as the country recorded its highest daily death toll from COVID-19 on Friday. Shopping mall operators are eager to see customers wander amongst their stores, if anyone is in a mood to buy as consumers tighten their belts while some of the country’s most iconic retail brands teeter closer to bankruptcy. But if retailers, or companies in any sector for that matter, are to reopen, their first priority should be their employees. Starbucks is showing that the wisest approach is not barreling into a reopening, but taking an approach retailers and restaurants could describe as a “soft relaunch.”

Starbucks again opens its doors, sort of

The odds are high that the Starbucks closest to your home reopened yesterday. The coffee giant says that by this weekend, up to 85 percent of its stores across the U.S. will have reopened. By early June, that ratio could reach 90 percent.

For now, however, it will be some time before your local Starbucks once again becomes that “third place.” Don’t count on poaching the store’s free Wi-Fi to do some remote work any time soon. At many locations, you'll only be able to walk in far enough to claim your drink. And the company is going beyond cashless transactions — for the time being, you’ll only be able to order via the Starbucks mobile app at what were once sit-down locations - unless the location has a drive-through.

Considering that, as a publicly-owned company and iconic brand, it’s always in Wall Street’s crosshairs, Starbucks didn’t have to take such drastic steps. The company could surely generate more revenue in the short term if it allowed customers to queue outside as long as they stayed six feet apart and could pay with cash or a credit card.

But it’s clear Starbucks is taking such actions to look out for their employees. After all, while most of us are respecting requests to follow social distancing rules and take steps such as wearing face masks, we’ve all witnessed our fair share of intimidation and bad actors. It’s easy to push back and say the most extreme forms of despicable behavior making the newswires are rare or to sigh with a “tsk, tsk” from afar, but imagine if you were that employee who was the brunt of such obnoxious, entitled behavior. Just one horrid viral video could make Starbucks’ relaunch go sideways, so the best approach is to be hyper-cautious from day one.

As you reopen, make it clear: Your employees’ peace of mind comes first

Acknowledging how many of customers feel about their Starbucks routine, the company’s CEO, Kevin Johnson, recently said: “We think of the third place as a mindset — a feeling of comfort that uplifts customers everywhere, and in every way, they experience Starbucks. And the third place has never been more relevant than now, as communities seek to reconnect and heal.”

One could dismiss those words as the craftsmanship of a seasoned communications professional, but Starbucks is backing up that prose with action. Healing, after all, will take a long time. As widely reported, the company is continuing to offer its store employees “catastrophe pay” through the end of this month, based on their baseline hours. Employees who choose to work will make an extra $3 an hour during this time.

Consistency is also key as Starbucks continues to flick on the light switch at more of its stores: Locations with the conventional café format will for the most part have limited hours. Giving a sense that everyone is in this together, and that everyone will be treated the same, matters for both the company’s employees and its customers.

The bottom line: Trust in in short supply now

The employees at the Starbucks location 3p visited today gave a sense that they were not only pleased, if not excited, to be back at work, but that they were being looked after, too. Hand sanitizer was readily available. Face masks of all colors and patterns were worn. Working hours are limited for now (12 hours a week), but these employees felt as if they were taken care of and, most importantly, they were heard.

And therein lies the biggest difference between what’s happening at Starbucks compared to companies in other industries: Many workers feel as if they are not being heard or talked to — and they are tired of company executives talking at them.

One narrative during this crisis is that trust between many employees and employers has plummeted. This pandemic and the economic crisis have made many employees feel not as humans, but as line items in a spreadsheet. It’s true that no company could have planned for this upheaval, and no plan is perfect. Nevertheless, Starbucks offers corporate America a template on how to leverage a company’s most resilient asset during these times: its people.

Image credit: Leon Kaye

We’ve seen countless people repeatedly open their wallets and hearts during this time. For example, if you’re following late-night hosts including Trevor Noah (Feeding America) and Seth Meyers (City Harvest) online, you’re aware that you can donate as little as $1 to your charities of choice — and YouTube is fronting the cost of any transaction fees. Such giving can accelerate tomorrow, thanks to the efforts of the coalition that brought us Giving Tuesday.

