Volunteering: a win for all involved

Volunteering for non-profit organizations teaches us new skills, provides insight, and helps the recipient organization to fulfill their mission. As a result, UTC encourages employees to volunteer their time and energy to support their local communities. Historically, our employees have been very generous with their time, in the United States volunteering more than 70,000 hours of volunteer time in the past year.

In Connecticut, where we have our largest concentration of employees in the world, volunteer opportunities attract strong employee participation. Below are some signature events that UTC sponsors each year:

• FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a multinational organization that aspires to make math, science, engineering and technology appealing to kids. High school students team up with professional engineers who volunteer countless hours to mentor teams as they design and build a robot that will compete in a game that introduces engineering to sporting event excitement.
  • Partnering with FIRST combines UTC's dedication to math and science education with its corporate focus on innovation. Since 1999 UTC has contributed approximately $2.8 million to sponsor the Connecticut Regional FIRST Robotics Competition. Since 1994, UTC has sponsored FIRST Robotics at high schools across the country and currently supports nearly 30 teams with cash, engineering expertise and professionals who coach and mentor the teams.
  
  
• In 2008, UTC celebrated its 31st year of partnership with Special Olympics Connecticut. As the title sponsor of the state Summer Games, UTC supports Special Olympics Connecticut with volunteers and $75,000 in funding annually.
  • Since 1977, when a grant from UTC helped grow the statewide competition in Connecticut, UTC employees have volunteered more than 1 million hours to Special Olympics' athletes not only in Connecticut, but also around the world.
  • At the Summer Games, UTC hosts the biggest sports venue: track and field. UTC volunteers organize and operate two days of track and field events, serving as event managers, coaches, field judges, escorts, awards presenters, announcers and fans for the more than 2,000 athletes who compete.
  
  
• Annually, hundreds of UTC employees take part in the United Way Day of Caring, a one-day flurry of volunteer service that officially kicks off the United Way workplace giving campaign. Day of Caring provides many opportunities for workplace volunteers to learn first-hand about United Way agencies and other non-profit organizations in the community. By participating in Day of Caring activities, employees see how volunteer involvement can have a positive influence on community problems.


• For nearly 30 years, United Technologies has been a stalwart supporter of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve's Toys for Tots campaign that provides gifts for less-fortunate children during the holiday season. We have used our resources, working with other community groups, to energize the local public in the Greater Hartford, Conn., region to spur donations to Toys for Tots. From 1980 to 2008, approximately 400,000 toys were donated through local holiday traditions including the Festival of Light.