Bbb Institute For Marketplace Trust

Programs: In 2017, the bbb institute continued to provide free resources and educational programming to military service men and women and their families. Bbbs across the country delivered training to active military and veterans. The military & veterans initiative focuses on providing: 1) education (bbbs on and around military installations teach financial readiness classes to service members); outreach (participate in community events); information (share resources via social media, website and newsletter); and data collection (identify trends in scams targeted at the military community). More than 10,000 military service members participated in the military line educational program in 2017. The bbb institute served on a number of advisory groups, including the dod financial readiness roundtable and military saves (consumer federation of america), and continued pursuing partnerships with like-minded organizations and government agencies, including the ftc, amba, the usaa foundation, and others. The bbb institute researched and co-authored its first bbb scam tracker annual report, which, among other data sets, provides information about the riskiest scams that are targeted at the military and veterans communities and compares their vulnerabilities and losses to those of the general population. The bbb institute distributed its monthly trusted scout newsletter to almost 150,000 people.

bbb scam tracker is an online tool that enables consumers to report scam activity and prevent others from falling prey to similar cons. The easy-to-use tool collects and presents scam data in a searchable online "heat map," showing users the number and types of scams and hoaxes reported in their communities. Bbb scam tracker provides a window on the scam landscape, distributing data-driven consumer alerts and tips based on current information. Data are also shared with law enforcement agencies for investigative purposes. Scam reports submitted by consumers to bbb scam tracker rose 46 percent in 2017. The bbb institute published the first bbb scam tracker annual report in 2017, receiving a significant amount of media attention, including a story on good morning america worth $3. 1 million in earned media (based on the cost of advertising time on that popular program). As a result of this attention, the bbb institute was invited to testify before the u. S. Senate special committee on aging about its research on scams, particularly those perpetrated through robocalls and their impact on older americans. The cbbb board of directors voted in december to make bbb scam tracker a mandatory program for all bbbs (bbb institute employees began preparing for the increased tech support necessary to help the bbb network and for opening individual bbb scam tracker reports to google indexing in 2018, increasing its effectiveness in reaching consumers).

the digital iq program provides consumers with the practical knowledge they need to navigate the digital world safely and take advantage of its benefits. The program aims to reach audiences online using social media and other digital strategies. In 2017, digital iq continued to work toward the launch of its digital inclusion campaign, which aims to inspire consumers to tell and share their own stories about those universal moments of discovery when a person learns or teaches somebody else how to do something new with technology. Digital iq convened a contest across the better business bureau system to create and film a "digital aha! Moment. " participants were asked to create a video telling a short story of learning or teaching a digital skill. During the 2017 bbb assembly, the annual gathering of bbbs from across north america, contest winners were debuted. Digital iq aims to include these videos along with its original crowdsourced video content, which captures a number of "digital aha! Moments," including stories of users learning how to utilize navigation apps on their smartphone, narrow search terms, and connect to wifi. Digital iq also continued its partnership with a writer from science magazine to do a series of educational articles on our "world of sensors," which introduces readers to topics such as connected cars and the internet of things.

