Apartment Investment and Management Company
(NYSE: AIV)

Some companies celebrate anniversaries with a cake and a picture in the local paper. Yet, Apartment Investment and Management Company (AIMCO), headquartered in Denver, Colo., celebrated its 10th anniversary of going public in 2004 by establishing AIMCO Cares to strengthen its contributions to community service. “Our people have a strong sense of volunteerism, and the goal was to create a corporate culture that would allow them to express that by giving back to their communities,” says Miles Cortez, executive vice president and chief administrative officer.

The AIMCO Cares program helps to build and improve communities, an appropriate choice of community service for this multifamily REIT. “We focus on communities where AIMCO has a presence with the mission of encouraging employees to take 10 hours to do something that meets the goals of AIMCO Cares,” Cortez says.

Capitalizing on the company’s construction know-how, AIMCO Cares has sponsored construction of six homes for seniors in Denver, Indianapolis and New Jersey, donating materials and labor. In the Denver area, the annual AIMCO CaresGolf Classic raises hundreds of thousands of dollars for causes ranging from the Denver Rescue Mission to Fisher House, which provides housing for families of military personnel who are hospitalized.

In addition to AIMCO Cares activities, the AIMCO Family Foundation annually provides college scholarships to children of AIMCO team members. Also, the AIMCO Cares 4U fund assists team members and their families who are in difficult circumstances from unexpected illness, accidents or natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina, or more recently, Hurricane Ike. AIMCO Cares not only boosts employee morale and benefits local communities, it’s also good for business, Cortez says. “Philanthropy strengthens our business relationships and our position by making a difference in the community,” he says. “A motivated, fulfilled team creates value for shareholders. Philanthropy and business are complementary pursuits, not competing ones.”

Forest City Enterprises
(NYSE: FCE.A)

Forest City employees sort goods at the Greater Boston Food Bank on Community Day.

Community outreach at Forest City, a diversified real estate operating company (REOC) based in Cleveland, Ohio, has deep roots. "Our company founders were Polish immigrants in the early 1900s, very humble people who recognized the need to give back to the community that made their success possible," says Jeff Linton, vice president of corporate communication. Continuing with the founders' philanthropic tradition, the Forest City Foundation has contributed to hundreds of charities over the years, donating more than $20 million in the past five years alone.

To put the company's core values of community involvement, teamwork and sustainability into action, Forest City established an annual "Community Day" in 2004. On a designated day, employees at Forest City headquarters and in core markets across the United States volunteer their time to local charities. This year, more than 1,500 Forest City associates in 60 cities donated more than 13,500 hours.

"Employees do everything from serving meals at local soup kitchens to repairing the buildings at day camps," says Linton, who spent the day painting picnic tables at a local camp for special needs children.

In conjunction with the 2008 "Community Day," Forest City announced a new tree planting program in Cleveland that the company plans to expand nationwide. In partnership with ParkWorks, a non-profit organization that is revitalizing Cleveland neighborhoods, Forest City will sponsor the planting of 100 trees in a local park. "The initiative not only reflects commitment to sustainability and community involvement, it also harks back to the company's origins in Cleveland, once known as the Forest City," Linton says.

Giving back to the community is integrated into the Forest City culture, Linton explains. "We are here to do well by doing good," he says.

Home Properties Inc.
(NYSE: HME)

Home Properties communities generate interest and support for the Cell Phones for Soldiers program and to motivate their residents and employees to donate old cell phones to the cause.

U.S. military stationed around the world can phone home for free, thanks in part to the efforts of Home Properties, a multifamily REIT based in Rochester, N.Y.

The company has a long-standing commitment to improving the communities where it has a presence, and Thanksgiving food drives and Christmas toy drives have been a tradition at locations in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Southeast Florida markets for years. Earlier this year, the company expanded its community outreach to U.S. military stationed overseas through the Cell Phones for Soldiers program.

