Corporate Social Responsibility

In October 2007, Kroll Ontrack launched its first Street Law program with Highland Park High School to educate juniors and seniors about the role of technology in the law. Approximately 40 Kroll Ontrack employees participated in the program – including two teaching visits to the school and a day-long, onsite conference at the Eden Prairie, MN, headquarters of Kroll Ontrack. The onsite conference included two workshops and a career fair. One workshop focused on the use of computer forensics evidence in a murder case and the other focused on the role of email in a trade secrets law suit. Kroll also donated $10,000 to Street Law in support the partnership.

Street Law is a not-for-profit organization that for 30 years has provided practical education to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds about law, democracy, and human rights. Street Law works with law firms and corporations to provide this unique experience to economically disadvantaged high school students.

On June 28, 2007, a team from Kroll’s European Corporate Advisory & Restructuring division completed a nearly two-month project with The Place2Be, an innovative charity that supports troubled children in UK schools. The 11-person team developed a sustainable fundraising strategy capable of raising £100,000 annually from the local community. The team also organized and ran a successful fundraising event at the Bannockburn Primary School in Greenwich, London, and raised an additional £4,500 though independent fundraising efforts.

Kroll's Background Screening division in the UK is working with Careers Development Group (CDG), a non-governmental organization that helps long-term unemployed people land jobs. In addition to providing training and advice to job seekers, Kroll successfully placed its first CDG client in a full-time job in Fall 2007. Kroll will continue to work with CDG in the hopes of providing more part-time and full-time job opportunities to those in need.

In early 2007, Kroll Factual Data (KFD) became the first business in Northern Colorado to receive 100 percent of its energy supplied by wind power. This conversion is the environmental equivalent of removing 162 cars from the road annually and results in the removal of 2,673,000 pounds of carbon dioxide from the air. KFD continues to research alternative energy possibilities for its offices in California, Massachusetts and Vermont.

Kroll’s Background Screening division in South Africa has demonstrated how increased operating efficiency and reduced environmental impact can go hand-in-hand. In 2007 the office embarked upon an effort to become paperless by creating an “extended image solution” for faxed documents. As of December 2007, the new software helped Kroll to avoid printing more than 489,000 pages.

Kroll worked on several pro bono Consulting & Engineering projects during 2007. The Bastrop, TX, office assisted the Austin-area Salvation Army with designing and documenting a new physical security plan for their existing facility. In the Northeast, our New York office developed a security systems master plan for the St. Vincent Martyr School and Parish in Madison, NJ, and worked on the design and construction of the Tarrant County Family Crisis Center/Women’s Shelter. Currently, Kroll is providing pro bono security consulting to the Haven for Hope Project, a non-profit organization whose mission is to help reduce homelessness in the San Antonio area.

Background Screening is continuing its program of providing free background checks to several non-profit organizations. We provide free background checks on all the volunteers for Gilda’s Club – a non-profit organization that helps provide emotional and social support to people living with cancer. Background Screening also provides free background checks for Make a Wish Foundation, an organization that grants wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions. We also provide free background checks to Our Kids, Inc., an organization that provides medical and psychological services for children who may have experienced sexual abuse.

Kroll’s Chicago office is continuing to provide pro bono litigation support to the Center on Wrongful Convictions and The Innocence Project. The New York office recently provided discounted background investigations to a New York area children’s service agency dealing with internal employment matters. The San Francisco office and our Middle East practice conducted pro bono due diligence on providers of refugee assistance on behalf of an international NGO.

Kroll’s Asia-Pacific team helped organize and provide digital evidence training in Guangzhou, China for more than 200 prosecutors throughout the P.R.C. In addition, Kroll played a key role in supporting cybercrime and digital forensics training for international police and prosecutors in Thailand in November 2007. We have been collaborating with the Society for Policing of Cyberspace (POLCYB) in these efforts, which are critical to ensuring that cybercrimes are thwarted, investigated and prosecuted.

Kroll is a strategic partner of CSR Asia, a social enterprise established to promote sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific region by advocating corporate social responsibility to businesses and their stakeholders. In 2007 Kroll organized and facilitated a panel discussion at the CSR Asia annual conference, which is aimed at multinational companies that do business in Asia, issues that they face (around supply chain risk, IP, labor, FCPA violations, internal fraud, lack of compliance on environmental standards, etc.) and the consequences of failing to confront certain challenges. We are continuing these activities in 2008.