Corporate citizenship
We take pride in being engaged and responsible corporate citizens. For HarbourVest, this means being proximate and supportive of the communities in which we work and live, contributing to positive societal impact, and mitigating negative environmental impact.
HarbourVest Gives Back
HarbourVest team members contribute positively to the world we live in by connecting with local organizations that have in-depth knowledge of our community’s needs and challenges and using our unique resources to implement targeted solutions.
![](https://www.harbourvest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/McCord-Katherine_300x300.png)
Employee service hours
Our Employee Service Hours program grants each full-time colleague the equivalent in hours of two paid days per calendar year to volunteer with non-profit organizations in local communities that are dedicated to achieving social equality.
HarbourVest’s team in Hong Kong volunteered at The Chinese Foundation Secondary School in a session organized by Inspiring Girls which connected female-identifying students with adult role models. The effort has since expanded to create partnerships between students and professionals of all genders.
![](https://www.harbourvest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Hong-Kong-volunteer.jpg)
David Cellucci used his Employee Service Hours to volunteer as a counselor at Camp Fatima, north of Boston.
![](https://www.harbourvest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/daivd-_mark-new-file-2.jpg)
Global volunteer weeks
Partnering with local nonprofit partners fighting social inequality, food insecurity, homelessness, climate change, disadvantaged youth and more, HarbourVest team members across the globe came together to donate their time to hands-on volunteering opportunities.
![](https://www.harbourvest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Volunteer-Collage-DEI_v3.jpg)
Fall 2022
volunteer weeks
A firm-wide focus on hunger and homelessness
Our London office assisted Good Food Matters in the development of a 1.5 acre community garden and kitchen in South London.
“Good Food Matters is dedicated to growing organic produce for the local community as well as providing cooking classes, food, and meals to local food banks, homeless shelters, and community drop-in centers for those in need. Our team tackled a number of tasks in the garden from clearing vegetable beds in the greenhouses to constructing a new path, building new beds and laying soil for spring planting. Everyone deserves access to fresh fruits and vegetables!”
Anna Garcia
Senior Associate, Product Marketing
Our Toronto office volunteered with WoodGreen Foundation, the largest social services agency in Toronto, and sorted and packed food for the Daily Bread Food Bank, which distributes millions of pounds of food every year to locals in need.
“Since the COVID-19 pandemic, economic inequality has only intensified. We were fortunate enough to be able to help WoodGreen and Daily Bread support low-income families during the highest demand in history.”
Renée Gouveia
Office Manager
![](https://www.harbourvest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Dublin_cropped-2.png)
Our Dublin office planned and prepared home-cooked meals for families staying at the Ronald McDonald House in Crumlin.
“Every night, the Ronald McDonald House provides accommodation, support, and a caring environment for families of seriously ill children undergoing medical treatment at Children’s Health Ireland. It was a special experience to come together with my team members to plan, prepare, and serve a warm dinner for our community members in need.”
Cian O’Gorman
Portfolio Risk Associate
Annual holiday partnerships
Every December, HarbourVest colleagues across the globe mobilize to support families in need during the holiday. Through longstanding partnerships with local organizations, regional offices donate toys, holiday decorations, household items, and more. In-kind donations, a new addition to our employee matching gift program, helped us double our impact this past holiday season.
Charitable giving program
Our charitable giving program encourages team members to make individual monetary donations through a partnership with Benevity. Since the program’s launch in 2018, team members have supported over 650 individual non-profit groups worldwide. In 2023, HarbourVest increased the annual matching gift maximum to $2,500 per colleague per calendar year to further increase support for organizations that are important to them.
Boston Children’s Hospital Corporate Cup
HarbourVest colleagues were proud to compete and volunteer in support of our adopted patient sponsor, nine-year-old Aileen, and other young patients in need. Aileen provided our team inspiration and grit, helping them earn 2nd place out of 61 competing teams, with wins in the hula hoop and soccer kicks competitions. HarbourVest was recognized as having the second most volunteers of any participating company and, collectively, the teams participating in the challenge raised nearly $1 million.
J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge
Colleagues from across the globe participated in the world’s largest corporate running event to raise funds for local organizations. Runners from our Singapore office supported the Rainbow Centre, a group focused on empowering individuals with disabilities, Boston colleagues contributed to the Fifty Years Fund powered by The United Way of Massachusetts Bay, a group dedicated to creating education and career pathways for marginalized youth and young adults, and our London team donated to Centerpoint, the UK’s leading youth homelessness charity.
Supporting a living wage
In June 2022 HarbourVest UK was proud to become an accredited Living Wage Employer. In 2023, we reaffirmed our commitment to the UK Living Wage and incorporated this year’s wage increase into our standards. This commitment applies not only to directly employed staff but also to third-party contracted staff.
The real Living Wage is higher than the government’s minimum or National Living Wage and is an independently calculated hourly rate of pay based on the actual cost of living. The UK Living Wage Foundation calculates the Living Wage each year, announced as part of Living Wage Week.
“A living wage is not a charity, it is the foundation for successful, sustainable, and responsible business.”
UN Global Compact17
Environmental initiatives
We are committed to reducing our impact on the natural world by discovering, creating, and engaging in programs and initiatives that serve to address the needs of our planet and all of its inhabitants.
Carbon emissions strategy
HarbourVest continues to annually measure, reduce, and compensate for our firm’s operational emissions through the purchase of carbon offsets. In 2023, we partnered with ClimeCo to offset our 2022 operational emissions resulting primarily from purchased electricity, waste, and business travel. Through ClimeCo, we provided funding to an independently verified project operating local to our headquarters in Massachusetts: the Greater New Bedford LFG Utilization Project.
![](https://www.harbourvest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/ClimeCo-Certfied-Business-JPG-1024x876.jpg)
![](https://www.harbourvest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Cabon-emissions-photo.jpg)
The second-largest driver of global warming is methane, a greenhouse gas 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Landfills are a major source of methane, which is created when organic material decomposes underground. The Greater New Bedford project is a landfill gas-to-energy plant that has an electric power production capacity of approximately 3.3 megawatts. The captured landfill gas fuels four reciprocating internal combustion engine-generators, producing power for the region’s electric grid while reducing the amount of methane released into the atmosphere by destroying it in the engines.
HarbourVest team members Natasha Buckley, Katherine McCord, and Diana McEachern recently visited the site to meet the engineering team and learn more about the project.
Electric vehicle benefit scheme
HarbourVest instituted an electric vehicle benefit scheme (EVBS) in 2023 which is now offered to all eligible full-time team members throughout the United Kingdom. The EVBS is available through Tusker wherein an electric vehicle along with routine service and maintenance, insurance, replacement tires, road tax (if applicable), and more is provided for a monthly salary deduction. Participants in the EVBS are making a positive impact on the environment by choosing to drive an electric vehicle while taking advantage of benefits including tax and insurance savings.
![](https://www.harbourvest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Electric-vehicle-137058307.jpg)
As we look to the future, we will continue to develop our ESG program to drive positive change, minimize negative impact, and deliver positive outcomes for our clients.
Learn more about our ongoing efforts in corporate citizenship.
[16] The Childhood Trust, 2023, https://www.childhoodtrust.org.uk/
[17] https://unglobalcompact.org/academy/how-to-ensure-a-living-wage-for-all-employees