"We have a strong commitment to customer service, which ties in nicely with the service our troops provide and their pledge to serve and protect our country," Charis Warshof, vice president, investor relations, says with pride.

All 118 Home Properties locations serve as collection centers for used cell phones. Employees, their friends and families, residents and the community at large deposit old cell phones at the apartment complexes for shipment to Cell Phones for Soldiers, a 501(c) 3 organization based in Massachusetts. The organization sells the phones to ReCellular, a cell phone reconditioning company. With the funds, Cell Phones for Soldiers purchases international calling cards and donates them to U.S. military personnel stationed all over the world. Since 2004, Cell Phones for Soldiers has raised almost $1 million in donations and distributed more than 400,000 prepaid calling cards.

Home Properties has collected more than 1,000 phones in less than a year, Warshof reports. "Part of our mission is to enhance the quality of life for our residents, and we think this was a great opportunity to give them a chance to make a difference and help our troops overseas," he says.

Parkway Properties Inc.
(NYSE: PKY)

Parkway Properties, an office REIT based in Jackson, Miss., spells out its philosophy on community service in its corporate "Commitment to Excellence" statement: "We consider it our responsibility to help others in need; provide support to efforts that benefit the overall public good; promote economic development; and encourage preservation and beautification efforts."

Parkway employees and customers embrace that commitment wholeheartedly, donating their time and talents to causes large and small. Individual employees, management teams and Parkway building teams participate in a wide array of volunteer activities to benefit local organizations.

In 2007, Parkway employees raised more than $96,000 for various charities, adopted 262 Angel Tree children, collected 1,700 pints of blood, as well as more than 5,000 pounds of food and 7,000 items of clothing, toys, gifts and supplies to benefit more than 70 local and national organizations.

At the corporate level, Parkway Properties supports many Mississippi-based organizations financially. In 2007, the company contributed approximately $35,000 to Jubilee Jam, the Mississippi Museum of Art, the Mississippi Opera, the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, New Stage Theater, the Children's Museum, the Greater Jackson Chamber of Commerce, the Jackson Zoo and other community service groups.

Parkway Properties believes that giving back to the community should be a priority at the personal level as well and allows each full-time employee one paid day per year to be used for a community service activity. Last year, more than 70 Parkway employees took advantage of this opportunity, donating more than 560 hours to make life better for others in their communities. Organizations that benefited from these efforts ranged from the Boy Scouts of America to Junior Achievement to the Mississippi Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped.

Plum Creek Timber Company
(NYSE: PCL)

Plum Creek awarded a grant to Screven Elementary School in Screven, Georgia, to help purchase books for the school’s media center. The grant helped achieve two related goals at the school: improving reading comprehension through the Accelerated Reader Program and increasing the media center’s science and environment collection.

Seattle-based Plum Creek Timber Company, the first and largest publicly held timber REIT, established the Plum Creek Foundation in 1993, just four years after the company's founding. The company understood that the small, rural communities where its employees live and work needed its support, explains Kirsten Smith, manager of The Plum Creek Foundation.

Soon to follow the establishment of the foundation were scholarships, in additional to an employee matching gift program. "Our goal is to improve the quality of life in our communities," Smith says. "Often, the need is great and a little bit goes a long way. We are usually the only source of funding for projects to make life better in these communities."

In 2007, the Plum Creek Foundation donated nearly $1.3 million to communities, students and organizations. The largest share ($703,000 in 2007) usually goes to community projects, and Plum Creek's generosity has supported endeavors as varied as renovating a Boy Scout camp, constructing a firehouse and providing food and clothing for the needy.

The foundation also makes educational grants. "This reflects a corporate emphasis on the importance of education and making it available in rural communities," Smith says. In 2007, education grants totaled $390,000 and ranged from funds to renovate a playground to supporting a community college capital campaign.

Environmental stewardship, another Plum Creek core value, has led the foundation to support endangered species preservation projects, build trails and publish a book about Montana birds. "We have a broader focus than many foundations," Smith says. "We often deal with small organizations that have one specific project to accomplish."

