Forbes: Cognizant Outreach Works Because it has the Attention of the Company’s Top Management

In a feature on corporate social responsibility (CSR), Forbes (India) magazine makes a special mention of Cognizant’s corporate volunteering program, Outreach. “Since the program was set up, 20,000 employees have volunteered and have spent a cumulative 2 lakh volunteering hours,” the magazine notes. “Employees take classes, provide career counseling, as well as teach computer science and English to students in schools. In India, the program has touched about 100 schools.”

The magazine writes, “The program works on a bottoms-up model, employees find schools and causes they want to support and present ideas to the Outreach council. Cognizant provides financial and administration support and sets aside a small budget.”

Archana Raghuram, who heads the program, says, “We do not take up purely funding causes, so if it is only donating money for making a classroom, we don’t do it, employees have to volunteer for it as well.”

“The reason Cognizant Outreach works is because it has the attention from the highest levels,” the magazine adds. “It was started at the behest of CEO Francisco D’Souza and directly reports to the president of the company, Gordon Coburn. Every quarter, the program head submits a progress report to the CFO…Now, this is the critical piece. For CSR projects to work, it has to evolve into a top management priority.”

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