Unum Invests in School Music

• Like (4)
• Comments (2)
• Email
• Facebook
• Twitter

At a time when corporate America is often labeled as corrupt and self-serving, it seems that one local corporation is trying to set themselves apart. Following up on a tip I received last week, I learned that Unum, the Chattanooga-based employee benefit provider, will soon officially announce that is celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera (CSO) and its own commitment to education by investing $75,000 to underwrite the CSO’s "Ensembles in Schools" program. This program provides opportunities for 18,000 students every year to hear and interact with professional orchestral musicians, including the CSO's String and Woodwind Quartets. The Unum grant will enable the CSO to perform for free at every school in our region for the next three years. The program will be officially announced on Thursday, August 7 at 10 a.m. at the Chattanooga School for Arts and Sciences auditorium. Suzanne Rodgers, Senior Consultant in Community Relations with Unum, took time to answer a few of my questions via E-mail.

Bill Colrus: How did the idea come about? Suzanne Rodgers: We are going through the process of redefining all of our relationships with local non-profits. We want our giving dollars to be tied into a relationship. Instead of just underwriting events, we are asking our non-profit partners to sit down with us and brainstorm new ways to work together that can benefit more of the community with lasting, measurable impact. BC: What is the ultimate goal of the partnership? SR: Our main focus area right now is public education K-12. By redefining our relationship with the CSO we can benefit the arts at the same time. This way we don't have to give up our successful, existing relationships- we can overlap our giving areas to benefit more people. BC: Why three years? SR: Because that's what they asked for. Just kidding. (laughs) We decided on three years because it gives us more time to make that measurable impact I mentioned before. What we are developing is long term relationships that can actually make change. It's easy to write a check and say you did your part. We realize it's time to do more. BC: How does this move differ from other sponsorships that Unum is involved in? SR: Again, we are redefining as much as we can. An example is the Hunter Museum. We've been corporate partners for years and that included benefits to our employees. We now partner on a higher level. (Note: Rodgers says that Unum and the Hunter Museum have developed a new program to benefit Hamilton County Schools for the 2008-09 school year. The Unum "Free Admission for Schools" program will cover free admission for all self-guided tours of reserved, organized school groups of students in K-12 grade. The Hunter Museum promotes teacher-led tours, and provides quarterly training for teachers. Self-guided school groups are met at the door by a trained staff member who confirms the appointment, previews the tour, and answers questions.) BC: How will this program set Unum apart from competing companies' sponsorship efforts? SR: We never consider other Chattanooga companies competition in the giving arena. The more they give, the better for the community. What we do see is new partnerships developing among funders. This will produce more strategic giving with impact that may not be possible with smaller efforts. The face of giving may change very soon. We hope to be a big part of that. Chattarati readers: How does this program sound to you? Let us know in the comments below.