Community engagement
Just as we seek to deliver positive outcomes for our clients, we take pride in being an engaged and responsible corporate citizen. For us, this means being proximate and supportive of the communities in which we work and live, contributing to positive societal impact, and mitigating negative environmental impact.
Katherine McCord Global Volunteering Group
“Once again, in 2021, our team found ways to give back to communities that needed it the most. Global employees donated to 266 unique non-profit organizations worldwide. What stood out to me was our employees’ willingness to step up whenever tragedy or challenges struck somewhere in the world."
Our firm’s leadership has always understood that engaging in fulfilling, non-work activities and being a good corporate citizen make for a much more meaningful work experience at HarbourVest.
Today, our charitable giving and volunteering program is a well-oiled machine, providing opportunities for teams from our 12 global offices to actively support causes within their local communities that are important to them.
Standing with Ukraine
The world looked on in horror this year as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sparked a humanitarian crisis and an uncertain future for Ukraine’s citizens. Colleagues at HarbourVest immediately responded by giving to organizations providing supplies, meals, and support to those in-country and those who fled to safer havens. Financial contributions were raised through employee giving and firm matches, including a peer match campaign that tripled the impact of donations to World Central Kitchen.
Global Volunteer Weeks
HarbourVest holds two Global Volunteer Weeks per year, allowing staff to work together and donate their time to local causes during business hours. Events have been held virtually during the pandemic and went hybrid in November 2021, with colleagues worldwide coming together to embrace both virtual and in-person opportunities to give back locally
2022 Summer Volunteer Weeks
300+ volunteers
2,600+ volunteer hours
Global organizations supported
Our team in Bogotã spent time with a local organization that provides support to children aged 2 through 5 with autism and Asperger syndrome. The team enjoyed working with the kids to build musical instruments with recyclable materials, and the sang and played songs together.
(HandsOn Colombia)
Our Boston staff participated in a variety of activities, including preparing and serving meals at area homeless shelters, urban farming, mentoring elementary and middle-school students, and cleaning up and beautifying local sites. We also assisted in relocating a formerly homeless family into their own apartment in a single day.
(826 Boston; Community Servings; The Esplanade; FamilyAid Boston; The Food Project; Franklin Park Zoo; Heading Home; Pine Street Inn; Rosie’s Place; St. Francis House; Victory Programs)
Boston employees also participated in a fundraising event for Boston Children’s Hospital in July 2022, putting together a team of competitors to take part in the first Corporate Cup since 2019. In all, more than 20 employees competed in an afternoon of events against 60 other companies, ending the day in 11th place overall. The team raised over $7,000.
(Boston Children’s Hospital)
In Dublin, our team volunteered with an organization that provides accommodation and a caring and supportive environment for families whose children are seriously ill and are hospitalized or undergoing medical treatment.
(Ronald McDonald House)
Our colleagues in Hong Kong volunteered with a local soup kitchen, preparing and serving hot and healthy meals to those in need in Hong Kong. The team was one of the first kitchen and meal service volunteer groups to serve since the beginning of the pandemic.
(Food Angel)
In London, staff volunteered with a local group to clean up plastic rubbish from the city riverbanks by water.
(Moo Canoes)
Our team in Seoul assembled reusable calendars through local non-profits that were gifted to disabled citizens in the Seoul area to have a homemade calendar in their homes.
(Angel’s Heaven; Damsimpo)
Our Singapore teammates worked with a non-profit organization that feeds the needy through its food distribution program and contributes to nearly 54,000 beneficiaries across Singapore.
(Food from the Heart)
Our team in Tel Aviv spent time together volunteering with a local soup kitchen that offers free, nutritious meals and provides a clean, spacious atmosphere where people can eat in a dignified manner.
(Lasova Restaurants)
Our Tokyo team volunteered with an organization that removes garbage and waste from local neighborhood spaces.
(Ligare)
In Toronto, staff spent time volunteering with an organization that assembles home-starter kits for clients living in affordable housing units.
(The WoodGreen Foundation)
Due to pandemic-related lockdowns and other circumstances, our colleagues in our Beijing office plan to hold their volunteer weeks in the fourth quarter of 2022.
“Despite the many challenges of remote learning, One Bead was able to double our impact in 2021 thanks in part to the tremendous support we received from HarbourVest. Week after week, their team showed up to support our students. The positive energy each volunteer helped bring into the space helped make our students feel empowered as leaders in their community.”
Sara Wroblewski Founder and CEO of One Bead www.onebead.org
Service Days: One Bead
In support of One Bead, a Boston-based organization that provides high-impact, entrepreneurial programming to students, HarbourVest employees volunteered as mentors for local elementary-school aged students. Our volunteers helped students research a topic of their choosing and prepare for a presentation to a group of their peers, parents, and teachers.
Students chose topics ranging from equitable access to the Internet to enable at-home learning; police brutality; online bullying; and getting kids outside and active. Students earned credit throughout the process that they were able to “cash in” in the form of a donation to a local non-profit focused on their chosen topic.
“One Bead is an incredible program! The sessions I attended included presentations on racism, the environment, poverty, and animal abuse.· It felt great to be able provide feedback and encouragement to these kids."
Julie Eiermann Managing Director, HarbourVest
Proud to be carbon neutral
Just as we set expectations for our GPs on ESG and climate change, it is important to us that we also take responsibility for our own emissions as a global organization. HarbourVest continues to maintain its CarbonNeutral Company® status, in accordance with The CarbonNeutral Protocol, the leading framework for carbon neutrality. Our offsetting program compensates for our emissions by delivering finance to emissions reduction projects, which are independently verified by Natural Capital Partners to assure emissions reductions are occurring.
HarbourVest’s carbon offsets for its 2020 emissions supported the following global projects:
- US: Grasslands Portfolio – preserving carbon sink grasslands in southeast Colorado and northeast Montana
- Colombia: Rainforest Conservation – working with communities to develop sustainable production methods in Carmen del Darien Rainforest
- China: Household Biodigester – provides closed loop, clean-cooking solutions targeting 1 million low-income households across the Sichuan Province of China, funding approximately 40% of the cost
- Sub-Saharan Africa: Improved Water Infrastructure – provides clean drinking water to small rural communities in Uganda and Malawi by repairing and drilling new boreholes, preventing the need to boil water and thereby alleviating pressure on local forests
Boston headquarters is plastic-free
Living Wage Employer (UK)
Employees returning to our Boston headquarters post-pandemic came back to a plastics-free zone. The office, home to more than three-quarters of our global staff, has eliminated all plastic plates, cutlery, cups, and lids – and replaced them with reusable flatware, glassware, and ceramic mugs. Based on past consumption, we estimate this will save each year:
11,000 – pieces of cutlery
19,800 – paper coffee cups
5,000 – plastic lids
We also recycled more than 600 phones, the electronics of which are made from valuable resources and materials requiring a significant amount of energy to mine, process, and make.
We are pleased to share that in June 2022 HarbourVest UK became an accredited Living Wage Employer. This commitment applies not only to directly employed staff but also to third-party contracted staff. During the process of becoming accredited, we engaged with building management in London to ensure that our cleaning and security staff were receiving the real Living Wage.
Over 9,000 organizations across the UK voluntarily chose to pay the real Living Wage because we believe that a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay. The real Living Wage is higher than the government’s minimum or National Living Wage and is an independently calculated hourly rate of pay based on the actual cost of living. The UK Living Wage Foundation calculates the Living Wage each year, announced as part of Living Wage Week.