Harris Corporation

Company: Harris Corporation, Melbourne, FL
Company Description: Harris is an international communications and information technology company serving government and commercial markets in more than 150 countries. Headquartered in Melbourne, Florida, the company has annual revenue of $5.4 billion and 16,000 employees. Harris is dedicated to developing best-in-class assured communications® products, systems, and services.
Nomination Category: Corporate Communications, Investor Relations, & Public Relations Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Communications or PR Campaign of the Year - Community Relations

Nomination Title: Harris Corporation’s 2009 United Way Campaign

1. Tell the story about this nominated campaign since January 1 2009 (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

Harris Corporation truly understands that being a trusted neighbor and
community asset is a critical component to our business success. We have always
been a very active participant in the communities where we have facilities, not
just as a major employer, but also as a leader in local charities, education
and cultural activities. Harris’ formal fundraising campaign each year is the
United Way Campaign. We focus our attention on this one organization because it
provides a broad distribution of services through many individual agencies.

In 2009, Harris employees in Brevard County, Florida, where we are
headquartered, raised over $1.2 million in three short weeks for our community
neighbors in need. In order to provide as much local support for United Way
agencies as possible, Harris augmented our fundraising campaign with a program
designed to support the United Way of Brevard’s three areas of emphasis:
childhood success, basic needs – hunger, and financial stability. The program
consisted of three stages, each triggered by a milestone in United Way
donations at the $900,000, $1 million, and $1.1 million levels. With all
milestones achieved, Harris was able to provide:

• Funding for the Shelter and Primary Prevention programs at Serene
Harbor, aimed at helping to reduce violence and hunger in children’s lives.

• Funding for the Financial Assistance Fund of the Salvation Army of
South Brevard, which provides emergency assistance to individuals and families
affected by a job loss.

• Funding for the United Way of Brevard County’s Project: Hunger. In
collaboration with the United Way and its partner agencies, Harris provided a
weekend meal for the average family of four to students at a Brevard County
Title I school.

In addition to these initiatives, Harris continued its “CANthropy” competition,
where employees built sculptures of canned food and other non-perishable items
that were then donated to the Second Harvest Food Bank. The theme of this
year’s contest was “In the News,” and each structure needed to represent
current news events. Nearly 10,000 cans and other food items were donated this
year. The winning team was awarded $1,000 to donate to the charity of its
choice, the Brevard Alzheimer’s Foundation, which offers quality adult daycare
and assists caregivers through respite and support services for frail elders.
During the three week period, employees also had the opportunity to go on
agency tours to see first hand where their donations dollars are going and how
the United Way agencies assist our local community.

The Harris campaign supplies the United Way of Brevard with one-sixth of their
total yearly revenue and is the single largest campaign in the county. It is
through our compassionate employees that Harris has been able to raise over $1
million during our past three annual campaigns. Through the United and the
generosity of our employees, Harris is shaping the difference in the Brevard
County community.

2. List hyperlinks to any online work samples, news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:

Million Dollar Milestone Award
http://www.uwbrevard.org/workplace_campaigns.html

2009 Community Campaign exceeded goal, raising a record-breaking total of
$6,719,670
http://www.uwbrevard.org/news.html

3. Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of the team that carried out this campaign:

Cindy S. Kane is director of Corporate Relations for Harris Corporation. In her
current position she is responsible for Harris community relations, employee
communications, employment branding, the Harris Foundation, university
relations, K-12 relations and local and state government relations. Ms. Kane
received a B.S. degree in Advertising from the University of Florida and an
M.S. degree in Technology Management from the University of Miami. She serves
on the Board of Directors for The Haven for Children, the Economic Development
Commission of Florida’s Spacecoast and the Brevard Schools Foundation.