TWO NORTH-AMERICAN LAUNCHES AT THE TREMBLANT FORUM CONFERENCE ON CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY

Matthew Bishop of The Economist unveils his new book Philanthrocapitalism

Imagine Canada presents the results of its Canada Survey of Business Contributions to Community

Montreal September 17, 2008 – More than 140 corporate foundation institutional non-profit and government leaders from across Canada attended the fifth annual Tremblant Forum on corporate responsibility and sustainability held on September 16 and 17 in Mont Tremblant. The theme of this year’s conference was Looking forward giving back.

The opening cocktail began with a special presentation from Matthew Bishop Chief business writer/US for The Economist who chose Tremblant Forum for the North American launch of his new book Philanthrocapitalism. In his book Mr. Bishop analyzes a new philanthropic movement led by what he calls philanthrocapitalists – the new generation of super rich who are giving away their personal fortunes of several billions of dollars each. These social investors are using business-style strategies to effect social change and are expecting results and accountability to match.

“Philanthrocapitalists love to support social entrepreneurs who offer innovative solutions to society’s problems,” explains Matthew Bishop. “When philanthrocapitalists use their donations to create a profitable solution to a social problem the project tends to attract more capitalfar faster and achieves a far bigger impact far sooner than would a solution based entirely on giving money away.”

The benefits of being a good corporate citizen

Imagine Canada also chose Tremblant Forum to unveil the results of its Canada Survey of Business Contributions to Community. With more than 1,500 companies surveyed it is the most comprehensive study of its kind in North America.

According to the study 79 % of respondents strongly agreed that businesses and non-profit organizations can mutually benefit from collaborative relationships. The study also highlights some of the key benefits associated with good corporate citizenship such as employee recruitment and retention and the ability to influence consumer buying behaviour.

However there is still a long way to go when it comes to the median annual corporate contribution to non-profit organizations. In fact 25% of surveyed companies give only 0.06% of their pre-tax profits which is much lower than the 1% recommended by Imagine Canada’s Caring Companies program.

A roster of internally renowned speakers

Tremblant Forum 08 brought together some of the world’s top speakers in the area of community investment and strategic philanthropy:

Matthew Bishop chief business writer/USThe Economist

Peter Swinburn president and chief executive officer Molson Coors Brewing Company

Monique Villa chief executive officer Thomson Reuters Foundation

Pierre Boivin president Montreal Canadiens Gillett Entertainment Group and the Bell Centre

Kevin McCort president and chief executive officer CARE Canada

Peter Frumkin professor of public affairs and director RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs

Bill Young president Social Capital Partners

Tobias Webb founding editorThe Ethical Corporation

Elmira Bayrasli director corporate partnerships and outreach Endeavor

Venkatesh Mannar president The Micronutrient Initiative

David Creighton president and chief executive officerCordiant Capital

Andrew Marshall-Roberts head of corporate responsibility Standard Life

Jocelyne Pinsonneault vice-president Marketing Cascades Tissue Group

John Lawrence director corporate social responsibility Wal-Mart Canada

Brenda Plant co-director Ethiquette

Sanjay Sharma dean John Molson School of Business

François Bugingo president Reporters without Borders Canada

The Tremblant Forum was made possible with the support of numerous leading organisations including Alcoa, Cascades,Gildan,Loto-Québec,MolsonCoors,Wal-Mart and Tremblant as well as media partners La Presse,The Gazette,Vision Durable,The CRO and www.novae.ca.

About NATIONAL

NATIONAL is the largest public relations consultancy in Canada and was chosen among the top ten public relations firms in the world for corporate and social responsibility and the only one in Canada. NATIONAL has offices in Montreal,Quebec City,Ottawa,Toronto,Calgary,Vancouver,Victoria,New York and London as well as an interest in MT&L/NATIONAL in Halifax and Saint John. The firm offers corporate communications investor relations public affairs marketing technology and healthcare communications services to a broad range of leading corporate government and institutional clients. International lythe firm is affiliated with Burson-Marsteller.

NATIONAL is a subsidiary of RES PUBLICA Consulting Group in Montreal which also owns another Canadian public relations leaderCohn & Wolfe | Canadawith offices in Toronto,Montreal and Calgary and an affiliation with the worldwide Cohn & Wolfe network. RES PUBLICA also holds a significant interest in Global Public Affairsthe leader in government relations in Canadawith offices in OttawaToronto and Calgary.

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CONTACT:

Roch Landriault

514-843-2345