New York, June 6, 2008 – Many Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu member firms kicked off their annual day of community service today. IMPACT Day, when member firms around the world designate a day of service in their communities where they live and work, is an annual celebration of volunteerism and commitment to community involvement.

“IMPACT Day is an opportunity for tens of thousands of our Deloitte people to step away from conference calls and emails for one day, and contribute their time and professional skills to a variety of causes that help develop local communities,” explains Deloitte Global CEO Jim Quigley.

Throughout many countries, Deloitte member firms choose a wide range of activities to promote strong communities. Here are a few examples:

• In the United States, Deloitte volunteers participated in more than 700 projects in more than 70 different communities nationwide. Some of these are one-day projects, while many others are kick-off celebrations or continuations of longer-term endeavors.
• Deloitte Singapore's people made their way to the Boys' Town Home (BTH) in Upper Bukit Timah, where they spent the day improving the premises by cleaning, painting and re-decorating certain parts of the home.
• Deloitte Netherlands dedicated two full weeks to IMPACT Day. More than 1,000 professionals took part in activities across the country, supporting 50 charities.

 “Volunteerism helps Deloitte people develop leadership skills, while giving them an opportunity to use the innovative problem solving abilities they would normally employ on a day to day basis,” explains Quigley. “It is a win win situation. It also helps us implement our business strategy by facilitating the attraction and retention of talented people, and demonstrating what we are uniquely qualified to do.”

IMPACT Day is part of a long-term Deloitte strategy to align the professional skills of its firms’ employees with the critical challenges of their communities. The day is often characterized by Deloitte people around the world wearing Deloitte blue and green t-shirts. 

“It’s incredibly inspiring to me to look out over a city garden or walk through the halls of a local school with a team of Deloitte volunteers creating a sea of green and blue and working together to build local communities,” says Quigley. “It is a living example of the Deloitte Shared Values of integrity, outstanding value to markets and clients, and commitment to each other and to our communities.”

Read more about IMPACT Day. 

About Deloitte 

Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, a Swiss Verein, and its network of member firms, each of which is a legally separate and independent entity. Please see www.deloitte.com/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and its member firms.