2015 CSR Annual Report

hmhco.com

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

ANNUALREPORT

2015

http://hmhco.com

2 We Welcome Your Feedbackhmhco.com/csr l

CHANGING PEOPLE’S LIVES BY FOSTERING

PASSIONATE, CURIOUS LEARNERS

OUR MISSION

Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston CEO Josh Kraft gives HMH President and CEO Linda K. Zecher a tour of the Jordan Club in Chelsea, MA to kick off Volunteer Week 2015.2

http://[email protected]

http://www.hmhco.com/about-hmh/corporate-and-social-responsibility

We Welcome Your Feedbackhmhco.com/csr l

WELCOMEWelcome to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Corporate Social Responsibility Annual Report, which

provides an in-depth look into HMH’s community impact in 2015.

2015 was a year of change for CSR at HMH, as we inaugurated a new focus on partnering with

nonprofits dedicated to changing educational outcomes in underserved communities. We also put

a greater focus on bringing all CSR activities (cash investments, in-kind investments, and volunteer

efforts) into alignment in supporting this new vision. This allowed for deeper relationships with

legacy partners like the Boston Celtics and Cradles to Crayons, as well as new partnerships with

Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston and College Bound Dorchester.

In 2015, we saw significant growth in several key measurements: we donated over 3.7 million books, up nearly 14% versus

2014, delivering $86 million in value globally; our overall investment in our home market of Boston tripled, from under

$1 million to over $3 million; and the value of our cash grants to charitable organizations grew by 40%.

Our fourth annual Volunteer Week, in tandem with our twelve local Community Investment Councils (CICs), brought more

than 1,200 #HMHProud employees into their communities, devoting more than 5,500 hours in support of 55 nonprofits

around the world through a variety of initiatives.

I encourage you to take a few minutes to read more about these initiatives. We are very proud of the impact we had in 2015,

and are looking forward to continuing to deepen our relationships in the community in 2016. Thank you for your interest,

and please feel free to reach out to us at [email protected].

Director, Corporate Social Responsibility

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN HARCOURT 2015 CSR REPORT

Welcome l Partner Spotlights l Boston Celtics l Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston l Cradles to Crayons l Engaging Our Communities l CICs l Volunteerism l HMH Cares l Curiosity Series l Paper Procurement

3




Boston CelticsIn 2015, HMH® and the Boston Celtics continued to expand

a partnership focused on improving learning outcomes

throughout the Greater Boston area. As the main sponsor of

the Celtics Read to Achieve program, HMH and the Boston

Celtics strive to get Boston elementary school students

reading on grade level before middle school by motivating and

inspiring the students with monthly contests, school visits,

player appearances, and school library book donations.

HMH and the Boston Celtics also teamed up to launch SCORE

with Go Math! Academy®, an online math resource for New

England schools featuring fun basketball-themed video

content. The special series of math problems illustrates key

math concepts using real world examples from the basketball

court. Through two different challenges in 2015, students

had an opportunity to interact with the platform and solve

problems in order to help their school win a special experience

with the Boston Celtics and an in-kind donation from HMH.

Due to the originality of the collaboration and program, SCORE

with Go Math! Academy was recognized as a “community

best practice” by the National Basketball Association’s

community relations team.

PARTNER SPOTLIGHTS

A Read to Achieve event in 2015 included a reading of HMH title Balloons Over Broadway with Celtics player Tyler Zeller at the Mozart Elementary School in Roslindale.

Boston Celtics player Kelly Olynyk, mascot Lucky the Leprechaun, and HMH’s Tom Hamilton pose with SCORE with Go Math! Academy contest winners at Collicott Elementary.

5,400 Boston Public School students reached through the HMH and Celtics partnership



4




Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston Throughout 2015, HMH and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston

forged a strong partnership rooted in a shared commitment to

quality learning experiences. The partnership launched with a

blend of cash and product donation valued at over $28,000 to

support the organization’s education-focused program areas.

HMH also partnered with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston during

our annual Volunteer Week. At the Jordan Club in Chelsea and

the Green Street Club in Charlestown, more than 50 volunteers

engaged with members in activities such as homework help,

painting, music, basketball and kickball. At the Yawkey Club

in Roxbury, volunteers spent the day beautifying the grounds

and received a coveted “two thumbs-up” from the Club’s

maintenance manager.

In December, HMH donated 1,100 children’s books, including

500 copies of The Polar Express, to three Clubs in the Boston area

for members to enjoy during the holidays.

