PPG—Colorful Communities
Seeing the world in color—noticing its vivid hues and subtle shadings—is not easy if you are surrounded by the drab and dreary grays of disrepair. That’s where PPG’s Colorful Communities comes in.
PPG, a global, Fortune 200 company that delivers paints, coatings, and specialty materials to the construction trade, set out with this program to engage its employees and make a difference in the appearance of schools, playgrounds, and even old equipment in each of the four regions around the world where it has clients. The mission aligns perfectly with the company’s tagline: “We Protect and Beautify the World.”
Nearly 8,000 employees have volunteered with Colorful Communities since its inception in 2015, working on 204 different projects in 29 different countries. A survey of employees around the globe found that 85 percent of them are aware of the program, and that 90 percent plan to participate in some way in the future. More than half of all employees say that Colorful Communities makes them feel positive about working for PPG.
In 2018 specifically, volunteers converted an old bus into a mobile STEM laboratory in Istanbul, Turkey; revitalized a Minneapolis high school, and created a STEM laboratory there; used 145 gallons of paint and product to freshen up a school and its sports complex in Sao Paolo, Brazil; and freshened up the Susrut Eye Foundation and Research Center in Kolkata, India, a nonprofit center that provides eye care for millions of patients and trains eye care professionals.
The program has been featured in 10,000 media clips, generating more than 3 billion impressions across print and online. The company has used nearly 22,000 gallons of pain to make the world more colorful. The company has pledged a $10 million investment over 10 years to Colorful Communities.