We recently introduced an evolved list of corporate responsibility priorities we call our Thriving Together agenda. This agenda reflects our focus on addressing issues that impact the quality of life of millions of people and pets and allows us to harness our financial resources, expertise, partnerships and the incredible passion of our employees to further strengthen the important role we can play. It also represents the latest evolution in our commitment to enhance how we support all those connected to our business, a practice that’s been in place at Smucker for more than a century.

Our founder, Jerome Monroe (J.M.) Smucker, believed that a business has a responsibility to support the greater good. He believed that we all have an opportunity to do our part to make the world a better place. This was realized through many efforts led by J.M. including supporting the development of libraries, parks and several other community establishments in the region. This sense of responsibility and spirit of giving back has remained an inspiration to our leadership. 

While incredibly proud of the progress we had made across several areas of support, we realized there was an opportunity to expand the positive role we could play by focusing our efforts where we could make the most meaningful impact. To provide a framework for this, we reviewed the needs of each of our key constituents and areas of responsibility – primarily our consumers, employees, communities, supply chain and the environment.

This framework has allowed us to focus on the specific needs and challenges of these stakeholders to identify where we could play a meaningful role. It supported our ability to establish unique goals for each area. And, it provided needed clarity to unite the incredible passion that flows throughout our organization to help others and make a positive impact.

The introduction of our evolved Thriving Together agenda represents the continued evolution of corporate impact commitments and a reflection of the high standard we hold ourselves to. For us, it is not enough to commit to help those in need, we must strive to identify where the challenges exist and where the resources and support are lacking. Focusing on these specific issues helps to make our calls for support more actionable, our decisions more impactful and our work more meaningful.

The Thriving Together agenda was developed based on an intersection of the constituent areas of focus we identified and our passions as an organization.. Through this, we have prioritized our support of the following five areas:  

·       Access to Quality Food: Through the safe production and distribution of our products, partnerships with farmers and growers and support of hunger-related organizations, we will help ensure people and pets have consistent access to trusted, quality food.

·       Education: We will build upon our long-term efforts to partner with organizations that are committed to creating or improving access to educational and skill development opportunities.

·       Equitable and Ethical Treatment: Through employee training, hiring practices, community relations, supplier expectations and supporting leading organizations, we will work to ensure equitable and ethical treatment for all. 

·       Community Resources: We will increase its efforts to create and strengthen access to vital community resources, including disaster relief, child development and emotional support services.

·       Healthier Planet: Through a more sustainable approach to our operations and value chain, we will contribute to creating a healthier planet for future generations. 

We are proud to have established these critical objectives and while we recognize our work will not be easy, we know with the passion of our leaders, employees and partners we will continue to make positive progress in our commitment to thrive together.