Giving Tuesday Now is about more than donating cash

As a response to the emergency countless individuals and families face during the COVID-19 pandemic, this movement — which has driven charitable giving on the first Tuesday after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday — is planning for Giving Tuesday Now, which is tomorrow, May 5. Tomorrow's day-long drive will occur in addition to the one scheduled for later this year on December 1. This movement is now urging citizens to donate what they can to help the millions of people who suddenly find themselves in need.

Supporters of tomorrow’s virtual giving drive include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, PayPal, and foundations linked to Ford, Fidelity and the founders of Hewlett Packard.

Giving Tuesday Now has four primary areas of focus: support for healthcare workers by donating supplies; continuing to give to one’s favorite nonprofit organizations; helping small businesses by purchasing gift cards; and reaching out to those who are most vulnerable due to self-quarantining at this time.

What if money is tight?

Yes, those donations of $1 or $5 can make a huge difference if thousands join you — fans of Seth Meyers, for example, have alone donated more than $115,000 to City Harvest’s efforts to provide food to New York City families suffering due to COVID-19.

But in fairness, many of us are watching our bank accounts at the moment. A good number of us do have time, however. To that end, Points of Light is maintaining an extensive list of ways in which people can volunteer their time virtually via an internet connection.

Are you inspired to revamp your company’s volunteering policy at a time when your colleagues are working remotely? Common Impact has a resource guide with ideas on how your organization can virtually volunteer from the safety of home.

How can I ensure the donations I make can scale up?

Check in with your company to see what other resources for philanthropic giving are available. You know the drill — many of us get the human resources download on day one of a new job, and then we eventually forget the services available to us. There’s a good chance your company is harnessing a platform that makes charitable contributions easy — services include Benevity, Cybergrants, DonationXchange and Oracle NetSuite Social Impact.

I’ve been so focused on balancing work and homeschooling I missed out. What can I do?

The reality of this crisis is that our way of life will remain disrupted for the long term. So, we can sigh and toggle over to streaming videos, or we can educate ourselves on how we can rethink work, learning and, yes, philanthropy as a result of COVID-19. One of many excellent resources is the Stanford Social Innovation Review’s series “Rethinking Social Change in the Face of Coronavirus.” This series is a treasure trove of articles with ideas that range from how nonprofits can pivot during this crisis to how public-private partnerships in other countries can inspire ideas on ways various organizations can work together.

Umbrella organizations that connect government and private-sector employers with nonprofits, such as America’s Charities, also offer ideas on how to turn your concern and inspiration into action.

Image credit: Ron Smith/Unsplash

President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order that puts a stop to most immigrants entering the U.S. for 60 days, right at a time when many states have begun a phased reopening of businesses and activities.

The order freezes green card approval but exempts farmworkers and other essential workers. The stated reasoning for this order was not to support stay-at-home requirements that aim to prevent the spread of coronavirus, but to help with the economic recovery.

In his statement, the president said: “By pausing immigration, we’ll help put unemployed Americans first in line for jobs as America reopens. So important. It would be wrong and unjust for Americans laid off by the virus to be replaced with new immigrant labor flown in from abroad.”

Research has shown, however, that closing borders doesn’t benefit the American workforce or the economy. The reality is that immigrants drive economic progress and help create new jobs.

Immigrants have helped keep the U.S. running during crisis

During the novel coronavirus pandemic, immigrant workers have been on the front lines as essential workers in hospitals, grocery stores and within the transportation sector. While first-generation immigrants make up about 14 percent of the United States population, they contribute much more than their share as essential workers.

Immigrants represent 17 percent of healthcare workers, including almost 30 percent of physicians, 16 percent of registered nurses and 37 percent of home health aides, according to ongoing reporting by the research and advocacy organization New American Economy (NAE).

Immigrants also make up 17 percent of grocery workers, 18 percent of food delivery workers and 22 percent of food-sector workers. Almost three-quarters of agricultural hand packers and packagers are immigrants.

Immigrants create jobs

According to NAE's research, immigrants aren’t taking jobs that U.S.-born individuals would have otherwise claimed. In many cases, these workers are filling industry-wide shortages. As an example, in 2018, more than 27 healthcare practitioner jobs were available for every unemployed healthcare worker.

In fact, research has shown that immigrants do more than essential work. A 2018 study by the National Foundation for American Policy showed that increasing the flow of eligible workers from other countries reduces the unemployment rate of U.S. natives in the same gender and education groups.

