One by One

How do you choose a partner?

Over the past 10 years, Amway has partnered with hundreds of nonprofit organizations, government entities, schools and advocacy groups to improve the lives of children. We’re often asked how we choose our partners. While success may look different depending on the country and the cause, there are some general principles that guide the work of each of our partnerships.

Local Fit. There are few organizations that resonate with everybody everywhere, and needs are different in each community. The most successful Amway One by One partnerships address pressing local issues. Like child abuse in Japan, an issue that few organizations have the courage to address. Or supporting children with disabilities in Russia by helping them integrate with their peers through sports. 

Grassroots Driven. Without sufficient grassroots support, even the best designed programs achieve limited success. But when Amway employees and distributors get behind a cause, amazing things happen. Whether with a 30-year partnership like Easter Seals in the US, or a 2- year partnership like Habitat for Humanity in Guatemala, where there is a groundswell of support, we see amazing results – like $30 million raised for children with special needs, or 86 homes built for families in need.

Multilateral Partnerships. Because social issues of today are too big and complex for any single organization to tackle, many different kinds of partners must join forces, from nonprofits to governments to universities to companies. In China, this idea inspired Amway to work with national and local governments to improve the nutrition of the children of migrant workers in rural areas. For every dollar Amway invests on school kitchens, the government invests five more. In Korea, Amway built one of its most successful programs by partnering with the government, universities, nonprofits and its distributors and employees to provide creative educational opportunities to children from low income families.

Engagement Opportunities. Supporting a cause no longer means just making a donation. Amway people want get involved by using their time and talents as well. At our US headquarters, a partnership with Kids Food Basket enables employee volunteers to prepare meals for hungry children, executives to serve on the board of directors, and our logistics teams to offer their expertise to help streamline processes and improve KFB’s efficiency. On the other side of the world, Amway Philippines distributors travel around the country reading stories to school children.  And in India, Amway distributors with medical training offer their time to run free health clinics for needy children.

Lasting Impact. The Amway One by One Campaign for children strives to help children to reach their potential through the help they receive from us and our partners. Whether it is providing modified bicycles to children with disabilities in Australia, building preschools in Turkey to enhance early child education, funding heart surgeries for children in the Dominican Republic, or providing portable desks to children in South Africa, it is important for us to see and be part of the change.

Good news! In honor of our 10 year global efforts, the Amway One by One Campaign for Children was recognized in Washington DC by PR news with the CSR Hall of Fame Award.  

Amway joins a legacy of other esteemed organizations and programs that are improving the world through generosity and service.  

Amway employees and distributors around the world have poured their hearts into local causes over the years and helped us achieve more to help children reach their potential.  

We extend this honor to you, along with an invitation to join us this year as we deepen our efforts to help children, one by one.

Scott Goodson is a marketing expert who has worked with some giants of corporate enterprise. He shifts his focus to the the social sector in his book, How to Build a Brand—and Change the World—by Sparking Cultural Movements.

According to the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Goodson’s core argument is that, “The best way to reach people is to look for topics and causes around which they are already gathering and align one’s brand with those topics or causes.”

Amway can inform this conversation, particularly in light of our recent milestones – 10 year campaign for children, 10 million impacted through the efforts of Amway distributors and employees around the world. It has become a true movement, framed by Amway but filled in by the passions of individuals at a very local level. 

Goodson says that, “Instead of marketing and advertising being focused on the individual, marketers must learn to understand and relate to people in interconnected groups; instead of convincing people to believe an ad message, marketers must try to tap into what it is that people already believe and care about; instead of being focused on selling, the way to connect with movements is to be dedicated to sharing; instead of controlling the message, marketers must learn to relinquish control and let the movement do what it will with that message.”

This is exactly how the Amway One by One Campaign for Children has become successful. Our company is built on helping others achieve their potential – defining that potential is as different as people are. As an extension of our vision of helping people live better lives, we focus on children, the most vulnerable and the most impacted in reaching their potential by the help of others.

One of our top Amway distributor leaders, Tim Foley, told us that “The Amway business is about helping people get what they want.” In the context of his quote, he was in the middle of a Habitat for Humanity building project in Guatemala, and he said, “In this case, they want a house, and we can do something about that.”

Goodson says, “Companies and brands must learn to stop talking about themselves and to join in a conversation that is about anything and everything but their product.” He calls these conversations, and the actions that follow, Shared Endeavors.

