Amid soaring community needs, P&G Canada strengthens its commitment to Lead With Love in 2021

Although more than a year of pandemic-related disruption and lockdowns are beginning to ease for Canadians, P&G Canada wants to raise national awareness regarding the critical need to continue supporting communities and charitable organizations that are both facing significant challenges in the months ahead.

Charities need more support than ever this year amid declining donations, according to CanadaHelps. In its recent 2021 Giving Report, the online fundraising platform is projecting a 10% drop in overall charitable giving last year, falling to a low not seen since 2016. Charities have thus been forced to respond to soaring community needs with fewer resources in the wake of COVID-19 – including funding, volunteers and staffing. Many charities are struggling to survive, as others have closed their doors.

“While Canadians responded generously online during the pandemic, overall giving declined and demand for charitable services skyrocketed,” said Marina Glogovac, President and CEO of CanadaHelps. “The pandemic severely impacted vulnerable communities and recovery will require charities to deliver higher levels of service for years to come. We are proud to continue our work with P&G and their commitment to community welfare and the charitable sector.”

The need to do good goes beyond times of crisis and should be an ongoing commitment, added P&G Canada president Geraldine Huse. “At P&G, we have an inherent responsibility to the communities we serve. On our journey as a leading force for good, we will remain close to Canadians and their communities in ways that will continue to foster trust and stronger connections.”

P&G is entering the next half of 2021 by once again demonstrating its unwavering commitment to making a difference. On National Indigenous Peoples Day, P&G announced a $200,000 commitment to match donations to the CanadaHelps Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Fund. Over the past year, P&G Canada has committed up to $1.8 million to support anti-racism charities, including those serving Black, Asian, and Indigenous Peoples communities.

Doing Good for the Community – The Journey Continues
Today’s communities are facing an array of challenges – the global pandemic, economic volatility, social unrest, climate change – and socially aware consumers are stepping up to voice their values and expectations for solutions. And they increasingly expect companies and brands to join them in taking a stand for a better future.

When people trust that big companies are acting responsibly on issues that matter to them – for example P&G initiatives involving sustainability and packaging, equality and inclusion and beyond – they are more likely to buy from those companies. According to Huse: “Doing good needs to lead to driving growth and the more we grow, the more we can give back. It’s a virtuous cycle.”

At the start of 2021, P&G launched its global Lead with Love campaign – which unites the Company’s longstanding citizenship efforts of community impact, equality and inclusion, and environmental sustainability – and committed to 2,021 Acts of Good for the year to do more and do better for communities, equality and our planet.

The Company has been leveraging sponsorships, long-standing partnerships with non-profits and advocacy groups as well as their digital consumer engagements for more meaningful impact to help meet expectations of their consumers and communities. Some highlights include:

Community Impact: Since the beginning of the pandemic, P&G Canada has donated over $4 million in cash, in-kind, and PPE to Canadians in need. Additionally, through GlobalMedic, P&G continues to donate hygiene kits to those in need and expanded this program to Indigenous communities and to support vaccine clinics in Toronto and helped get 100,000 people in Toronto vaccinated, reaching the most vulnerable, the undocumented, refugees, front line workers, and those without insurance.

Equality & Inclusion: Through CanadaHelps, P&G Canada committed up to $1.8 million to support anti-racism charities and charities that serve the Black, Asian, and Indigenous Peoples communities. They hosted a training for 25 women-owned businesses through WEConnect International. On the global sports front, for P&G’s sponsorship of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, the Company found a meaningful way to support athletes by shining a light on their inspiring acts of good on and off the field of play. Through its newly launched ‘Your Goodness is Your Greatness’ campaign and ‘Athlete for Good Fund’, P&G is awarding grants of US$10,000 to 50+ Olympic and Paralympic athletes (including four in Canada) for the charities these athletes actively support. The Company is also integrating donation components to the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Foundations through major Canadian retailers.

Sustainability: Sustainability has been embedded in how P&G does business for decades and the Company has announced ambitious goals for 2030 including being carbon neutral, converting to 100% reuseable or recyclable packaging, and reducing use of virgin plastic by 50%. During Earth Week, as part of its commitment to help make sustainable choices easier for the five billion consumers it serves every day, P&G launched the ’It’s Our Home’ campaign to share with consumers how small actions at home can make a world of difference for the planet. According to a study by P&G, 71% of Canadians surveyed want to do more to be sustainable at home but fewer than four out of 10 make environmentally conscious choices at home as often as they would like – and "not knowing how" is a key reason. Furthermore, nearly 75% of consumers said they want the brands they buy to help them live a more environmentally conscious lifestyle.

In early 2021, P&G launched P&G Good Everyday an online hub and consumer rewards program, where the Company shares its ongoing acts of good with Canadians while encouraging and enabling them to join in their efforts to make a positive impact. When Canadians sign up at www.pggooodeveryday.ca and take a quiz, scan a receipt, etc. they can select from a variety of charitable causes that P&G supports and the Company will make a donation on their behalf. Users also earn points that can be redeemed for rewards or donated to one of these charities. The worthwhile causes that P&G supports are tied to brand efforts including Tide Loads of Hope, Dawn Helps Save Wildlife, and Always End Period Poverty, as well as other local charities including WWF-Canada to help schools across Canada plant native gardens and United Way Centraide to support calls to 211, a telephone line that connects Canadians to government and community-based, non-clinical health and social services.

“Canadians really do care about giving back. They want to drive equality and inclusion, they want to support sustainability initiatives,” explains Huse. “P&G Good Everyday is for those who want to make an impact and in fact, the programs and charities featured on the site really resonate with our consumers.”

P&G also continued to mobilize the power and reach of its trusted brands to deliver on its commitment of 2,021 Acts of Good. Some key initiatives that have contributed to the effort and will continue through 2021 include:

• Tide #SwitchToCold campaign encouraged Canadians to save money and energy by switching to cold.
• Cascade “Take a Half-Load Off” initiative encouraged Canadians to wash in their dishwasher even if half full to save water.
• Microban 24 has partnered with the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses to help small businesses reopen safely and kickstart small business recovery.
• Pampers supported premature babies by providing $200,000 in technology grants to NICUs during COVID to enable families to connect with NICU babies.
• Always partnered with United Way Central Alberta on the Period Promise campaign resulting in a partnership with the Government of Alberta to help provide period products to 100 schools across Alberta as part of a pilot project starting Sept 2021.
• Secret’s #EqualSweat campaign is helping to drive equal opportunity for women in sport with a $1 million commitment to the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association.
• Pantene continued its support of the LGBTQ2S+ community with the #HairHasNoGender Project, which highlights the power of hair and the importance of support from loved ones especially in a trans or gender non-binary person’s transition and identity.
• Gold Series partnered with Black Women in Motion to launch #MyHairMyStory, a campaign that celebrates eight Black Canadian women and how they are expressing their authentic selves through their hair, and by doing so, are resetting beauty ideals.
• Crest launched the 5^th annual #CrestSmilewithPride program to support and celebrate the LGBTQ2S+ community.

About P&G’s 2,021 Acts of Good in 2021
At P&G, fostering equality and inclusion, supporting our communities and protecting the planet is embedded in how we do business. We believe we have a responsibility to make the world better —through the products we create and the positive impact our brands and Company can have. Under our Lead with Love campaign, P&G and its brands have committed to 2,021 acts of good this year. In the U.S. and Canada, consumers can do even more through P&G Good Everyday, a consumer rewards program that helps turn everyday actions into acts of good.