Walt+Disney+Company+-+Group+1



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Case Study Wiki Page by Group 1 JMS375 Wiki Members: Theresa Greene, Brandon Miller, Michelle Salazar & Taryn Hartwell Video Crew: Jamie Le, Candice Davila, Jesse Delille

= Introduction: = The Walt Disney Company, otherwise simply known as Disney, is best known worldwide for its films and theme parks. Not only is Disney a major figure in entertainment, but it is also a corporation dedicated to charity and bettering the community. It was founded in October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers cartoon studio. Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before the production of live action movies and television. The current name was taken on 1986. The Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group today is one of the largest and most well known studios in Hollywood. Disney also owns and operates the ABC broadcast television including ABC Family, Disney Channel and ESPN. Disney, nicknamed the happiest place on earth, has 14 theme parks around the world. Although Disney was established as a source for entertainment and its goals once focused solely on entertainment, the company has become more than this. Today, the Walt Disney Company runs numerous programs and campaigns designed to establish the co mpany as a corporate citizen. They work towards bettering the community, teaching young children the value of philanthropy and nature conservation. Walt Disney Company has truly become a corporation dedicated to furthering their brand and promoting social good.

= What's Disney's target and mission? = According to Disney's 2010 Corporate Citizen Report, the company's core principle is to inspire kids, parents, employees and communities to make a lasting, positive change in the world. They also put a heavy importance on their ethical manner and take the consequences of their decisions into consideration. Disney has numerous programs for kids, parents and the community to participate in that all focus on bettering the community, healthy living and nature conservation.

One of Disney's many programs is their //Friends for Ch// //ange// program which focuses on inspiring kids to make a difference. They allow kids to help decide how Disney uses $1 million annually toward environmental causes. To spark young children's interest, many popular Disney stars such as the Jonas Brothers and Selena Gomez play an active role in the program. According to the 2010 Corporate Citizens Report, //Disney Friends for Change// has inspired more than 2.5 million kids across the U.S., Canada, Latin America and Europe since its launch in May 2009 to make more than 3 million pledges. These pledges aim to: In the past 2 years, //Disney Friends for Change// donated more than $2 million to 41 eco-projects in 19 countries. With that $2 million, $100,000 went towards protecting Arctic wildlife, $50,000 went towards improving collection of safe drinking water in Ethiopia and $100,000 went towards restoring oyster reefs in Florida, according to the 2010 Corporate Citizens Report. The program has a long standing relationship with the Boys & Girls Club and has collaborated with numerous other programs such as Youth Service America.
 * Disney Friends for Change: **[[image:Screen_Shot_2011-10-27_at_4.33.52_PM.png width="391" height="270" align="right" caption="Source: flickr.com Creative Commons By:http://www.flickr.com/photos/48649404@N03/4477137335/"]]
 * Cut 52 million pounds of carbon emission annually, the equivalent of planting 10,000 acres of trees
 * Reduce or recycle 8 million pounds of trash annually, the equivalent weight of over 650 African elephants
 * Save more than 1.5 billion gallons of water annually, enough water to fill almost 2,500 Olympic sized swimming pools
 * Provide new wildlife habitat and shade in almost 75,000 locale



** Disney Planet Challenge: ** Another one of Disney's programs is //Disney Planet Challenge// which is a project-based learning environmental competition. In 2009, the program was expanded to schools across the United States. The program is designed to work with schools, teachers and scientists allowing scientists to use their imagination and creativity to better the environment and motivate students to help make a change in the world. The program is relevant and effective because it is based on an educationally-sound curriculum that meets national and state guideline requirements. According to the 2010 Corporate Citizen Report, more than 2,000 classrooms in all 50 states enrolled in the program within its first year of expansion and 250 projects from students were submitted for final judging. The program involves a competition among classrooms where the students come up with a community awareness campaign that would help benefit the environme nt. The winners are flown to the Disneyland resort for a ceremony and celebration.