What has made the Amway One by One Campaign for Children so successful? Amway leaders have created a Shared Endeavor not by promoting themselves, but by working together to meet the needs of children, together. It isn’t about creating a new cause, but tapping into the passions for causes and needs that already exist in the heart of millions of distributors and employees around the world.

It’s a different way of looking at why a company engage in social causes, how networks are used, and how we can work collectively to change the world.

There is much more Amway One by One can do. But 10 years and 10 million children later, we have a good start.

How do you put a milestone like 10 million in perspective?

The Amway One by One Campaign for Children is made up of many different partnerships, some helping a lot, and some making profound change for a few.

Here’s a visual to help put things into perspective, reflecting the diversity of generosity around the world.

We’ve had some nice news coverage of the Amway One by One ten-year milestones.

During the interviews, a question has come up more than once: Why? Why did Amway create this campaign ten years ago?

The answer is that Amway One by One Campaign for Children was created because of a problem.

Amway is made up of people with a vision of “helping people live better lives,” and that extends beyond our products and business opportunity into helping people in need in the surrounding communities.

Yet in 2003, we didn’t have a way to unify and channel the generosity of the millions of Amway distributors and employees in countries around the world. As a result, we weren’t accomplishing as much as we could. That’s why a group of leaders at Amway headquarters created Amway One by One.

Why children? After extensive discussions among all of our stakeholders, we found that helping children in need was the best extension of our corporate vision and a cause that was most compelling to the people we interviewed.

Establishing a broad cause platform around children has provided the flexibility for people in every country to identify the most important local causes – which may be different from community to community – and create unique and compelling ways to respond to the needs. 

What began as a corporate program has gradually turned into a grassroots movement. One country, one community, one person … helping one child.

That’s why!

Now that we’ve made our announcements, we can look to the year ahead.

And a big year it will be.

There are four phases of action to celebrate our milestones, and propel us into the next ten years. Here’s a sneak peak at what to expect:

Phase 1: CELEBRATE!

This is our chance to say thank you. It’s been 10 years, and we’ve tracked the impact that Amway One by One has had on 10 million children around the world. These milestones do not come easily and they shouldn’t be taken lightly. So many of you have given, volunteered and advocated for children’s causes. We CELEBRATE by thanking our employees, distributors and affiliate leaders for making this happen.

Phase 2: RECOGNIZE!

Amway One by One is made up of a mosaic of stories from around the world. We often talk in the collective, with big numbers and big campaigns. But some of the most inspiring stories are from a single distributor who dedicates the proceeds of her business to send to children in a foreign country, or a family that builds a community while battling disabilities, or a volunteer, who travels for hours to teach classes to underprivileged children each week. We will RECOGNIZE and share these stories from around the world.

Phase 3: CHALLENGE!

Milestones are a good time to celebrate, but we quickly return to the business at hand. As long as there are children in need, there will be Amway hands to respond. We will ask Amway people to pledge with us to deepen their efforts for causes in their local communities. We will call on our partners and spokespeople to raise their voices to advocate for more action in local communities, and around the world. We will CHALLENGE everyone around the world to join us on a day of service for children to demonstrate this commitment.

Phase 4: SERVE!

We will culminate the year on November 20. It will be called the Amway Universal Children’s Day, and will call on Amway people from every community around the world to take part in volunteer service for children on that day. We recognize that a single day of volunteering will not move the global needle on every pressing issue. But this day will be a demonstration of unity and commitment. We will SERVE together, and reset the clock, looking ahead to our next 10 years helping children, one by one.

Join us!

We have reached an important milestone.

The Amway One by One Campaign for Children has been transforming lives for 10 years.

What started as a corporate initiative in 2003 has become a grassroots movement of Amway distributors and employees helping children around the world. While Amway affiliates build alliances with local partners, it is the 3 million distributors and 20,000 employees who have helped us to bring our efforts for children to scale.

At the end of 2012, we have counted 10 million children who have been positively impacted through Amway One by One.

Actions include building hospital playrooms in Russia, enabling better nutrition at schools in rural China, providing customized bikes for children with disabilities in Australia, constructing homes in Guatemala and mentoring urban youth in the United States. There are more examples in every region where Amway does business.

Amway One by One has always been about inspiring and encouraging individual actions for children in need. Now, looking back over ten years, we see a beautiful mosaic of hope, inspiration and generosity.

Thanks to everyone who has joined Amway to build better lives for children in our communities.

This year, we celebrate these accomplishments and recognize the work of so many Amway people. But we also challenge ourselves to deepen our efforts, and will close the year with a demonstration of collective support for children in need, around the world.

