Company: Hughes Network Systems, Germantown, MD
Entry Submitted By: Brodeur Partners
Company Description: Hughes Network Systems, LLC (Hughes) is the world’s leading provider of satellite broadband for home and office, delivering innovative network technologies, managed services, and solutions for enterprises and governments globally. Headquartered in Germantown, Maryland, USA, Hughes operates sales and support offices worldwide, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation (NAS
Nomination Category: Company / Organization Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Corporate Social Responsibility Program of the Year - At Organizations With Up to 2,500 Employees

Nomination Title: Hughes Network System's Partnership with National 4-H Council

Tell the story about this nominated CSR program as it has been carried out since January 1, 2014 (up to 650 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms.

Motivated by statistics showing the U.S. falling behind in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education and careers, National 4-H Council and Hughes, through its satellite internet access service, HughesNet®, initiated a partnership in 2014 to introduce more American youth to hands-on, community-based STEM learning. 4-H and HughesNet were a natural fit for each other. Both share roots in rural and exurban communities and have a common passion for driving our country’s competitiveness in the global economy. The partnership also included a sponsorship from Hughes Network Systems, the operators of HughesNet.

Throughout 2014, HughesNet and 4-H joined forces in a variety of programs designed to expose youth to the opportunities that STEM could bring them. These programs are described below:

National Engineering Week – A career day experience for aspiring 4-H engineers which included tours of a Hughes manufacturing plant in Gaithersburg, MD and the HughesNet network operation center (NOC) in Germantown, MD. Over 25 youth attended the event where they had the opportunity to meet with Hughes engineers and demonstrate their own STEM projects.

Raise your Hand for 4-H – A social media campaign to encourage 4-H alumni and supporters to “raise their hands” for 4-H. The state with the most hands raised received a $10,000 science sponsorship from Hughes to support STEM education at their local 4-H camps. The results were impressive:
- Maintained remarkably high conversion rate (37%) and share rate (21%) throughout life of campaign.
- Increased 4-H’s network of supporters by 8,200, 30% of whom were alumni.

Tech Takeover Days – Hughes awarded $10,000 science sponsorships to five states (PA, WI, AL, WV, and GA) to provide a day of STEM programming and education at 4-H summer camps. More than 700 youth participated in activities designed to spur development of STEM-related skills and increase their understanding of STEM’s applicability to community issues.

Inspire a Future Scientist Video Contest – This nationwide contest invited young people to answer the question, “Why do you love science?” Any interested young person between the ages of 13 and 19 could submit a video of up to 15 seconds that demonstrated his/her love of science and showed how science is connected to everyday life. Winners received cash prizes, trips to National Youth Science Day in Washington, DC in October 2014, and 4-H Rockets to the Rescue science kits. The finalists’ videos were posted to the 4-H web site and the top three winners were chosen via online voting. The Grand Prize Winner was 17 year old Jared Fuchs, an aspiring physicist and mathematician from Helena, AL.

STEM Education at County Fairs – Together, representatives from Hughes and 4-H attended five State Fairs over the summer of 2014 held in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Alabama, West Virginia and Georgia. Visitors to the 4-H booths had the opportunity for hands-on engagement in STEM through 4-H’s Rocket to the Rescue National Youth Science Day experiment.

National Youth Science Day – Held in October 2014, this event was the national rallying event for 4-H and was attended by over 70,000 youth from across the country who participated in 1,057 events. Using a 4-H science kit called “Rockets to the Rescue,” participants were challenged to build a rocket that could be launched from the mainland, travel over the ocean and deliver food to a remote Pacific island left without food after a natural disaster.

Inspired by the partnership’s success and the STEM passion it brought to thousands of young people in 2014, HughesNet and 4-H are continuing their joint efforts in 2015. An important component of this effort, 4-H GROWN, will help re-connect 4-H alumni to the organization through a social media contest to help 4-H youth win a $10,000 “Innovation Incubator” science scholarship.

In bullet-list form, briefly summarize up to ten (10) chief achievements since January 1, 2014 of the nominated CSR program (up to 150 words).

The HughesNet/4-H partnership successfully communicated and promoted the importance of STEM education and struck a positive chord with audiences nationwide.

1. Endorsement from HughesNet customers and 4-H followers
• Over 2,050 new Likes to the HughesNet Facebook page came from the 4-H Facebook page
• Online sentiment mentioning HughesNet and 4-H was overwhelmingly positive throughout 2014 - 97%
• “Raise Your Hand!” campaign generated 8,200 participants and a 37% lead conversion rate
• “4-H Grown” campaign drove 13,500 alumni check-ins since January 2015
• Direct mail campaign with co-branded materials resulted in a 15% increase in sales for HughesNet satellite Internet – 1,555 orders

2. Extensive media interest in “Inspire a Future Scientist Video Contest”
• 2,252 news articles published from release announcing contest
• Print coverage reached 98,000 readers
• Websites covering the story viewed by 11,119,922 unique visitors per month
• 13 radio interviews reached 710 outlets with combined audience of 1,617,700
• 20 million total news release