Our
Communities

We focus our charitable giving on education and literacy projects around the world. In 2004 we invested £2.5 million in cash donations and gave additional in-kind support such as staff time, advertising space, publishing expertise and book donations. In 2003 our total cash and in-kind support was £4.74 million as reported in the Giving List in The Guardian newspaper in November 2004. This equates to 1.2% of our pre-tax profits. 2004 numbers will be reported later in the year.

^* Note: 2004 number includes our relief funds

^* Note: Per Cent Club submissions as reported in The Guardian's Giving List. 2004 numbers to be reported later this year.

2004 saw the launch of the Pearson Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation established to extend our commitment to education in partnership with non-profit and public interest organisations. Though it's only just begun, we have already partnered with a number of leading businesses and civic organisations to support students and teachers in the classroom and to sponsor community-based education programmes around the world. These include:

• Bridgeit: An innovative programme that uses mobile phones and satellite technology to deliver our digital educational content to teachers and students who otherwise lack access to these resources. This programme was launched in the Philippines in 2003 in partnership with Nokia, the International Youth Foundation and the United Nations Development Program. Initial research shows a distinct improvement in academic performance.
   
• The Jordan Education Initiative: A public-private partnership with Cisco Learning Institute and the US State Department's Middle East Partnership Initiative to supply English Language Teaching (ELT) materials and training to teachers and students in Jordan.
   
• Make a Connection Thru Art: A partnership with Nokia and US not-for-profit Big Thought to provide arts education and life-skills programmes to middle-school students in US classrooms.
   
• Intel Computer Clubhouse Network: An alliance with Intel to adapt our Digital Arts Activity Library for use across the Computer Clubhouse Network's innovative after-school community centres. These bring computers and technology to young people in around 100 underserved communities around the world.

Jumpstart: In 2001, Pearson partnered with Jumpstart, a US non-profit organisation that pairs college students with pre-schoolers in low-income communities for one-to-one attention in literacy and language skills. The Pearson Teacher Fellowship programme encourages talented college graduates to become pre-school teachers in under-served areas across the United States. Now in its fourth year, Pearson and Jumpstart have trained over 70 Fellows in 15 locations across the US and will welcome an additional 30 Fellows in spring 2005. Fellows receive a stipend, intensive training, mentoring from a Pearson professional, and other important resources needed for school success and professional development.

To date, over 1,000 of our US employees have offered their support to Jumpstart, impacting the lives of over 10,000 children across the US. They've done this in a number of ways: adopting a local preschool; reading schemes; raising funds including $100,000 at a Jumpstart Golf Tournament; and offering business skills and services.

In 2004 Pearson nominated Jumpstart for the Committee for Corporate Excellence's annual non-profit organisation of the year award. From the hundreds of entries nominated from all the top global corporations, we are proud that Jumpstart was honoured with this award.

Book Aid: we have been long-term partners with Book Aid International, an international development agency that makes books and educational materials available in the developing world. We share Book Aid's vision and particularly like its approach to finding a sustainable solution by working with local schools, libraries and publishing organisations. Over the years we have sponsored Book Aid in a number of ways including cash and book donations as well as publishing projects, including Puffin's publication of a book of short stories in celebration of Book Aid's 50th anniversary with all royalties going to Book Aid.

In 2004 we decided to take this one step further by investing in a three-year reading tent programme to promote literacy and reading enjoyment in East Africa. In partnership with the East Africa Book Development Association, the programme sends touring tents to remote areas in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania where schools and libraries lack access to local libraries. The tents are stocked with books and run two-day reading events such as storytelling and reading and writing competitions. After each workshop, the participating schools and communities receive a library of books. In 2004 we donated over 22,000 Longman books to the programme. Pearson is also funding training sessions to strengthen the delivery and impact of the Reading Tent project in both the short and long term.

Our employees: It is important to us that we support and encourage our employees to play their part in their local communities. We do this by providing them with time, money and products. For example, we match employee fundraising around the world and, in the UK, we run a payroll giving scheme where employees can make tax-free donations to their favourite charities which we will match up to £500 a year.

Each year we invite employees to apply for our Pearson Community Awards to recognise their commitment to their local communities. In 2004 we awarded seven prizes ($500 plus $2,000 to a chosen charity) to employees in the US, UK, Spain and Australia.

In 2004 we witnessed a number of unforeseen tragedies. We are proud that, in all cases, Pearson people displayed a passionate commitment to play their part. To capture this we set up three relief funds. In each case, the amount raised was a combination of corporate and employee donations. The Tsunami appeal will be accounted for in our 2005 accounts:

• Fondo Recoletos-Pearson Víctimas 11-M: In the wake of the 3-11 Madrid bombings Pearson and Recoletos jointly set up a Disaster Fund kick-started by donations of €150,000 made by both companies. Employees were invited to donate to the fund bringing the total raised to €318,586 which was donated to the Fundación Víctimas del Terrorismo, a respected Madrid-based non-partisan NGO which acts as an umbrella organisation for charities involved in terrorism relief work. The money was invested in a number of projects including awards worth €6,000 each to thirty schoolchildren who lost one or both parents on 3-11.
   
• Beslan appeal: In partnership with our Russian newspaper Vedomosti, Pearson set up an appeal fund to support children affected by the tragic events in Beslan. Pearson made an initial donation of £5,000 and employees raised additional funds boosting the total to £19,000. Working with a charity on the ground in Russia, Lifeline, we invested this money in two projects: a telephone helpline service providing adults and children with advice on how to receive compensation and treatment and a peer-to-peer support group for teenage victims.
   
• Tsunami appeal: Like many other companies, Pearson established its own Tsunami relief fund. Kick-started with a donation of £100,000 from Pearson, we have raised over £350,000 with more than 3,500 of our employees pledging donations, all of which were matched. We divided this money between emergency relief through the International Red Cross and educational regeneration through our long-term partner Book Aid and a partnership with Penn University.

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