Our global review concludes in Southeast Asia, where the work for children is as diverse as the many Amway markets in that region.

Amway Australia continued to roll out the partnerships identified during its 40^th anniversary celebration year, featuring programs like neonatal equipment donations, sports equipment for children with special needs (delivered by cricket superstar Adam Gilchrist), and therapy for children with Autism. Amway distributors on an incentive trip to Fiji also took time to help renovate a flood damaged school, with more than 300 participating.

A partnership in Indonesia that started six years ago was still going strong in 2012. After a devastating earthquake struck a remote area in 2006, Amway Indonesia partnered with local employees and distributors to focus on rebuilding two elementary schools. The partnership continues to last, as Amway employees and distributors support the ongoing education at these two schools, providing uniforms, books and shoes for the students, and visiting once each year.

In Malaysia, Amway leaders launched a new partnership to help children in remote areas learn through the act of play, using musical therapy. An organization called Hands Percussion started the Balik Kampung (Homecoming) as a way to support local communities. Amway distributors are taking part as both volunteers and contributors to make the program a success.

Amway Philippines celebrated its 15 year anniversary and marked the occasion by reading and telling stories to young students to improve their literacy skills, and to build a passion for reading. Over the past several years, Amway Philippines has donated books and mobilized volunteers to read and tell stories.

Amway Singapore continued its support of the Singapore Children’s Society to enhance self-esteem, improve math skills, explore personal interests and translate life values into daily values for young children.

Two innovative programs were launched in Thailand last year, both focused on literacy. The first utilized a phone app to allow users to send books to remote areas of the country. The second was a mobile library, 70 of them to be exact, that were sent to schools across the country by Amway.

In Vietnam, Amway extended its support for children with health care needs by partnering with the government to provide medical aid, educational support, vocational and agricultural training in the economically challenged Thanh Hoa province.

Expect to see more in 2013, with some big announcements coming later this week!

Continuing our journey around the world to review the best programs of 2012, we look at two island countries that are among Amway’s top producing markets. Both are innovative in their approach to CSR and helping children.

In Japan, Amway continued to lead in advocacy efforts to prevent child abuse and neglect through the Orange Project during the holidays. Amway was one of the first companies to vocalize this issue, and continues to mobilize its distributors to action.

Amway Japan is also supporting two innovative projects that help children in the greatest need. The first uses a specially trained dog to offer therapeutic services to children in pediatric hospitals. The second is a specialized home for foster children – the first corporate partnership of its kind with the Japanese government and local charitable organizations.

In South Korea, Amway kicked off the Green Frogs Creative Thinker Project, an amazing collaboration between nonprofit, government and university partners, coordinated by Amway and supported by Amway distributors and employees with volunteering and donations. The program works with underprivileged youth and teaches them to solve problems in innovative ways.

We also had an incredible opportunity to visit Leonard and Esther Kim, who are among the most successful Amway distributors in the world. Their success in the Amway business inspired them to form the World Wide Children’s Charity, which mobilizes Amway distributors from across South Korea to help locally, and around the world.

We saw tremendous growth in the impact of programs helping children in Greater China, including Taiwan and Hong Kong.

The Amway Charity Foundation ramped up its support of nutrition programs to help children in rural areas, where parents have moved to the big cities to find work. The Foundation reached a milestone of 700 kitchens renovated through the Spring Sprout program, and was recognized by the Chinese government for these accomplishments.

In urban communities, Amway continued to support educational programs for migrant children in the big cities, where kids don’t always get the same services as their peers. Amway now supports libraries and mentoring programs in 35 cities across China through Project Sunshine.

We even had a chance to visit a couple of these programs and visit some of the top Amway distributors in China, who are actively supporting initiatives for migrant children, giving their time and resources to help.

In Taiwan, Amway launched the Amway Hope Maker Charity Foundation to formalize their longtime support of people with disabilities, and education and nutrition programs for children in remote areas of the country. The Foundation launched nutrition program in 62 primary schools this year.

And in Hong Kong, students took to the roof to increase their exposure to organic gardening. The Amway Organic Farming Program came to 18 primary school districts in Hong Kong. Amway distributors led by example as well, with more than 400 pledging to become volunteer Green Organic Ambassadors and work alongside junior famers as they tend their school-based organic farms.

From the mainland to the islands, Amway is working alongside distributors, employees, and many partners in Greater China to transform the lives of children.