The American Civil Liberties Union also notes that it’s easy to point to the jobs immigrants fill, but it's more difficult to shine a light on the jobs they create. And if it’s a number you’re looking for, $90 billion is how much non-resident workers pay in taxes every year — contrast that with the $5 billion in welfare they accept from the system.

Business groups have pushed back at the shift in immigration policy. “If you really want to harm the U.S. economy, then shut immigration down,” Michael Schutzler, CEO of the Washington Technology Industry Association, told the Seattle Times last month. “If [the president] wants to restart the economy, it’s not going to be by restricting access to the people that create jobs in the United States.”

Immigrants are on the front lines without a safety net

While immigrant communities uplift the economy, they have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, especially as many essential workers are asked to continue normal daily routines, in some cases without adequate support systems.

For undocumented immigrants, life during the crisis may be particularly challenging, especially as those individuals don’t qualify for government assistance, including the stimulus payment allocated via Internal Revenue Service channels. This is despite the fact that many undocumented immigrants choose to pay taxes every year, totaling billions in tax revenue.

A bill limiting immigration doesn’t only anchor economic recovery, but it also encourages the narrative that immigrants leech off society instead of buoying it up and does a disservice to communities that are already unfairly disadvantaged.

As Frank Sharry, executive director of the immigration advocacy group America’s Voice, told Time magazine: “At a time of crisis, when America needs a certain segment of its society to keep functioning so that we can all be safe and healthy, a significant chunk of that indispensable workforce is not formally recognized as Americans. [They are] are risking their lives in order to serve the country they call home.” Immigrants deserve better; all of America deserves better as we attempt economic recovery after months of inertia.

Image credit: Pixabay

One of the tragedies of this crisis is that whether one’s industry is looked after or not depends on its relationship, which usually involves fawning, with the White House. If you push back, or show no sign of groveling, the feds could use the Defense Production Act (DPA) as a bullwhip against your company on their terms, as our senior reporter, Tina Casey, distilled here on TriplePundit a few weeks ago in her profile on GM, Mary Barra and the dire need for ventilators. But if you are part of a city agency or nonprofit running vital services like community centers, forget it.

The powerful are favored while those lacking the right connections suffer

Meanwhile, the Trump administration is looking out for the meatpacking industry with an executive order that purports to protect the U.S. food supply overwhelmed with challenges. Such a chess move sounds like a noble cause — until one realizes that under Trump's recent executive order, meat companies will be allowed to carry on as if it were business as usual, while workers have no recourse to ensure their health and safety. The president was widely quoted as saying the executive order’s purpose is to “solve any liability problems where they had certain liability problems and we’ll be in very good shape.”

Meanwhile, the largest owner of shopping malls in the U.S., Simon Property Group, said last week it was determined to open almost 50 of its malls across the southeastern states over the past weekend, though as of press time the company’s malls in the Atlanta region will not open until today. It just so happens that David Simon, CEO of Simon Property Group, is on the president’s “reopen the economy” task force.

Community centers, and the citizens they serve, need help fast

Let’s discuss what is not in good shape: Vital community services across the nation are at a breaking point. Domestic violence shelters, community centers serving the LGBTQ community, and places where vulnerable children can feel safe and welcome are for the most part shuttered.

So here’s a question: If shopping mall property managers can put in the time and resources to space out seating at food courts while taping off urinals in order to ensure social distancing, why can’t real estate and property management companies consider taking similar action to offer a safe space for those who are most at risk?

Think about it: Those hunkering down at a domestic violence shelter (or at home) could use a break from the daily routine. Kids who suffer from a chaotic home life could benefit from a place to complete their homework. And a queer person who suddenly lost his or her job and is now forced to live in an insufferable, if not abusive, situation would at a minimum have the opportunity to savor a safe space for a few precious hours daily.

Shopping malls have plenty of “safe space”

Shopping malls are a near perfect place to provide a safe and quiet haven during the day — and honestly, for the “dead malls” scattered across America, with some thought and planning, they could serve as community centers as well. To start, these cavernous shopping malls certainly have plenty of space — these massive buildings could certainly offer different services to different groups of vulnerable people. For those property managers skittish on having these services in plain view in their malls’ center courts or under the main atrium, fine; those empty retail spaces would suffice.

