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NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
May 4, 2010
JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT WINS $500,000 GRANT
FROM SAM'S CLUB
JA drives the most online votes during
month-long campaign.
Colorado Springs, Colo. – Junior Achievement (JA)
today announced it has won a $500,000 grant from Sam's Club as part of the
Giving Made Simple online voting campaign. The grant will allow the youth
development nonprofit to expand its entrepreneurship programs to reach 14,000
more U.S. K-12 students.
Through the Giving Made Simple campaign, which was
launched on April 8, Sam's Club members and associates voted to determine how $4
million in charitable giving would be distributed among eight nonprofit
organizations. The organizations were divided into two categories-education and
entrepreneurship-and only competed with the organizations in their categories.
During the campaign, more than 125,000 Sam's Club members and associates voted
for their favorite organizations at samsclub.com/giving, and facebook.com/samsclub
and during a one day in-club event nationwide. Junior Achievement drove the most
online votes during the course of the campaign.
Additionally, Sam's Club engaged members and the general
public on Twitter by inviting them to show their support for their favorite
organization during two special bonus voting days, and by giving everyone the
chance to chat real-time with the eight organizations via an online Twitter
party. Junior Achievement was able to rally its supporters to generate the most
online votes throughout the contest and to post the most Tweets among the
education nonprofits during each of the two special bonus voting days.
"Sam's Club is pleased to award $500,000 to Junior
Achievement and thanks all of the organizations who participated in Giving Made
Simple, and our members and associates for helping to make this campaign such a
success," said Cindy Davis, Executive Vice President, Membership, Marketing and
E-commerce at Sam's Club. "We have all been inspired by the hard work and
dedication of these organizations, and are excited to see the social and
economic impact that these grants will have on the communities that Sam's Club
serves."
Jack Kosakowski, president of Junior Achievement USA,
added, "I am extremely proud of the effort by our 130 U.S. local area
offices-each one was able to effectively mobilize its network of donors,
educators, volunteers and board members to drive votes for JA for the duration
of the campaign. Sam's Club members and associates who voted for JA can feel
confident that their votes will help nuture the entrepreneurial spirit in
thousands of young people nationwide and will help to develop the workforce of
tomorrow. JA is very grateful to Sam's Club for the opportunity to participate
in Giving Made Simple."
About JA Worldwide® (JA)
Junior Achievement is the world's largest organization dedicated to inspiring
and preparing young people to succeed in a global economy. Through a dedicated
volunteer network, Junior Achievement provides in-school and after-school
programs for students which focus on three key content areas: work readiness,
entrepreneurship, and financial literacy. Today, 129 individual area operations
reach more than four million students in the United States, with an additional
5.7 million students served by operations in 122 other countries worldwide. For
more information, visit www.ja.org.
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