HMH VP of Information Security, Bill Bowman works with students at the Chelsea Boys & Girls Club during Volunteer Week.

HMH volunteers completed a beautification project at the Yawkey Boys & Girls Club in Roxbury during Volunteer Week.

HMH employees volunteered at5 different Boys & Girls Clubs during Volunteer Week

93



5




PARTNER SPOTLIGHTS

Cradles to Crayons In 2015, HMH was proud to be named Cradles to Crayons’

first-ever Literacy Partner for the 9th annual Backpack-

A-Thon. HMH donated 35,000 children’s books valued at

$450,000 to the event, ensuring that every backpack would

have an age-appropriate book for the first time in the event’s

history. Later in the year, HMH volunteers teamed up with

Cradles to distribute 1,000 of the backpacks to families at the

Annual Countdown to Kindergarten Citywide Kindergarten

Celebration at the Boston Children’s Museum. During

Volunteer Week, employees collected donated children’s

clothing and shoes and sorted the items for delivery to

Cradles to Crayons.

HMH donated

35,000 children’s books valued at

$450,000 to annual Backpack-A-Thon

HMH volunteers joined by Cradles to Crayons Associate

Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations Susan

Adler and Boston Public School Committee members

at Countdown to Kindergarten.

6





7

Engaging Our Communities and EmployeesCOMMUNITY INVESTMENT COUNCILS

HMH is proud to support Community Investment Councils (CICs)

in 12 major offices and distribution centers across the U.S. and

Ireland. CICs are local, cross-functional employee groups that

utilize funding, training, resources, and support from the CSR

team to help engage colleagues in volunteer opportunities

and charitable campaigns to improve the communities where

we live and work. CICs also help execute global employee

programs on a local scale.

CICs not only provide a platform for HMH employees to give

back to their local communities, but also help strengthen

office culture and provide members with professional

development skills.

CIC SPOTLIGHTS

Austin, TexasAustin CIC members took part in a literacy-focused project

with BookSpring, an organization whose mission is to provide

reading experiences, tools, and books to children and their

families so they can develop a desire to read and succeed in

school and life. Volunteers put their creative skills to the test

in constructing and painting a large cardboard castle to be

used in BookSpring’s mobile Reading is Fundamental program

that caters to school libraries in communities in need. Large

fantasy items like the castle HMH volunteers created are used

in motivational and engaging activities to encourage kids to

embrace reading. As a follow up to the castle build project,

Austin CIC volunteers also read stories aloud and handed out

new books to children at the McBee Elementary School.



7


CIC SPOTLIGHTS

Evanston, Illinois For the second year in a row, Evanston’s CIC participated in

Dewey Elementary school’s Books and Breakfast program, a

grassroots initiative created by the Dewey School PTA after

realizing a large population of students did not receive breakfast

before starting the school day. Books and Breakfast launched

as an opportunity to encourage reading and offer homework

help for students, all while providing the most important meal

of the day. Several HMH volunteers read with students during

breakfast and then Curious George and the Man with the Yellow

Hat (as seen in the photo to the right) visited a few kindergarten

classrooms to read during story time. Students were thrilled

not only to have the special visitors for the day, but to also each

receive a Curious George book to take home!

Portsmouth, New HampshireThe Portsmouth CIC organized a “soup-off” competition to

benefit Together We Rise, a non-profit organization that helps

bring comfort to children entering the foster care system by

providing them with “sweet cases;” a duffel bag filled with items

to meet basic needs. During the soup challenge, employees

sampled and voted on their favorite homemade soup for a

$5 suggested donation. Winners of the competition received

awards and proceeds of the event went to purchase items to

create sweet cases for Together We Rise. The soup-off was so

successful, volunteers were able to assemble 20 sweet cases for

local foster care youth! Each sweet case included: a duffel bag,

hygiene kit, blanket, coloring book, crayons, journal, stuffed

animal—and of course, a Curious George book!

12 CICs help plan and execute more than

300 volunteer projects annually

8





9 We Welcome Your Feedbackhmhco.com/csr l 9






VOLUNTEER WEEKOver 1,200 employees from 17 HMH offices volunteered over 5,500 hours during the 4th Annual

HMH Volunteer Week in October 2015. HMH and our CICs supported 55 nonprofit organizations

through Volunteer Week projects, making a significant impact in our communities. Projects

ranged from landscaping and renovation projects with Habitat for Humanity in Itasca to a day

spent at an orphanage in Puerto Rico, where volunteers and Curious George donated books and

read to local children.