smart investing is the bbb institute's landmark scam education program that provides individuals with the necessary tools and resources to make informed investing decisions and avoid fraudulent or unwise financial schemes. The main offering under this program is "outsmarting investment fraud," funded by a generous grant from the finra investor education foundation. The bbb institute trains local bbb offices to deliver the smart investing program in communities across the country. Bbbs learn how to conduct the program and organize workshops and campaigns in their services areas, and share helpful information and resources on how to make wise investment decisions. Through dynamic in-person training, online resources, and video documentaries, current and future investors learn: who fits the profile of a potential fraud target, how to identify the persuasion tactics fraudsters use, how to reduce risky behaviors by asking questions and checking information, and simple steps to take before any investment decision. The bbb institute trained 18 people in may 2017 at its arlington, va office. Participants learned the program through a train-the-trainer model, heard from industry speakers about the importance of these fraud prevention programs, and networked with one another for ongoing peer support. More than 2,800 program participants and countless others learned how to protect their hard-earned investments in 2017. In 2017, the bbb institute expanded its efforts to increase awareness about potentially misleading advertising through the bbb adtruth program. The program teaches consumers about potential advertising abuses and empowers them to report advertisements that could cause financial or personal harm due to false promises or faulty products. Funded through a cy pres award provided through the california courts and google, inc. , the campaign educated consumers through radio and television public service announcements and an interactive website that includes quizzes, videos and infographics. Thanks to a bbb adtruth public service campaign, millions of americans learned about problematic advertisements. Bbb adtruth public service announcements reached local and national media markets via both radio and television, resulting in more than 237 million media impressions. In 2017, the campaign garnered 12,798 airings, 26,138,100 impressions and $595,291 in donated media. The bbb institute began developing a new online reporting tool, to be launched in 2018, that will collect detailed information from consumers about potentially misleading or confusing ads. Reports are integrated into the bbb's system-wide ad review program, where local better business bureaus across the country investigate and work to combat misleading advertising practices. The bbb institute includes the center for character ethics (cce) in its suite of programs available to businesses, large and small, and to local bbbs across north america. The cce provides the bbb enterprise with a research-tested model and practical, easy-to-implement assessment tools that allow any business to evaluate their knowledge and implementation of ethical business practices. This program is ideal for business leaders who value the importance of positive ethics in shaping and growing today's enterprises. The center's offerings are designed for business leaders, secondary and post-secondary school educators, students, and individuals, providing a proven course of action for individual and business ethics that mirrors the bbb standards of trust. They include a bbb trust! Assessment for employees to evaluate their organization's ethical culture, professionally facilitated sessions, as well as useful resources to spark conversations about ethics. Bbbs also use a variety of other ethics-based programming, including in pursuit of ethics, which is a scenario-based training program for professionals and students; ethics in action, which is designed for girl scout groups and other youth-based audiences; and students of integrity scholarship awards. As more and more crucial decisions in every field including employment, healthcare, advertising, and criminal justice become driven by machine decision-making, creating ethical rules for big data becomes more and more important. The bbb institute is working on a project to create best practices around the detection and mitigation of bias in algorithmic decision-making. Funded by facebook, a gold member of the bbb institute's corporate trust roundtable, the project is being conducted jointly with the brookings institution and the university of michigan school of information. In the fall, the bbb institute and its partners co-hosted a day-long discussion in washington, d. C. With prominent academic researchers, representatives of major corporations, and influential policy-makers to elicit their views on the sources of bias, and how to detect and mitigate them. Additional meetings are planned for 2018. Following these information-gathering events, the bbb institute, in collaboration with its partners, will draft a research paper that reports on the findings and makes recommendations for voluntary best practices for industry to improve detection and mitigation of bias in algorithmic decision-making. The myers memorial award celebrates the lives and work of bbb professionals jerry and john myers and was created in 1998 to recognize exceptional examples of bbb core operational work in advertising review, investigations, charity review, business/trade practice initiatives and educational projects that result in meaningful and effective information that helps consumers make knowledgeable choices in the marketplace. The myers memorial award serves to annually remind us of jerry, john and the many great bbb leaders who built bbb and challenges us to new heights of service and performance-to make the future marketplace proud of who we are and enthusiastically continue promoting ethical business practices. Bbb|nctx was the recipient of the 2017 myers award. Small businesses recognize the importance of cybersecurity to their business' bottom line and to protecting their customers/clients. The most cost-efficient way to get businesses on the right path to protecting their company and its assets is through training, which is why the bbb developed a cybersecurity program with training and empowerment at its core. The bbb cybersecurity program educates and empowers small business owners, and gives them topic-specific guidelines that can be implemented immediately to mitigate risk. The program also leverages national vendor partners to equip and deliver products that will fit small and mid-sized business' unique needs. The bbb institute developed 5 steps to better business cybersecurity, a training curriculum that is designed to teach business owners a five-step process that mirrors the nist framework in a relatable way by trained facilitators in their area.