The foundation also has stepped forward in rural communities that lack funding for the arts to support art, theater, dance and music. In 2007, the foundation contributed $80,000 to programs ranging from children's theater groups to community theater facility renovations, concerts and dance programs.

ProLogis Inc.
(NYSE: PLD)

ProLogis, the world's largest owner, manager and developer of distribution facilities, approaches community outreach with the same passion and leadership it has for business.

"Community service is part of our triple bottom line, and we are invested in it globally," says Chuck Sullivan, managing director, capital management, North America. "The more the company has grown, the more we have expanded to meet the needs of local communities worldwide."

The ProLogis Foundation has been donating money to social service organizations and making matching contributions to colleges since 2001. In 2007, the company ramped up its efforts by creating a company-wide program that gives employees two paid days a year for volunteering to pre-approved charitable activities. In addition, the company sponsors local community service activities in each region in which it operates. In its first year, 85 percent of employees participated in the program via various service projects, with more than 700 North American employees contributing 4,700 hours.

A community service day also is part of the company's bi-annual ProLogis University employee training program. Last year, 350 employees spent a day making repairs to Manual High School, which Denver Public Schools had closed. ProLogis' efforts, along with an $80,000 donation from the company, helped get the school reopened.

"Our global platform provides international opportunities for giving back," Sullivan says. In rural China, ProLogis funds construction of a new school for every 5 million square feet of distribution space the company develops in that country. So far, four schools have been completed.

Local charities and non-profit organizations throughout Europe benefit from in-kind donations of monetary gifts and supplies. A short list of the many projects includes upgrading an oncology unit at a Polish hospital, building football fields and playgrounds in Romania, supporting youth sports in the U.K. and funding improvements at a children's home in Germany.

"Giving back and investing in the communities where we do business makes good economic sense from the shareholders' perspective," Sullivan says. "The communities learn we're on their team and we are equally committed to their success."

Rayonier
(NYSE: RYN)

Rayonier employees volunteer for Habitat for Humanity in Jesup, Ga.

Community outreach is ingrained in the corporate culture at Rayonier, an international forest products company based in Jacksonville, Fla. During any given week, Rayonier employees are likely to be building Habitat for Humanity homes, running in fundraiser road races or picking up trash along highways.

At the company's demonstration forest in Jesup, Ga., Rayonier experts teach area teachers about the science of forestry and responsible woodland management. A traveling photographic exhibit created by employees that chronicles Rayonier's corporate history and explains forestry and wildlife preservation has been on display at three major museums on Washington's Olympic Peninsula.

It's all part of the REIT's long-standing commitment to philanthropy. The Rayonier Foundation, created in the 1950s, is the cornerstone of the company's community outreach. The program has donated more than $500,000 to support local public schools, scholarship programs and community non-profit organizations.

"We try to search out service projects that are related to our business and meaningful to employees," says Charley Hood, vice president, public affairs and communications. For example, when a major flood and windstorm struck Washington State in December 2007, knocking down trees and causing major mudslides, Rayonier joined with a local relief organization to provide mobile homes to families who lost their homes in the storm.

Corporate donations account for only a portion of the company's community outreach. Employees also make donations of time and money through the United Way campaigns and other activities coordinated through Rayonier's public affairs department.

Rayonier strives to support as many different groups as possible for maximum impact, Hood says. "Most of the communities where we have a presence are small, rural, out-of-the-way places that don't have a lot of money to work with," he says. "If we can give them $5,000 or $10,000, it means a lot."

Simon Property Group
(NYSE: SPG)

There's more to Simon Property Group than leasable space. Not only is the REIT the largest public real estate company in the United States with an impressive portfolio of malls, outlet centers and lifestyle centers, Simon also has an impressive record for community service.