Considering the size of these places, mall operators can work with community organizations to enforce social distancing. Together, they can also require masks and protective equipment, or work with local businesses and government agencies to provide these and other supplies such as disinfectants. Tech and wireless companies could provide mobile hotspots. And if our food supply could ever stabilize, local organizations could provide meals or snacks, too. Finally, as far services such as counseling or tutoring go, there is no shortage of kind-hearted people who have the time on their hands if the right precautions — such as taking a temperature at the door and getting those hand sanitizer stands set up — are taken.

Such a move wouldn’t generate eye-catching headlines. It certainly wouldn’t be popular with the entitled part of our citizenry who turn away as frontline healthcare workers and people of color suffer the most during this pandemic, only to be furious when these same people are told they can’t get a haircut or go to the beach. But bottom line: It would show be the right thing to do — and allow the wider real estate industry an opportunity to show this sector is willing to be of service, too.

Image credit: Stephen Yu/Pixabay

The COVID-19 crisis has touched off an explosive public health crisis in the U.S. In doing so, it has also exposed the dark underbelly of an economy that relies on underpaid gig workers and other part-time, low-wage workers to keep essential services going. As May Day approached closer on our calendars, many of these workers have become frustrated with the fact that they are often putting themselves at risk of infection, while their services enable many other people to stay safe at home. Hence the call for a May Day Strike.

The pluses and minuses of gig work

Back in 2015, Triple Pundit took a look at the emerging gig economy through the eyes of Ai-Jen Poo, Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance.

She noted that gig work has made important contributions to the economy and does have some important benefits. She cited flexibility, work-life balance, extra income, and monetization of existing assets like cars and living space.

However, as any traditional freelancer knows, there are challenges. Gig-by-gig income is inconsistent, work-related costs must be factored in, and there are few if any of the protections afforded to regular employees.

This has been an ongoing complaint of drivers working for app-based transportation companies. Protections afforded to full-time employees, such as severance pay, disability leave, paid time off, sick days, workers compensation and health insurance are not available for gig workers.

It’s clear companies need to find a middle ground. Companies wish to preserve the innovation and options, and workers in turn just want fairly compensated work with the protections other employees take for granted. But the problems gig workers keep confronting day after day aren't getting better from their perspective - and therein are the calls for today's May Day Strike.

Gig work as a pyramid scheme

Five years on, it is clear that Ai-Jen Poo’s vision of a middle ground is further away than ever. The problems she and other critics have cited in regards to gig economy platforms have worsened with the growth of additional app-based systems that consolidate independent labor on a mass scale.

It is a mathematical formula for extreme income inequality. In contrast to traditional freelance or contract work, the app-based formula enables those at the top of the pyramid to reap substantial rewards, while providing no incentive to redistribute wages and benefits to those at the bottom.

In 2019, a Federal Reserve report on economic well-being noted that gig work can serve as a “coping strategy” for households on shaky financial ground. However, the report also suggests that gig work is more of a preserver of the status quo rather than a ladder up.

“Signs of financial fragility—such as difficulty handling an emergency expense—are slightly more common for those engaged in gig work, but markedly higher for those who do so as a main source of income,” the report stated.

The problem is not confined to app-based companies like Uber, Lyft, and Instacart. They draw most of the media attention, but the Federal Reserve report noted that the overwhelming majority of gig workers do not use the Internet for work.

In a related trend, over the past years traditional companies have been transitioning to the gig model. They have been relying more heavily on part-time employees, temporary workers, and contractors, creating what some critics have called a “caste system” separating regular employees from those with lower wages and little or no benefits.

Adding to the problem is the emergence of “on-call” scheduling and other alternatives to regular part-time work.

“Unpredictable work schedules are associated with financial stress for some,” the Federal Reserve wrote, further explaining that “one-quarter of employees have a varying work schedule, including 17 percent whose schedule varies based on their employer’s needs.”

“One-third of workers who do not control their schedule are not doing okay financially, versus one-fifth of workers who set their schedule or have stable hours,” the Federal Reserve added.

Workers on the front lines of COVID-19 seek fairness in May Day Strike

The COVID-19 crisis has thrown all of these issues into sharp relief. Many of these same workers, including grocery and pharmacy clerks, delivery workers, and warehouse workers, continue to put themselves at risk of infection simply by doing their jobs — jobs they cannot afford to give up.

