Brett Bogan, director investigations, is one of the RE Cares Champions in the Dayton region. He talks about the program:
Q: What is a RE Cares Champion?
A: Each location of the LexisNexis parent company, RELX Group, designates RE Cares Champions who help drive the program at the local level. RE Cares is our global community program that supports employee and corporate engagement through volunteering and giving. I am one of four RE Cares Champions for the Dayton area. I also lead a committee of about 20 employees who work on various RE Cares initiatives throughout the year and chair the Grant Fund subcommittee.
Q: How did the LexisNexis Cares Grant Fund get started, and what is the purpose behind your workplace giving?
A: The LexisNexis Cares Employee Grant Fund was started by one of the early leaders of the company's community relations program. The purpose of the fund is to demonstrate how small donations by employees can make a large impact in the community when they are pooled together. Most of the money contributed to the fund is through payroll deduction giving by our Dayton and locally home-based employees. There may be some special events during the year that raise additional funds. The fund distributes 100 percent of collected monies with all administrative costs covered by LexisNexis.
Q: What is the charitable philosophy behind LexisNexis and RELX Group?
A: We believe our greatest contribution to the community is to empower employees to make a difference in the lives of others. Through the RE Cares program, we provide each employee two paid days off per year to volunteer with the charity of their choice and two additional days for attorneys and non-attorneys to perform pro bono work. Additionally, we match employee contributions to nonprofits up to $1,000 per employee per year. We have found this is the best way to provide a broad range of support to the community and focus on what is important to our employees and their communities.
Q: How are grants awarded, and do you have a particular focus for your grantmaking?
A: We award grants twice per year based on grant applications received by our spring and fall funding deadlines. The focus areas for our parent company's Corporate Responsibility program align with our business strengths and are: universal, sustainable access to information; advancement of science and health; protection of society; promotion of the rule of law and access to justice.
Within those areas, we have keen focus on education for disadvantaged young people and support for the rule of law. Outside of the global initiatives, we look for an impact on education and young people in the Dayton area, as well as health and human services, fostering communities, and arts and culture.
Over the years we have developed relationships with many local nonprofits to the point where we feel like we are a partner in helping the organization deliver a valued service in the community.
Q: How does The Dayton Foundation help you help others?
A: With The Dayton Foundation maintaining our fund and handling the administrative aspects, we can focus our time and energy on building community relationships and encouraging our employees to be more involved in our RE Cares programs. Our employees' contributions go to nonprofits instead of administrative fees if we had to maintain our own foundation.
Q: What inspires you about this community?
A: As a lifelong resident of the Miami Valley, I have seen the ups and downs in the region. The common denominator with each cycle or significant event is the resilience of the citizens and leaders and their ability to bounce back and overcome challenges. The history of Dayton is ripe with inspiring stories of innovation and of successes achieved that were against the odds. Everybody should be encouraged about the future of the area based on the foundation from which the region was built.
Q: How can a nonprofit learn more about your grantmaking guidelines?
A: More information about the LexisNexis Cares Employee Grant Fund, including our guidelines and application, are available online at www.lexisnexis.com/en-us/about-us/corporate-responsibility/recares.page.
Q: How would you complete this sentence, “My giving makes me feel ____”?
A: … connected and engaged in the issues that are important in the community.
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