For the second year, the Business Journal in partnership with OneOC presents the Civic 50 Orange County, recognizing the 50 most community-minded small, medium and large companies here. The honorees provide a local standard for corporate social citizenship and a roadmap for turning good intentions into sound business practices.
OneOC is affiliated with Points of Light, which initiated the National Civic 50 in 2012 to honor exemplary civic-minded Fortune 500 companies. Last year, the Business Journal and OneOC teamed up to launch the Civic 50 for the first time in a local market. Based on our success last year, it will be replicated this year in Denver and Washington, D.C.
The Civic 50 Orange County honorees were identified as the most community-minded companies operating in OC by their performance on an independently administered and scored online survey developed by True Impact that measures four dimensions of community engagement: Investment—how extensively and strategically the company applies resources, including employee time and skills, cash, in-kind giving and public leadership; Integration—how company programs support business interests and are integrated into business functions; Institutionalization—how the company supports community engagement through policies and incentives; and Impact—how social and business outputs and outcomes are measured.
Not all OC companies have the same level of resources or engagement in all of the activities the survey measures. Therefore, scoring and honorees were grouped by the number of local employees, small: 15 to 99, midsize: 100 to 499, and large: 500-plus. Similarly sized companies were measured within their peer groups and compared only on their community-engagement programs in Orange County.
The Civic 50 Orange County confirms national studies that show community engagement isn’t just for large companies, such as 2018 honorees Wells Fargo, Capital Group, Experian and Edwards Lifesciences. Small and medium-size companies, including honorees Teacher Created Materials, Stark, Branded Group and BigRentz, have shown they can be both successful businesses and socially responsible companies. They all can enjoy a measurable business lift in consumer preference, company reputation, and employee attraction and retention.
The top-scoring honorees of large companies—Bank of America and PIMCO; medium companies— KPMG and EY, and small companies—O’Melveny & Myers and Clearinghouse CDFI—excelled at integrating their community programs with key business functions, such as employee engagement, recruitment, marketing and public relations.
The Emerging Leader recognition went to San Juan Capistrano-based Fluidmaster Inc., which embraced innovative giving strategies, employee teams volunteering, and employee-hardship programs. Pacific Life Insurance Co., which celebrates its 150th anniversary this year, was honored with the Legacy Leader recognition for its history of impactful community philanthropy, service and leadership. Pacific Life’s corporate citizenship is just as the name of its company volunteer teams suggests: “The Good Guys.”
The stories that accompany the list of this year’s honorees illustrate some of the metrics used to assess the companies, stories of the companies and their employees engaging in our community. By benchmarking and celebrating the leading practices of Civic 50 Orange County honorees, the Business Journal and OneOC hope to provide inspiration and a framework for other companies to build and grow their social initiatives and create a stronger, healthier and more vibrant Orange County.
— Daniel McQuaid and Pete Weitzner
OneOC President & Chief Executive
Business Journal Editor
