Retail IT Executives Launch New Charity, RetailROI - The Retail Orphan Initiative

December 10, 2008

Finally, good news in retail: retail executives, analysts and technology vendors have formed a new charity organization, RetailROI (the Retail Orphan Initiative), aimed at raising awareness of adoption issues and helping provide lasting solutions for vulnerable children worldwide.

RetailROI is a charitable foundation established to help the 400 million orphaned and vulnerable children worldwide; the organization recently launched its site, www.retailROI.org. Created under the umbrella of The Giving Back Fund, RetailROI provides grants to charities that provide hands-on efforts in the following areas: Orphan Care(food, shelter, medical, clothing, education)Foster Care support organizations Adoption support organizations Grants and zero-interest loans for adoption Child rescue from human trafficking Life skills training for orphaned and vulnerable children RetailROI has grown out of the work that Paul Singer, SVP and CIO of SUPERVALU, has done in support of orphans.

RetailROI will initially solicit donations from retailers, vendors and employees. However, the long-term goal is to create programs such as "RoundUp for Orphans" at the point of sale, in which customers can round up their transactions to the nearest dollar to support the fund, or custom multi-retailer gift cards that would dedicate a portion of the sales to RetailROI.

RetailROI's board of donor trustees includes: Paul Singer, SVP and CIO of SUPERVALU; Marc Millstein, founder and president of Retail Connections; and Greg Buzek, founder and president of IHL Group. The board of advisors includes Cathy Hotka, president and CEO of Cathy Hotka and Associates; Timothy Kasbe, CIO of Reliance Retail Ltd., India; Jeff Roster, research VP for Retail Industry Market Strategies at Gartner; and Jeff Ketner, president of KetnerBarnes.

RetailROI will meet for the first time at 10 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2009 at the National Retail Federation Show in New York. New members are welcome to attend. For more information, visit www.retailROI.org.

SOURCE: RetailROI