With more than a little irony, many of those jobs involve providing essential services to others, including persons who are able to work from the safety of their homes during the outbreak, and who can afford to pay for services that enable them to stay safely at home.

The disconnect between worker risk and compensation has begun to draw more public attention. Adding fuel to the fire, organizers have announced a nationwide walkout and sickout protest on May Day focusing on Amazon. Instacart — against which workers protested last month — Target, Shipt (a division of Target), Whole Foods, Walmart and FedEx are also reportedly the target of gig workers seeking hazard pay and improved health and safety standards as a result from this May Day Strike.

Regardless of the outcome of today’s protest action, the twin issues of worker risk and compensation are not going away.

As some employers push for an early end to stay-at-home orders aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19, workers faced with a true life-or-death situation are all the more likely to push back. We'll see today if the May Day Strike resonates with citizens.

Image credit: Mick Haupt/Unsplash

(Image: Face masks come off the assembly line at a Ford plant in Michigan, part of the company's efforts to retool in response to COVID-19.)

When it comes to corporate action in the face of a global crisis, it's one thing to write a check. Monetary donations are surely helpful for the nonprofits and community groups being pushed to the brink by the coronavirus pandemic, but most consider payouts in the millions of dollars as table stakes moves for multibillion-dollar companies.

A smaller group is going further by getting creative to retool their operations, supply chains, people and products to produce critical supplies needed by those on the front lines. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but these 15 companies stood out to us over the past six weeks. 

H&M

Soon after the crisis hit, fast-fashion giant H&M began rearranging its supply chain to source and produce protective equipment for healthcare workers on the front lines. The first round of 100,000 face masks was delivered to Spanish and Italian hospitals two weeks ago, and an H&M supplier is in the process of producing 1 million long-sleeve, protective aprons for Swedish hospitals, the company wrote on LinkedIn.  

Honeywell

While ramping up production of its N95 respirator masks, Honeywell is temporarily shifting operations at two chemical manufacturing plants to produce hand sanitizer. Sites in Muskegon, Michigan, and Seelze, Germany, will produce sanitizer over the next two months for donation to the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Germany's Saxony Ministry of Health, Social Affairs and Equality, according to the company.

Reformation

Los Angeles-based sustainable fashion brand Reformation connected with Mayor Eric Garcetti to form LA Protects, an effort to mobilize local manufacturers to make 5 million face masks for use in the city. The indie brand converted its LA factory to produce masks using fabrics from its nearby warehouse, and it's recruiting other garment manufacturers in the city to do the same. 

As is generally the case on this list, the masks are not medical-grade and are meant to be used by individuals, patients, workers in essential sectors and non-medical staff in hospitals, according to LA protects. The initiative partnered with Kaiser Permanente to develop design specifications to ensure the non-medical masks are effective for their purposes. Reformation, in particular, is focusing on homeless shelters.

Nordstrom

Luxury retailer Nordstrom is the single largest employer of tailors in the U.S. With the help of an existing partner, Kaas Tailored, members of Nordstrom's alteration teams in Washington, Oregon, Texas, California, New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Florida and Washington, D.C. are on a mission to sew nearly 1 million masks. They'll be routed to frontline healthcare workers across two major hospital networks, Providence Health & Services and Ascension. 

(Image: The powered air-purifying respirator (PAPR), designed by Ford in collaboration with 3M.)

Ford

Ford is partnering with 3M to produce medical equipment on its auto assembly lines. The automaker designed what it calls a powered air-purifying respirator, or PAPR, which fits over the face and provides filtered air for up to eight hours, allowing healthcare staff to work in contaminated environments without fear of contracting the virus. 

Paid volunteers from the United Auto Workers union (UAW) are assembling the respirators at Ford's plant near Flat Rock, Michigan, using modified auto parts such as rechargeable batteries and fans from the Ford F-150. The plant has the capacity to produce 100,000 of these respirators or more, according to Ford.

A nearby plant in Plymouth, Michigan, will produce 3 million face shields, and the company is working with its supplier Joyson Safety Systems to manufacture reusable medical gowns from airbag materials. It's also churning out face masks at its transmission plant in collaboration with the UAW. 

SC Johnson

In partnership with Dow, privately-held household products company SC Johnson has converted a line at its largest manufacturing facility in Wisconsin to produce 75,000 bottles of hand sanitizer per month. The sanitizer will be donated to frontline and essential workers, including hospital staff, first responders and manufacturing employees, according to the company. 