The centerpiece is the Simon Youth Foundation (SYF), created in 1997. The Foundation has established a network of 21 schools, called Education Resource Centers, that serve as alternatives to traditional high school for at-risk youth. Now in 11 states, these schools have enrolled more than 13,500 students since their founding and awarded 5,000 diplomas to kids who otherwise probably would not have graduated. The Education Resource Centers graduation rate is an impressive 90 percent, 20 percent above the national average.

In addition to the alternative schools, the SYF has awarded $5.9 million in scholarships to approximately 2,200 students since 2000 in every city where Simon has a mall. Simon employees get personally involved with the SYF by volunteering at hundreds of events each year that raise money to support it.

Simon employees also volunteer for a host of other causes through the Simon Employee Association (SEA). The SEA volunteerism initiative committee is dedicated to inspiring the spirit of volunteerism through organized company-sponsored events. Employees volunteer at a myriad of events through corporate headquarters such as the Susan B. Komen Race for the Cure, the Indianapolis 500 mini-marathon and partnering with other Indianapolis companies to feed the homeless at Christmas.

As a major corporate citizen in Indianapolis, Simon Property Group provides direct financial support at the corporate level to a wide range of charities in Indianapolis and allows the use of Simon malls nationwide for charity fundraising efforts.

Watson Land Company

Watson Land Company, a private REIT that is one of the largest developers of industrial centers in Los Angeles County, has a heart for kids. Employees at all levels give their time and talents to help children have a better life and a brighter future. Employee participation in community service is more than 90 percent.

"Since its inception, the company has had a tradition of being part of the community. Our philosophy is that we have a responsibility to give back and it has become integrated into our mission, vision and even employee reviews," says Pilar Hoyos, vice president, public affairs.

Company leadership sets an example, with Watson's CFO serving as president of the Carson, Calif. Boys and Girls Club, and the company's corporate general counsel on the club's board. Employees essentially run the club's annual fundraising dinner and auction, and the company has pledged $500,000 to the club's capital campaign.

To help school-age kids, Watson employees volunteer with the Carson Child Guidance Program. Watson's enthusiasm for giving has led to partnerships with vendors and customers. For example, the employees of the asset management department were so enthusiastic about the Child Guidance golf outing that two dozen vendors and customers also got involved, for a combined total of $43,000 in donations.

At the high school level, Watson is a strong supporter of Junior Achievement, with a team of employees donating their time and talents. Now in its 28th year, the Watson scholarship program awards three four-year, $10,000 scholarships annually.

To ensure that the company's philanthropy covers its employees' favorite charities, each employee can designate up to $1,000 per year to go to a non-profit organization that would otherwise not be eligible for philanthropy under Watson's strategic guidelines.

"Beyond the good we are doing in our communities, our community service initiative has the added benefit of building teamwork and employee morale," Hoyos says.

Company Profiles

Below are additional REITs with established community service programs

Associated Estates
Mayfield Heights, Ohio

• AECares Community Involvement Program combines corporate philanthropy, employee volunteerism, and management-level board service
• Supports many local and national non-profit organizations, such as United Way, Harvest for Hunger, the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission
• Promotes employee giving to United Way and is a 2008 Pacesetter company, exceeding goal by 14.5 percent
• Encourages employees to support local non-profit organizations that are meaningful to their communities and designates corporate-level resources to complement employee efforts.
• “This commitment to our communities exemplifies our leadership in the markets where we do business, while  our employees serve as ambassadors for AEC in their own neighborhoods.”

Camden Property Trust (NYSE: CPT)
Houston, Texas

• “Camden is more than just a place to live – we want the local community to be proud to call us neighbor.”
• Encourages employees to seek opportunities to contribute to the community
• Organizations that employees support with donations of time and money include Habitat for Humanity, Boy Scouts of America, Pull for Charlotte, Loudoun Parks renovations, Toys for Tots, Atlanta Food Bank, Feed the Hungry Campaign, CASA Atlanta for Children, Adopt a Pet, March of Dimes, Salvation Army, Ronald McDonald House, Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, United Way, Paws for Cause, YMCA, Quillian Recreation Center, National Night Out, Austin Teacher/Class sponsorship, Austin Woofstock, Project Angel Heart, American Red Cross, DePelchin Children’s Center, Goodwill, Denver Children’s Home, Positive Intervention Program, the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Dress for Success.
• Dallas employees send representatives to welcome home military troops at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport on their way home for a two-week Rest and Recuperation.

