HMC’s Corporate Social Responsibility is featured in the December issue of Costco Connection in an article titled, “The Business of Helping the World: Social Responsibility as a Core Business Strategy.” If you are a Costco member, take a look at the article on pages 32 & 34.

The article highlights companies that are committed to giving back to their communities and demonstrates how doing good is good for business. “Social Responsibility has finally entered the mainstream says Costco member Kellie McElhaney and author of Just Good Business, The Strategic Guide to Aligning Corporate Responsibility and Brand.” Author Steven Van Yoder states, “By embedding support for social causes into the day-to-day business culture and operations, companies boost employee recruitment, morale, and retention, and strengthen relationships with customers. clients, prospects and vendors.”

The article highlights HMC’s commitment to corporate social responsibility and specifically mentions the McKinley Elementary project. Pablo LaRoche, Eera Babtiwale and Sandy Kate led a series of workshops, “Sustainability as Seen Through the Eyes of Elementary School Children,” on energy, water and waste at McKinley Elementary in Santa Monica in 2012. A book for elementary school students on sustainability and a teacher’s manual is currently in development and should be completed in early 2014.

In 2009, HMC founded the Designing Futures Foundation (DFF), a nonprofit 501 (c)(3) organization, to advance and deepen the firm’s commitment to giving back. Today, through HMC’s corporate giving, the DFF’s scholarship and community grants programs, volunteerism, pro bono design services, in-kind donations, board service, and environmentally sustainable business practices, HMC is designing a better future for generations to come.