Brooks Brothers

At the end of March, Brooks Brothers transitioned its three U.S. factories from producing shirts and ties to surgical masks and medical gowns for frontline healthcare workers battling COVID-19. The up to 150,000 masks the company plans to make per day are not on par with the N95 respirators used in highly infectious environments. But the company is working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to expedite the process to have them approved as surgical-grade masks, CEO Claudio Del Vecchio told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street."

Hanesbrands 

In late March, Hanesbrands joined with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and seven other clothing companies to produce so-called “HHS-certified” masks. The company aims to produce up to 75 million masks made from the same three-ply jersey cotton used in T-shirts, and the coalition may collectively produce over 300 million masks, a Hanesbrands representative told Fast Company. 

Bacardi 

Bacardi is shifting operations at eight of its distilleries in the continental U.S., Puerto Rico, Mexico, France, England, Italy and Scotland to make the ethanol needed to manufacture hand sanitizer. Factories producing Bacardi brands like Grey Goose vodka and Bombay gin will provide enough ethanol for more than 260,000 gallons of hand sanitizer for donation to communities in need, as well as first responders and essential workers, the company said. 

GM

In mid March, General Motors partnered with Ventec to retool its Kokomo, Indiana, plant to produce ventilators, which are needed for patients who are seriously ill from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. GM shipped a total of 600 ventilators during the month of April, and it expects to fulfill the federal government's 30,000 ventilator order by the end of August, CNN reported. The first round headed to hospitals in Chicago and Gary, Indiana, two weeks ago.

The automaker also claims to have converted its Warren, Michigan, facility to produce face masks in less than seven days. The plant now has the capacity to churn out an estimated 1.5 million masks a month, according to the company — and it shared the fast-turnaround production plans with the Michigan Manufacturers Association, made up of nearly 1,700 companies, to expand mask production across the state. 

(Image: Brown-Forman's R&D department created their own hand sanitizer recipe and put it into production.) 

Brown-Forman

The research and development team at spirits company Brown-Forman created their own hand sanitizer recipe and put it into production. The company's manufacturing workers will use it to help keep them safe, and the rest will be donated to first responders and healthcare workers in the communities surrounding its Jack Daniel's distillery in Louisville, Kentucky. 

LVMH

In mid March, luxury goods conglomerate LVMH — which includes brands like Christian Dior and Givenchy — switched production lines from perfume and cosmetics to hand sanitizers. It sent the resulting product to French health authorities and hospitals, being one of the first major companies to do this.

L'Oréal

L'Oréal's North American manufacturing facilities are producing hand sanitizer for donation to U.S. employees, partners and healthcare professionals. It also sent surgical and N95 respirator masks from its operations facilities in North Little Rock, Arkansas, and Franklin, New Jersey, to local hospital systems in each surrounding community.

FedEx

FedEx used its air shipping network to transport more than 450,000 protective suits and 7 million face masks, along with other critical healthcare supplies, to the U.S. over the past two weeks. The logistics giant is looking to ship more than 500,000 suits per week over the next month in partnership with DuPont. Additional mask and supply shipments are also expected through another partnership with healthcare supplies company Medline Industries. 

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA)

At the epicenter of the coronavirus in Europe, the Italian government asked medical equipment company Siare Engineering to triple its monthly production of ventilators to cope with hospital demand. With help from Ferrari and its parent company Exor, Fiat Chrysler is now making key ventilator parts at its plant in northern Italy to help Siare answer the call. The first round started coming off the lines on April 3.

FCA also said it expects to produce 1 million face masks a month for donation to first responders and workers treating COVID-19 patients in hospitals and healthcare clinics.

Image credits: Ford, FedEx via 3BL Media, Bacardi via 3BL Media, Brown-Forman via 3BL Media

We’ve been saying time and again, for any company to show it is socially responsible, especially during a pandemic, one of the first things it can do is deploy the resources it has at hand for good. We’re seeing that now with United Airlines in Northern California.

The airline recently announced it would partner with the nonprofit Listos California, an advocacy group that works on disaster preparedness plans for vulnerable communities across the Golden State. As part of California’s Social Bridging Project, approximately 300 United Airlines employees in San Francisco, San Jose, and Los Angeles will make wellness calls to older California residents who already live alone and are now even more isolated due to the state’s shelter-in-place order.