Other projects included:

• Staffing a “store for teachers”—sorting and distributing

school supplies for Indianapolis teachers through the

nonprofit Teachers’ Treasures

• A beautification project repainting classrooms and

revitalizing the gardens and patios of a Dublin school

• A meal packaging event in Orlando to benefit the

organization Feeding Children Everywhere

• An on-site job shadow day and HMH History tour

at the Boston office with youth from the nonprofit

More Than Words

Orlando

Dublin

Employee volunteers1,200

Nonprofitssupported55

Books donated1,450

Participating HMH offices

17

Donations sortedfor 8 nonprofits

17,794Stories read aloud to38

1,175 children

Portsmouth



10



https://hmhco.app.box.com/s/j92wv33twk4banysp4ow9yenh3nrcde8


Children’s shoes donated

516Cozy blankets27

and 351 messages of cheer for patients and troops

Students tutored in 7 subjects

436Cans of paint used for community refurbishment projects

35

Meals packaged43,082

Puerto Rico

11






ItascaIndianapolis

Portsmouth

HMH CARES

The HMH Cares platform enables employees to support

nonprofit organizations of their choice, both through

giving and volunteering. Employees can utilize HMH

Cares to make a charitable donation to be matched; each

time an employee contributes at least $25 to an eligible

charitable organization, HMH will double the impact by

making an equal contribution to that organization (up to

$1,000 per employee annually). Employees can also log

their volunteer time or sign up to participate in a group

volunteer project via HMH Cares. The HMH Volunteer

Time Off policy provides benefits-eligible employees with

two work days of paid volunteer time per calendar year to

serve charitable organizations that matter to them.

$305,674donated through HMH employee matching gifts program

Itasca

12



546 charitable organizations benefited from HMH volunteerism and giving



CURIOSITY SERIESThe HMH Curiosity Series is a quarterly book club open to all employees,

formed with the goal of bringing the community closer together by

facilitating a unique, shared reading experience based on HMH content.

All employees have the opportunity to cast their vote to determine the

chosen HMH title. The Community Investment Councils coordinate book

discussions and live web chats with HMH authors throughout the year, and

employees around the globe are invited to download the eBook version of

the featured title and to participate online. In 2015, Molly Guptill Manning,

Michael Callahan, Rory Flynn, and Amy Stewart shared their time and insight

with the HMH community. Hundreds employees engaged in the Curiosity

Series by picking up a book and participating in the group discussions.

Overall, 2015 saw a 5% increase year-to-year in both book pickups and

discussion participants.

SUSTAINABILITY/PAPER PROCUREMENT AND USAGE

In 2015, HMH continued to make progress towards the goals and actions

outlined in our 2014 Paper Procurement and Usage Policy:

• We achieved 71 percent recycled fiber by weight across all HMH

education paper purchases and 59 percent recycled fiber by weight

across total HMH paper purchases in 2015, beating our targets by 31

percent and 19 percent respectively.

• Seventy four percent of the paper we procured both domestically and

internationally for use in Trade products was FSC certified, beating our

target by 34 percent.

• As part of our goal to eliminate paper from controversial sources—such

as acacia and other fibers from Indonesia—from our supply chain by

the end of 2016, we collected Offshore Vendor Compliance policies

from our vendors and have encouraged any vendor without a policy

to develop one. Offshore vendors were also asked to provide Chain of

Custody reports to ensure compliance within their supply chains.

• Product testing for Trade materials has occurred on a quarterly basis,

and all products tested have been compliant. The first testing of

educational products was completed in 2015 and the second round of

testing is slated for completion in Q2 2016. All educational products

tested were also compliant.

71%Recycled Fiber by Weight

HMH education paper purchases

59%

Total HMH paper purchases

40%Target

40%

REALIZED

13



http://http://www.hmhco.com/~/media/sites/home/abouthmh/files/hmh-paper-policy-2014-2018.pdf?la=en

14 We Welcome Your Feedbackhmhco.com/csr l

hmhco.com

Connect with us:

ANNUALREPORT

2015

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A. 04/16 MS 170361



Date post:	24-Jan-2017
Category:	Documents
Upload:	andrew-russell
View:	115 times
Download:	0 times

2015 CSR Annual Report

Documents