Cisco Honored by California Governor and First Lady for Commitment to Volunteer Service

Cisco Receives 2010 Governor and First Lady's Medal for Service Award for the California Business Volunteer Program of the Year


SAN JOSE, CA--(Marketwire - May 17, 2010) -  At the second annual Medals for Service awards ceremony held in Sacramento last week, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and first lady Maria Shriver presented Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) with the "Governor and First Lady's Medal for Service for the California Business Volunteer Program of the Year." Cisco was honored as an outstanding California company with an innovative, high-impact employee volunteer program. 

Highlights/Key Facts:

  • The Governor and First Lady's Medals for Service, an important component to the CaliforniaVolunteers volunteer recognition program, are designed to distinguish individual volunteers, business volunteer programs and nonprofit leaders whose innovation in the field of volunteerism have had a tangible impact on their community, region and the state of California.
  • The Business Volunteer Program of the Year is awarded to a business with more than 500 employees with primary or significant business operations in California.
  • Cisco was recognized with the California Business Volunteer Program of the Year Award for its substantial volunteer service footprint in the Silicon Valley and throughout California. 
  • In fiscal year 2009, Cisco employees contributed more than 76,900 volunteer hours and donated more than $3.6M to organizations around the world. Cisco provided more than $2.9M in matching funds for donations and approximately $548,000 in matches for employee volunteer time in fiscal year 2009.
  • In the last year, Cisco's California employees have overseen the contribution of $2.2 million in product grants through reviewing recipient organizations' IT infrastructure, designing technology systems, and leading implementation.
  • Cisco's community engagements and employee volunteer efforts that have had a substantial impact on communities and organizations in California. Employees have:
    • Contributed more than 30,000 pounds of food, $1.3 million in donations and Cisco matches to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo counties in 2009.
    • Devoted more than 4,700 volunteer hours since 2008 to California affiliates of Habitat for Humanity
    • Volunteered more than 10,000 hours since 2000 and 800 hours in 2009 alone to Resource Area for Teaching (RAFT) assembling teachers' kits and sorting educational materials. Cisco was named RAFT's top corporate volunteer in 2009.
    • Received the Family Giving Tree's Silver Sleigh award for the fifth consecutive year for the largest donation for a company of its size. During the 2009 Back to School Backpack Drive, Cisco employees donated more than 3,000 backpacks filled with supplies for underserved children.

Quotes:
Karen Baker, California state secretary of service and volunteering
"Volunteer service is the cornerstone to strengthening and improving our communities. We applaud Cisco's unique 360-degree approach to community service. By encouraging team and individual employee volunteering as well as matching gifts from the Cisco Foundation, and creating sustainable and replicable programs, Cisco's strong commitment to volunteerism is providing positive and lasting impact on local communities throughout California and beyond."

Terry Anderson, vice president, Cisco Corporate Relations
"Cisco is honored to receive this award from the governor and first lady of California. This is a testament to Cisco's continued strategic efforts to align our strengths to meet critical community needs while fostering the incredible spirit of giving throughout the company. We commend the tremendous efforts and passion of our employees and their dedication to serving California communities in innovative and impactful ways."

Additional Resources:

Tags / Keywords:
Cisco, volunteer, CSR, corporate social responsibility, citizenship, philanthropy

About Cisco
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO), the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate, this year celebrates 25 years of technology innovation, operational excellence and corporate social responsibility. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com.

For direct RSS Feeds of all Cisco news, please visit "News@Cisco" at the following link:

http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/rss.html

Contact Information:

Press Contact:
Robyn Jenkins Blum
Cisco
408.853.9848
rojenkin@cisco.com

Investor Contact:
Matt Tractenberg
Cisco
408.525.3170
matthew2@cisco.com

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Secreteary of Service and Volunteering Karen Baker Present Cisco and Meg Taylor with the 2010 'Medal for Service for the Business Volunteer Program of the Year'