The decision to have United’s employees involved makes absolute sense from a logistics point of view. These individuals are already well trained in customer service — and day after day during the best of times, call center employees have to deal with irate customers angry over delayed or canceled flights. While speaking to lonely and vulnerable citizens presents a different set of challenges, any experienced customer service representative should be able to take on such calls. Furthermore, while countless citizens want to volunteer their time but find it difficult to find such opportunities during this era of self-quarantining, United Airlines now has an opportunity to engage employees at a time when many have their own fears and worries.

According to Listos California, it was United that suggested this idea. “We are profoundly grateful to all of our compassionate employees who will be using their experience and training to bring some much-needed comfort to our state's most vulnerable residents during these difficult times," said Janet Lamkin, United Airlines’ regional president in California.

United’s previous relief efforts during this pandemic have included donating food and assisting with deliveries to food banks at its Houston hub. The airline has also arranged to fly medical volunteers to COVID-19 hotspots in New York, New Jersey and California.  And at a maintenance hub in San Francisco, employees have pivoted to make hand sanitizer.

Other airlines have stepped up as well. JetBlue has said it will do what it can to help get much-needed personal protective equipment (PPE) to regions that need it.  In the western U.S., the Alaska Airlines’ foundation has donated meals and pledged financial contributions to food banks to fight hunger. Yet United could provide other airlines ideas on how to leverage one of their greatest assets: their call centers.

Image credit: United Airlines/3BL Media

If one thing is increasingly clear from this COVID-19 era, it’s that countless millions of Americans – and even more global citizens elsewhere – will grow poorer from it. And this matters immensely for climate change.

Why? First, remember that climate action embodies two halves: mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and adaptation to physical impacts. Poverty relates to each in very different ways.

Take climate change mitigation and how it relates to poverty. Mitigation actions include enhanced energy efficiency, especially in industrial, commercial and multifamily properties, utility-scale renewable energy and public transit investments. If done well and with intensity, all of these down the road will diminish climate change impacts on poor people and – and all people.

Of course, if you first want to explore how to decrease poverty while increasing climate change mitigation, you might focus on distributed energy generation in poorer neighborhoods; jobs for the poor in renewable energy; and public transit to employment, day care and school. Yet, as many investors will maintain, these initiatives may deliver less impact dollar for dollar on greenhouse gas reductions than would utility-scale renewables, transit infrastructure, and commercial and industrial energy efficiency.

Thus, the intersection of poverty reduction and greenhouse gas reduction may be less of a priority for the market.

COVID-19 exacerbates three huge climate change risks

So, pivoting to climate change adaptation – i.e., decreasing physical risk – how does it relate to poverty in America? Risk has three components: hazard, exposure and vulnerability. As for hazard, whether you’re poor or rich, each of us faces the same climate change peril. That is, the same scorching heat, sea level rise and wildfires.

As for exposure, those who live in harm’s way – along coasts or rivers or in the wildfire/urban interface – are more exposed to these hazards. To be sure, as a global recession strikes, there might theoretically be a decrease in climate change exposure, as demand declines for new housing along the flood-prone coasts and rivers or in wetlands and marshes. This also may stem the tide of older people continuing to move to the coast to live out their retirement dreams. Poverty has a way of quashing those aspirations.

The biggest intersection of physical climate change impact and poverty is vulnerability. That’s because the poorer you are, the higher your vulnerability – to most anything. When you lose your house or car in a flood or fire, you have fewer resources for alternate housing or transportation, when your asthma increases with extreme heat, you have less funds for medical care, when food prices go up due to drought, your purchasing power goes down. In the case of climate change risk, vulnerability separates the rich from the poor and illuminates the disproportionate impact of loss.

While the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions has been a “nice to do” to involve the poor in job creation adaptation to climate change is a “must do.” We must focus on poverty alleviation and serving poorer neighborhoods as the priority of climate adaptation, or the result be even more profound suffering.

What must we do?

First, focus climate change adaptation on poor neighborhoods along the coasts and rivers’ edge, improving infrastructure and establishing the means and mechanisms for poor families to move out of harm’s way. And lest you think flooding is an issue for another time, consider that by 2050, U.S. coastal floods previously expected once every half century will occur almost every year in many areas.

