Ernst & Young alumni are truly giving people. Over the course of your careers the vast majority of you have dedicated your lives to serving the public interest. After all, accounting work, by definition, is about bringing transparency, reliability and independence to the marketplace. At the end of the day, that serves the greater good of our communities.

But Ernst & Young alumni give so much more. The charitable foundations you have helped to establish or guide raise literally millions of dollars to educate the underprivileged, house the homeless and protect the environment. The hundreds of organizations you advise or to which you generously contribute treat untold numbers of sick children, seek out new cures and bring hope and opportunity to the less fortunate. And the hundreds of thousands of hours you collectively volunteer — everything from taking meals to shut-ins to counseling and encouraging young entrepreneurs — have impact beyond measure.

In this issue of Connect, we celebrate the spirit of giving back that seems to pervade Ernst & Young alumni. Through organizations as diverse as the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, the Sick Kids Foundation, the Autism Family Foundation and organizations devoted to helping developmentally disabled individuals or people with brain injuries, you will see how some of your fellow alumni are making a difference — and what drives them to do it.

Corporate and social responsibility is very highly valued at Ernst & Young. And it’s a value we hope to instill in our people. But it’s one thing to say that you support community engagement — and another thing to actually live it. As we talk to our alumni around the world, we are constantly struck by how many of you, even in these difficult and uncertain times, roll up your sleeves and give so much of yourselves.

Thank you, alumni, for your caring, your concern and your generosity. Thank you for giving back.