Hallmark employees donated 23 tons of food and household items to a Kansas City food bank last summer.

At Hallmark, we all share in good corporate citizenship. Volunteerism is an important value for Hallmark employees, who are encouraged to contribute time and talent to community causes.

We're rewarded for it, too, through a Volunteer Involvement Pays (VIP) program available to employees who contribute at least 25 volunteer hours over a six month period to a qualifying nonprofit organization. A $200 grant is made to the organization for which the employee has provided volunteer service. Over nearly two decades, the VIP program has contributed more than $3.5 million in such grants in the name of Hallmark volunteers.

Hallmark artists decorated pumpkins to raise funds for a child abuse prevention center.

A staffed volunteer office and dedicated community center at our headquarters help link agency needs with employee interests, and facilitate company-wide volunteer activities like United Way Day of Caring, clean-up at community zoos, and Christmas in October home-repair for elderly or low-income households.

In addition, some 200 Hallmark employees serve on boards of directors of nonprofit organizations. To help employees be as effective as possible in these positions, the company sponsors training on such issues as board governance, operations, strategic planning, organizational change, and the basics of fundraising.

Hallmark volunteers helped spruce up facilities at the Kansas City Zoo.

A few more facts about employee volunteer involvement at Hallmark in the past year:

• Nearly three quarters of Hallmark senior managers participated in some type of volunteer activity.
• 33 percent of Kansas City employees participated in volunteer activity in 2007, compared to 27 percent nationwide.
• A quarter of Hallmark employees participated in at least one of more than a dozen corporate-sponsored volunteer events.
• Nearly 33,000 hours of volunteer service to 340 nonprofits were recorded on our official volunteer intranet site.
• More than 23 tons of food and household items were donated by employees to Harvesters, a Kansas City area food bank.

Employees participate in "Christmas in October," a program to help families in need repair their homes.

Each year Hallmark employees decorate a Kansas City children's hospital for the holidays.

Staffing auction phone lines in support of community causes is just one activity for which Hallmark employees volunteer.