Next, cool cities and neighborhoods to decrease deadly pockets of extreme heat (a.k.a. urban heat islands). Ensure that the poor have access to reliable air conditioning and the ability to pay electric bills. The urban heat island effect is predicted to increase heat by half. So, when temperatures rise 2 degrees Celsius (3.6F), city heat could rise 3 degrees Celcius (5.4F). 

Finally, focus public health in poor neighborhoods to ensure that fewer people suffer from debilitating cardiopulmonary illnesses such as COPD and asthma, which become more dangerous as temperatures rise. Today under 10,000 Americans die from extreme heat each year. The federal Global Change Research Program estimates that the number of Americans who die annually from extreme heat will almost double by 2050 from the present number approaching 10,000. For high heat states like California, Florida and Louisiana, among other, climate change is expected to increase death rates by between 3.5-4%, particularly among the poor, by the end of the century.

The environmental and social impacts of COVID-19 will linger a long time

And while COVID-19 has tragically taken over 60,000 Americans’ lives, with startling percentages being lower-income Americans, estimates of future climate change deaths are also sobering. More poor Americans will die from rising temperatures and the increased frequency, intensity and duration of coastal storms. Around the world, unless climate change adaptation focuses on the poor, a tragic rise in deaths will occur from malnutrition, vector-borne disease, extreme heat exacerbating chronic illness, extreme weather-caused disruptions to health service and food supply, and deaths of despair as outdoor labor productivity plummets.

As poor Americans grow poorer in the post-COVID-19 era, this creates a priority to act on climate adaptation. If we choose to be agnostic about income levels in climate change adaptation in the same way we are in climate change mitigation, millions more Americans in the coming decade will not only be poor, they’ll be dead.

The post-coronavirus economic environment will demand extraordinary leadership from all sectors. In your climate action strategies, remember the poor.

Image credit: Victor He/Unsplash

Over the years, periods of economic hardship have drastically changed consumer spending habits. The Great Depression led to the rise of larger stores as consumers eschewed repeated visits to the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker and everyone in between. The recession of the early 1990s was followed by the rise of big-box stores as consumers became far more cost conscious. And this pandemic will also witness another huge shift.

One result of this economic meltdown: With unemployment soaring over 20 percent and 26 million jobs lost, it’s not clear how our purchasing decisions will change in the long term. But a recent survey from EY gives us a clue about how many of us will spend our money once we emerge from this pandemic and the economic wreckage accompanying it.

The big takeaway from EY’s research is that over 40 percent of consumers surveyed across five markets expect their shopping habits to change drastically. About a third said they would be willing to pay more for local brands. Roughly a quarter said they will pay more to patronize brands they can “trust,” while a similar percentage said they'll open their wallets wider for “ethical” brands.

EY’s conclusion is that this pandemic is transforming how we live in ways that are “unthinkable,” but then again, if you’ve dared to look at your Facebook feed to see how your distant relatives and high-school classmates have responded to this chaos (as well as your real friends, of course), this shift isn’t really surprising. 

Your aunt showed exasperation at the fact her credit card was charged for products she ordered online that may not come for weeks, if at all. A cousin three time zones away was dismayed that meatpacking plants have become COVID-19 hotspots as workers claimed they were kept in the dark and had no information. And that fellow you barely remember from high-school algebra class is ranting about yet another national restaurant chain that somehow finagled millions of dollars in the first round of the Paycheck Protection Program debacle. 

Flippant examples aside, this EY study suggests what we here at TriplePundit have been reminding our readers during this pandemic all along: Long after we have a vaccine and can get closer to some semblance of normalcy, we will remember the brands that stepped up, as well as the brands that stepped in it. And as for business leaders who wanted to rush back to reopening the economy while countless people suffered? Any brands associated with them will struggle to devise a strategy that doesn’t come across as some form of duck and cover.

I believe much of this shift will be driven by psychology more than any marketing messaging: For those of us taking social distancing seriously and have experienced the world only through our laptops and packages delivered to our doors, we will be quick to indulge in that feeling of community again. We’ll spend money at local restaurants and small shops out of gratitude as they went above and beyond the call of duty during this crisis. And we’ll shun the brands that, fair or not, bear any ties to what currently seems like a dystopian nightmare with no end in sight.

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Image credit: Logan Weaver/Unsplash