Ford, Zipcar Set Grant Program
DEARBORN -- Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) and Zipcar Inc. (Nasdaq: ZIP), the car-sharing network, Tuesday announced the launch of "Students with Drive," a grant program that provides students with free Zipcar memberships and driving credits to support their community service activities and student organizations.
Through the Students with Drive grant program, Ford will provide $300,000 in grants to be awarded to student organizations and universities. The program will run from October through April and will culminate with one student organization being awarded a grand prize of $5,000 in Zipcar credits, $10,000 for the student organization to put toward its cause and $10,000 to be awarded to the winning school.
"Today's students are very active with local organizations in and around their communities," said John Felice, general manager, Ford and Lincoln Marketing. "Ford's alliance with Zipcar will not only provide students with access to Ford's newest fuel-efficient vehicles, but now, through the Students with Drive program, we will help them give back, using these vehicles to help make a difference on their campus and in their communities."
The new generation of Ford vehicles, especially the 2012 Ford Focus, is a good match for Zipcar's environmentally minded student members who demand high fuel efficiency and value performance and style balanced with reliability and practicality. The stylish new Focus delivers up to 40 mpg on the highway plus leading new technologies, such as Ford Sync -- all important attributes to today's smart, environmentally minded college students.
"Zipcar is a mission-based company, and we have always believed that we're part of something bigger than ourselves," said Scott Griffith, chairman and CEO of Zipcar. "The Students with Drive campaign recognizes and supports the next generation of young adults who are actively working to make their campuses and communities a better place, and offers a great opportunity for groups to promote their missions through social media and benefit from the flexibility and sustainability of car sharing. We're pleased to be able to help these students make a difference in their world."
To participate in the program, students are encouraged to visit the "Students with Drive" tab on Zipcar's University Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ZipcarU starting today.
Here they can submit grant ideas that will be crowd-sourced online and voted for by Zipcar University Facebook fans. To enter, students upload photos, videos and brief explanations to demonstrate how they plan to use Zipcar to accomplish their organizations' goals.
From October through April, Ford will award five student organizations across the country with $5,500 in Zipcar credits to put toward memberships and driving. Each month, 10 runner-up organizations also will be awarded with $1,000 each in Zipcar credits. Monthly winners will be featured in the Zipcar University monthly newsletter and on the "Students with Drive" Facebook tab as they share updates on their use of Zipcar funds throughout the year.
To enter, organizations must be affiliated with an eligible Zipcar/Ford college or university (http://www.zipcar.com/universities) and fall under one of the following five categories:
Academic -- clubs affiliated with an academic department (e.g. newspaper, debate team)
Arts -- music, dance, theater
Athletics -- sports clubs
Community Service -- volunteer activities
Student Life -- Greek organizations, annual events
Each month, Zipcar will select the most compelling three finalists per category, and Zipsters, fellow students and the general public will vote through the "Students with Drive" Facebook tab to determine that month's category winner.
Each monthly category winner will be entered into the "Winner's Circle," making them eligible to receive the grand prize of $5,000 in Zipcar credits, $10,000 for the student organization to put toward its cause and $10,000 to the winning school. Four grand prize runner-up organizations will each receive $1,125 in Zipcar credits, $1,000 for the student organization and $1,000 for their school. The grand prizes will be awarded next spring.
Ford and Zipcar last summer announced a strategic alliance, establishing Ford as Zipcar's largest University vehicle supplier, reaching students at more than 250 U.S. campuses. The first-of-its-kind, two-year tie-up introduces a new generation of drivers to Ford vehicles with the highly fuel-efficient Focus and Escape now part of Zipcar's existing fleet of environmentally friendly, reliable and fun vehicles. Zipcar will add up to 650 Fords to its lineup during this academic year and up to 1,000 Ford vehicles during the life of the agreement.
Through the Ford deal, Zipcar is able to offer $10 off the $35 annual membership fee for the first 100,000 new university members who sign up, plus $1 off the Zipcar hourly rate for the first 1 million hours of use on any of the new Ford vehicles at selected colleges and universities.
