Community Investment
The TELUS team strives to live up to our brand promise – the future is friendly® – in all that we do. We carry this promise forward in communities through our philosophy to give where we live. Our team members, retirees, community leaders and customers are integral to the success of our strategy, and as such, there is a symbiotic relationship between our company, our team and our communities. Customers are increasingly aware that they help create healthier communities by choosing to do business with socially responsible companies. Strengthening our relationship in our communities also helps TELUS attract and retain team members. We also recognize that the investments we make are made possible by our customers’ support of our products and services and the support of our investors. With the launch of the revised telus.com/community website, we are in a position to better share our contributions with TELUS stakeholders and the programs that they are helping to support through their patronage with TELUS.
In 2011, through various cause marketing campaigns, we continued to demonstrate our commitment to sustainability and enhanced our community investment strategy by offering our customers product and service options that resulted in a direct benefit to local charitable causes. This was recognized by our achievement in winning the HALO award for cause marketing. Additionally, we continued to expand our support of TELUS team member contributions with the launch of the Fundraising Grants program.
Meeting the growing needs of our communities
In 2011, TELUS continued to see an increase in the number of requests for support from the charitable sector. In 2012, we have the opportunity to strengthen our communities by:
- Supporting projects that focus on youth and showcase innovation
- Continuing to advance our community investment strategy by offering our customers product and service options that result in a direct benefit to local charities
- Partnering with organizations committed to the advancement of medical research, disease prevention and quality healthcare for all Canadians
- Leading by example with a clear commitment to support diversity in Canada
- Connecting and engaging our team members and retirees with charities that they are passionate about and that need resource assistance
- Increasing the engagement of our team members and retirees through volunteer and giving programs
- Supporting grassroots sports and programs to promote healthy habits to youth
- Partnering with social enterprises to foster social and for-profit entrepreneurship.
Sharing our community investment story
We are working to better share the story of what TELUS’ support means to communities. This is being achieved in three ways – through the telus.com website, social media and consumer marketing campaigns.
In 2011, TELUS launched our first large scale advertising campaign to inform consumers about our charitable giving and the volunteer work contributed by our team members and retirees. The campaign highlighted some of the ways that we give where we live™. Through advertising in the spring and fall, TELUS used TV and radio, as well as online and print advertising to share regional and local stories that showcased the impact our giving has had on the lives of young Canadians. It was an opportunity to share with customers and our communities the depth of our partnerships with charities. We also used advertising to tell the story of our commitment to volunteerism by showcasing the many ways TELUS, our team members and retirees have contributed by putting their hearts and hands to work for improved social outcomes in their communities.
Further, the telus.com/community site was redesigned in 2010 to provide a platform to share our national community investment story. We knew at the time that users would be interested in visiting one place to learn about all that we do in our communities. We did not anticipate how popular the site would become. We know it is important to our customers, shareholders and team members to be socially conscious, and telus.com/community has become an important conduit for sharing our story. In 2011, we continued to maintain the site and aimed to:
- Educate users on how we support our communities, thanks to the patronage of our customers
- Provide interesting stories to engage our customers and our team members alongside us as contributors in our communities
- Engage customers and inspire action
- Build brand affinity to TELUS through CSR leadership.