** VoluntEARS: ** Not only is the Disney company dedicated to inspiring children, but it also places a huge importance and value on charitable contribution. According to the 2010 Corporate Citizen Report, Disney donated more than $198 million in cash and in-kind support to various charities around the world. To further this effort of charitable contributions, Disney's program VoluntEARS is their program for employee volunteers to give back to the community and is completely funded by Disney and was established 26 years ago. According to the 2010 Corporate Citizen Report, 495,000 hours of volunteer service was given last year alone. Since it's inception 26 years ago, VoluntEARS in over 42 countries have donated more than 5,000,000 hours of service. To get a quick feel for some of the services the VoluntEARS give, click here for a short article about the VoluntEARS' help with the Coalition for the Homeless in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

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** Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund: ** Another one of Disney's efforts to aid the conservation of the environment and help support the wellbeing of wildlife is the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund. It was founded on Earth Day in 1995 and it, "provides financial support for the study of wildlife, the protection of habitats, and the development of community conservation and education programs in critical ecosystems around the world," according to the 2010 Corporate Citizen Report. DWCF doesn't just give money away to whoever either. Their philosophy of giving emphasizes scientific field study, education awareness for kids and local community involvement. According to the 2010 Corporate Citizen Report, last year DWFC granted $1,471,700 to 64 nonprofit organizations working in 33 countries. Within Disney's efforts to conserve nature, they also work towards species conservation. To do this, they created Disney's Animal Kingdom and The Seas at Epcot. Both parks work with other zoological facilities, wildlife organizations and government agencies to promote species conservation through recovery plans, rehabilitation and reintroduction of endangered and threatened species. For more information and details about how Disney promotes nature conservation click here to learn about how Disney has helped endangered sea turtles, the well being of bees and coral reefs. To further promote awareness about wildlife and the environments they live in, Disney also created Disneynature, an independent film label of Walt Disney Company that features nature documentaries in conjunction with the Discovery Channel. Below is a trailer for the series:

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Social Media and Marketing: The Disney Company uses many different media platforms to promote their social causes. All of Disney's causes and programs have a website that informs the public about the organization, and they have a Facebook page that has a link to their website. Disney seems to know the target audience well, and knows how to get their attention. The //Disney Friends for Change// is media type="youtube" key="enQ1Pvygn6A" height="315" width="420" align="right"directed towards kids. Because of this, Disney uses television and the radio to market //Friends for Change// to children. Their main ways of reaching kids include Radio Disney and the Disney Channel. Disney has aired 48 different public service announcements encouraging eco-actions for kids. The wide variety of networks that Disney owns, allows them to reach a large audience. The public announcements feature popular Disney stars that talk about the social cause and what kids can do to get involved. An example of this is the commercial to the right that features many prominent Disney Channel stars urging kids to get involved in the //Disney Friends for Change// program. The Disney Worldwide Conversation Fund has a Facebook page that keeps fans updated on what DWCF is working on and how the fund is contributing to the world. Disney’s Planet Challenge created a video series called “Imagine Your Planet” to increase awareness on the project. “Imagine Your Planet” documents students completing their mission to create a better planet and the videos can all be found on YouTube. The Disney Company does have a Twitter account and tweets daily but they do not really post tweets about their social causes. Disney uses Twitter more as a way to advertise the entertainment part of the company.

= Conclusion: = The effort overall by Disney is great. Disney has succeeded in giving back to society and making the world a better place. Disney has made their footprint on the world and it continues to grow. There is no doubt that Disney has helped their business by taking up so many social causes. The company knows it can produce change in the world. Disney has decided to use their reputation to make a difference. We believe Disney does care about the projects they stand for. Disney has put time and money into each one of their causes, and each one has been effective. The Disney Company is a trademark across the world, and does not need to do this for publicity.

= References: =

http://corporate.disney.go.com/citizenship2010/inspiringkidsandcommunities/overview/kids/

http://corporate.disney.go.com/citizenship2010/natureconservation/overview/ourapproach/

http://corporate.disney.go.com/citizenship/

http://corporate.disney.go.com/citizenship/charitablecontributions.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G06r7eKKjkI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enQ1Pvygn6A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPyaQ50pu5Q

http://corporate.disney.go.com/citizenship2010/natureconservation/stories/

http://wdwnews.com/releases/2011/08/17/disney-voluntears-help-coalition-for-the-homeless-keep-cool-in-summer/

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