In 2003, Deloitte & Touche USA LLP (Deloitte) invested $1 million in its partnership with JA Worldwide® to create the Excellence through Ethics program. The vision for Excellence through Ethics came from the desire of both organizations to help young people learn how to make ethical decisions, in order to become successful business leaders in the future. 

Excellence through Ethics is a curricula designed to teach students that the passionate pursuit of ethics in the business world is more important now than ever before. Deloitte’s commitment to this important initiative allowed JA Worldwide® to develop vital ethics-related material and deliver it to students and teachers during a critical time in our country’s history. Since its introduction, Excellence through Ethics has reached tens of thousands of young people throughout the United States, thereby strengthening the ability of these students to make better decisions now and in the future.

Through its support of the online JA Ethics Center, Deloitte is also an integral part of the online JA Student Center. The JA Ethics Center provides resources for students which help them learn about business ethics. The site also houses the Excellence through Ethics curriculum in downloadable format.

Deloitte offices across the country contributed more than $650,000 last year to local JA efforts. During the past few years, more than 1,200 Deloitte professionals have volunteered in JA classrooms and on JA boards of directors throughout the country.

Learn more about Excellence through Ethics.

David S. Chernow, former president and CEO of JA Worldwide® (right), accepts a $1 million donation from Deloitte, with Ainar Aijala, vice chairman, Deloitte Consulting LLP, and JA Worldwide® chairman of the board.

What’s New with the Partnership

• Deloitte was recently honored with the Bronze President's Volunteer Service Award. In 2006, JA Worldwide became an official certifying organization for this award in order to bestow this degree of honor to corporations that provide volunteers to teach JA programs. Deloitte's Bronze Award recognizes 5,000 volunteer hours or more.
   

• Deloitte has recently committed $1 million dollars to the further development of a JA program, targeted at high-school students, entitled JA Global Business Ethics. The program, which will be offered as a web-based experience, will teach ethical decision-making and business planning through a series of situations and case studies. To be introduced in 2006, the program will allow students around the globe to communicate with one another throughout the learning process.  
   

• Deloitte will also continue its ongoing support of the Excellence through Ethics Essay Contest and Scholarship Program. Through this initiative, students are asked to apply the tenets of ethical decision-making by addressing an ethical dilemma. Students prepare an essay in an effort to win a $5,000 college scholarship. Learn more about the essay contest.