Like many other engineering firms, the staff of London-based Halcrow Group rallied to the support of Indian Ocean tsunami victims two years ago, raising $145,000 in the first year.

Firm’s donations helped build 12 houses in Sri Lanka.

But Internal Communications Manager Anna Mann felt it was not enough. Mann saw the need for a more enduring way for the international firm to use its resources in helping the world's poorest. She convinced the firm's top executives to let her pursue the idea of the Halcrow Foundation, which was recently given tax free status by the British government. Mann is now a trustee of the Foundation, which is underpinned by a Halcrow commitment to donate 0.5% of its annual profits every year. Engineers also donate time and efforts to helping locals build wells, lavatories, houses and acquire fishing boats in villages across Asia and Africa. Mann's efforts are an example of how some individuals go above and beyond the already prodigious charitable efforts of their employers to establish something long-lasting.