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Living Values

2007 Corporate Social Responsibility Report

 

Community and Education

 

Management Approach

Unless otherwise noted, the information in this report regarding Community and Education efforts pertain to our U.S. Operations.

Our community outreach …Children, educators and educational institutions throughout the world benefit from the efforts of OfficeMax, our associates, subsidiaries and majority-owned joint venture.

The refined, primary focus of our community outreach in the United States – to provide assistance to kindergarten through twelfth grade (K-12) educators and schools in need – we believe also benefits OfficeMax and society at large, and advances our Diversity and Inclusion mission. In 2007, OfficeMax’s donations and fundraising efforts provided over $3.7 million to nonprofit organizations and schools worldwide.

The efforts of OfficeMax entities around the world reflect a culture of outreach and strategic giving.

Historical Perspective

Giving back to the community has long been part of OfficeMax’s corporate culture. As with all aspects of our business, we seek to make the most impact for the community dollars we invest and for the time our associates spend.

To this end, our U.S. Operations formed a Corporate Contributions Committee in 2006 to review our varied philanthropic efforts, and make recommendations for the best use of our resources. During this process, new philanthropic funding was put on hold, beginning January 2007. Under the past program, we found that we were spreading ourselves too thin to make a real difference in any one area. It was hard to identify tangible sustainable benefits arising from our actions.

OfficeMax refined its focus primarily on helping public school teachers, grades K-12, especially those within schools in need, and launched two major initiatives:

• A Day Made Better – the largest community outreach event in our company’s history.
• The OfficeMax Volunteer Program – based on the success of A Day Made Better and a 2006 pilot program.

In emphasizing schools in need – as defined by Title I of the U.S. Elementary and Secondary Education Act – we are able to direct our support to the teachers and schools that need help the most.

OfficeMax continues to support causes outside of education, but on a more limited basis than before. See the Outreach Around the World section of this report for more information.