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Recognizing Employee Contribution to Community

In 2008, Manulife employees donated more than 73,000 hours globally to support community partners in a myriad of ways – building houses; helping students learn; running, rowing or walking for various causes; and participating in blood donor clinics.

We believe it’s important to support causes that are important to our employees.

In Canada, Manulife provides Helping Hands grants as a way to recognize and thank our many employees across Canada who volunteer their personal time with charitable organizations. Manulife donates $500 to charitable organizations where our employees volunteer 25 hours annually.

Manulife also provides PowerMatch grants to recognize our employees fundraising efforts. Canadian employees who participate in a registered charity fundraising event and raise a minimum of $50 are eligible to apply for a matching grant, up to a maximum of $150 per event.

In the United States, John Hancock matches up to 100% of contributions to registered non-religious nonprofits and 50% of contributions to educational institutions for a maximum of $3,000 and $1,500 respectively.

Supporting the United Way is one of the most effective ways Manulife helps build stronger communities. Our campaigns are run entirely by volunteers, who do everything from organizing events and collecting donations to encouraging others to get involved. Concurrent campaigns by our Corporate, U.S. and Canadian divisions raised $4.6million in 2008, a record for Manulife.

Lending our expertise to charitable boards
Charities need more than donations. They require people with business skills – accounting, legal, human resources and public relations – to help run their organizations.

Connecting the corporate and charitable sectors, Altruvest Charitable Services addresses this need in Canada. Its mission is to make charities more efficient by improving their board governance. Through two programs, BoardMatch Fundamentals (BMF) and BoardMatch Leaders (BML), Altruvest provides volunteers with the skills to become board members. The BMF program is for candidates with three to five years of business experience, and offers a training program for corporate executives followed by a 12-month board placement coupled with mentoring support.

In the United States, nearly all of John Hancock’s executive management serve on local nonprofit boards through Boardlink, a customized board-matching program created by John Hancock.

STARs of Excellence Award
The STARs of Excellence Award was commissioned by Manulife Financial and designed by Canadian artist Colin Gibson. Created to recognize and inspire accomplishment, the Award honours a select group of Manulife Financial employees and sales associates from around the world for their outstanding professional achievements and contributions to the Company’s success.

STARs of Excellence Award for Citizenship
Each year, Manulife selects one employee from around the world for a special honour, the STARs of Excellence Award for Citizenship. Established in 2000, the award recognizes the outstanding volunteer contributions of an individual to his or her community.

Employees are nominated for the award by their colleagues based on a set of specific criteria. Nominees go above and beyond the call of duty, supporting others through outstanding volunteer service and demonstrating leadership, dedication and a caring spirit. They demonstrate sustained and significant service to others while maintaining a standard of excellence in their own lives and work. Their volunteer work significantly enhances the quality of life of those they serve. Nominees also demonstrate strong and innovative leadership which inspires and encourages others, while marshalling support for their cause.

2008 Citizenship Award honouree
The recipient of the 2008 Citizenship Award is Mauryanne Remondini, Relationship Manager, Community Relations, John Hancock. For the past 15 years, Remondini has dedicated much time and effort helping at risk children in Massachusetts through the Ron Burton Training Village (RBTV).

Established by the late Ron Burton Sr., a former NFL player and John Hancock employee, the camp helps impoverished youth develop leadership, self-determination and respect. Each year, Remondini takes two weeks of her vacation to attend the camp and assist with cooking, teaching and training the campers. She is also heavily involved with RBTV’s annual fundraiser and volunteers evenings and weekends to ensure its success.

“I have been very fortunate to have several wonderful mentors throughout my career at John Hancock who invested a great deal of time in my growth and development for no other reason than they cared,” said Remondini. “Having Ron as a mentor, and working with him at camp, the campers became part of my life as well and it's really important for me to give back, especially when I've been so blessed. Ron made sure that each camper had a chance even though, like himself, they came from disadvantaged backgrounds.”