Earlier this year, in April; for the very first time, the SM Foundation (SMFI) was conferred a Silver Stevie Award in the Innovation in Community Rela­tions or Public Service Communications category at the ninth annual Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards. In response, SMFI Executive Director, Debbie Sy, expressed her deepest gratitude for the recognition, and vowed to further continue and bolster the initiatives of SMFI, all geared towards uplifting the lives of its stakeholders, especially among the communities where SM operates.

The winning entry was their ‘Spreading Social Good’, an ex­tensive, multi-pronged develop­ment communication strategy that highlighted the social develop­ment opportunities that SMFI was offering to its host communities with initiatives in education, in health and wellness, in sustain­able agriculture, and in disaster response. For Debbie Sy, “We hope that through this recognition, we will be able to inspire others to join us in our social development cause and create more venues for collaboration and program inno­vations for the benefit of grassroot communities.”

“This recognition given by the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards orga­nizers does not only celebrate the work we do, but more importantly, it inspires us to strive harder in spreading social good and make a positive impact on the lives of Filipinos.”

SM Foundation is the corporate social responsibility arm of the SM group. While the Stevie Awards are the only business awards program that recognizes innovation in the workplace in all the 29 nations of the Asia-Pacific region. The Stevie’s are widely considered to be the world’s premier business awards.

With ‘Spreading Social Good’, SMFI invested in creating effective social media content on Facebook, Instagram, and other social media apps; content that would be infor­mative, helpful, and innovative in terms of how it would reach and be received by their stakeholders and communities. This began in ear­nest in 2020, when the pandemic had the SMFI Communications team looking for alternative ways to reach their intended audience beyond the traditional mediums of television, and newspapers.

What was impressive was how SMFI maximized the power of digital communications, also in the execution of their social good pro­grams. For example, in launching their school buildings and health centers, they utilized Facebook and YouTube. In updating the agricul­tural knowledge of farmers, SMFI used blended learning as a strategy to push through with their training on sustainable farming. As for their SM scholarship program, virtual events enabled SMFI to engage, not only their scholars but also the parents, which in turn strengthens parental involvement. In today’s world of rapid information, SMFI understood the importance of digi­tal communication and its potential to help them broaden their reach.

Formed in 1983 by Henry Sy Sr. himself, the SM Foundation has al­ways been part of the growth of the SM group. CSR has always been part of the DNA of the conglomerate, and this concern for the communi­ties it serves, has been passed on from generation to generation. I’ve often heard this being emphasized and reiterated by Tessie Sy-Coson, and her daughter Mara Coson.

Pre-pandemic, it’s a general observation of mine that CSR was viewed by many in the general public as a corporation’s after­thought, or a vestige of their con­science - and it was difficult to put the spotlight on these efforts. If there is some silver lining to the health crisis whose shadow we’ve all lived under for more than two years now, it’s how CSR work has expanded, and became a focus of scrutiny - as a living embodiment of any company’s social responsi­bility, and the role it plays in the community it thrives in.

For a company as big as SM and how it’s there in every corner of our nation, the SMFI is proof of the constancy with which the Group has taken this responsibil­ity over the decades. If anything, this Stevie Award is a form of third party validation of the diversity, resilience, and innovation of how SMFI operates. In a virtual cer­emony held on June 29, the SM Foundation received their Silver Stevie Award.