Cogdell Spencer (NYSE: CSA)
 Charlotte, N.C.

• Donates to health care-related foundations each year through the Cogdell Spencer Charitable Fund
• Participates in American Cancer Society's Annual Breast Walk, Charlotte, N.C.
• Participates in Charlotte United Way Campaign. 85 percent employee participation rate in 2008
• Collects food for Second Harvest Food Bank, Charlotte, N.C.
• Employees donated $1000 to Make-A-Wish in the name of Jim Cogdell and Frank Spencer as a holiday gift to senior leadership

Erdman – A Cogdell Spencer Company

• Hosts an annual “Give Back to the Community Day for employees to donate their time to a specific community project such as Habitat for Humanity 
• Cogdell Spencer Advisors (property management division)
• Hosts and sponsors regional community events, including blood drives, skin cancer screenings and tenant and community Open House events
• Sponsor the healthcare foundation events of their client hospital systems

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS)
Palo Alto, Calif.

• Employees donated 10,027 pounds of food through cash and food donations to America’s Second Harvest Food Bank in the western California area in 2007
• Employees volunteered to help rebuild Oakland, Calif. through Rebuilding Together, prepping and painting the outside of a home for a low-income family.
• Essex employees throughout western California collected more than 1,000 toys in the 2007 Toys for Tots drive

HCP (NYSE: HCP)
Long Beach, Calif.

• Employees participate in Angel Tree Christmas, purchasing Christmas gifts for children with a parent in prison
• Corporate donation of 3,800 lbs of food during Thanksgiving to the Southern
• California Food Bank, the largest corporate donation

Land Securities (LSE: LAND-LN)
London, U.K.

• Funds two youth workers to work with young people in the Corby, U.K. town center shopping district to promote a secure shopping environment
• Sponsored a recycling education program for retailers at a lifestyle center in Portsmouth, U.K. that pushed the recycling rate to 50 percent, diverted remaining waste to the local energy recovery facility and resulted in less than 1 percent going to landfill
• Offers a drama and music workshop at seven high schools in Leeds that mixes local actors and musicians with students and culminates in a combined live performance
• Provides the resources and expertise to help a Liverpool science college improve its sustainability and minimize its environmental impact
• Charities Committee made donations to 113 charities and supported more than 80 employees in their charitable fundraising efforts in 2007

LaSalle Hotel Properties (NYSE: LHO)
Bethesda, Md.

• Sponsors a company volunteer day when every employee takes a work day to perform community service
• Offers a 100 percent matching gift program
• Donates hotel rooms and spa packages for non profits/charities such as the American Heart Association and Share our Strength for fundraising auctions
• Providing a low-interest loan to MANNA, a non-profit that partners with corporations to build affordable housing for low-income families in Washington, D.C.

Nationwide Health Properties (NYSE: NHP)
Newport Beach, Calif.

• Participated in the 2008 local breast cancer walk/run to raise money for breast cancer research

Regency Centers (NYSE: REG)
Jacksonville, Fla.

• Recognized as one of “25 Companies that Care” by Jacksonville Magazine for its employees’ many philanthropic and volunteer endeavors
• Employees built five Habitat for Humanity homes in 2008
• Employees serve as mentors and tutors at John E. Ford Elementary School, Jacksonville and schools in several other Regency cities
• Won the United Way Summit Award in 2007 for exceptional commitment and investment
• Total donations company-wide in corporate philanthropy and employee matching contributions of more than $500,000 in 2007