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Championing the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals Through DEI and ESG

Office scene People Man instructing
5 minute read
Wendy Rentschler

BMC is among the many companies striving to be better global citizens and employers, respecting and preserving our planet and natural resources to create a fair and equitable world for our people and communities—and we recognize the need to speak up and back up our words with actions.

According to PwC’s 2021 Consumer Intelligence Series survey on environmental, social, and governmental (ESG) issues, 91 percent of business leaders believe their company has a responsibility to act on ESG issues and 86 percent of employees prefer to support or work for companies that care about the same issues they do. In fact, the Deloitte Global 2021 Millennial and Gen Z Survey found that nearly half of those surveyed will choose their career and employers based on how they align with their personal ethics.

At BMC, we have intertwined our diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and ESG initiatives with our BMC Cares program and corporate social responsibility efforts. Everything we do in this space is guided by the principles of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and our recent work is highlighted in the latest BMC Corporate Social Responsibility Report.

UN Sustainable Development Goals

The 17 goals and 169 actions of the UN SDGs were established in 2017 as part of The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to provide “a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. [The goals] recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth—all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.”

UN Sustainable Development Goals

BMC Cares has evolved to align its activities with what BMC does as a business, leveraging industry strength and heritage to focus on technology as we transition our philanthropic work to support global digital literacy, accessibility, and intervention.

As this relates to our DEI efforts, we’re also changing how we hire to increase representation and diversity among our employees and invest in a diverse workforce of the future. We have extensive formal partnerships with organizations that champion diverse, underserved communities and use technology for equitable science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) enrichment programming to break the cycle of generational poverty. We also leverage these programs as talent pipelines for recruiting. And we work with VetsInTech and BreakLine to support the upskilling and hiring of US veterans, women, and people of color.

BMC Cares: Fostering Digital Literacy, Accessibility, and Intervention

Every DEI, BMC Cares, and sustainability event that we host and participate in ties back to the UN SDGs. Our recurring Diversity Speaker Series promotes peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provides access to justice for all, and helps build effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels.

Here are a few causes where we have extended our reach to help advance digital literacy, accessibility, and intervention, and we welcome you to join us in supporting these organizations.

Quality Education Audacity Labs: In an effort led by BMC CTO Ram Chakravarti and the office of the CTO, BMC Cares has established a relationship with Audacity Labs, a co-working incubator for high school students interested in exploring social entrepreneurship that promotes STEM programming where it’s needed most. Over 90 percent of student members attend a public high school or identify as BIPOC (black, indigenous, and other people of color). Decent Work and Economic Growth
Decent Work and Economic Growth Smile Foundation’s STeP program and Bhumi’s Ignite program: As part of World Youth Skill Day, BMC Cares volunteers helped underprivileged youth boost their employability quotient by teaching them how to enhance their digital profiles on various employment-generation platforms and register for e-learning upskilling opportunities.
Decent Work and Economic Growth UNICEF—Reimagine Education. Participants in the BMC Executive Council virtual roundtable of global industry leaders, who met to discuss the workforce of the future and business and technology strategy, made a donation to this UNICEF effort focused on bridging the global digital gap in education for underserved children.
Clean Water and Sanitation Seabin Project: Seabin Project technology collects data on marine health and removes plastic pollution from waterways before it reaches the ocean, across more than 1,100 sites globally. In honor of World Oceans Day, the BMC Customer Success organization, in partnership with BMC Cares, made a commitment towards deploying Seabins over the next year. Life Blow Water
Quality Education Houston Community College Foundation: BMC extended support for the foundation’s mission to attract and educate students—including many non-traditional students and those facing barriers to higher educationin our headquarter city of Houston by donating audio/visual equipment to enhance the student experience and support distance learning, virtual collaborations, online gaming/e-sports, wayfinding, and other activities.
Quality Education Southwest Center for Entrepreneurship Fund: Our contribution helps provide students with a personalized pathway to build skills and grow their career through entrepreneurial workshops, training, and programs in collaboration with the Houston Community College Centers of Excellence of Digital Information Technology and Advanced Manufacturing. Decent Work and Economic Growth

Existing, ongoing efforts that we’ve covered in previous blogs include planting trees around the globe with Reforest’Action and providing volunteer translators to work with the Tarjimly translation app.

Looking ahead

At BMC, we believe that the Autonomous Digital Enterprise includes everyone and our commitment to align our BMC Cares, DEI, and ESG initiatives with each other and the UN SDGs is vitally important to our people, our company, and the larger world. We’re determined to build a better future for our current workforce and the next generation that follows.

Read more about our DEI and ESG work in the BMC Corporate Social Responsibility Report, and check out our DEI blog series here.

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These postings are my own and do not necessarily represent BMC's position, strategies, or opinion.

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About the author

Wendy Rentschler

Wendy is the head of Corporate Social Responsibility at BMC, where she champions equity & inclusion through programming where people can thrive, feel heard, and do some of the best work of their lives. Her mantra: Gratitude is free.