Mention billion-dollar international powerhouse World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and the thoughts of many automatically land on its colorful characters and eye-popping feats of athleticism. But Mary Ellen Curran ’86 says there’s another story to tell.
As the company’s senior vice president of community relations for the past seven years, Curran and her team have helped focus, evolve and execute WWE’s year-round philanthropy, honing its already longstanding charitable work into a framework of pillars that are most important to the company: inclusion (bullying prevention and diversity), empowerment (communities and youth), service (to country and community) and hope (critical illness and pediatric cancer). It’s an approach Curran says is designed not to give publicity to WWE, but to the charities and programs with which they partner, from Make-A-Wish and Susan G. Komen to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Special Olympics and more.
“No corporate partners get the kind of visibility that our community partners get,” she says, noting the publicly traded (NYSE: WWE) global media company has 1 billion social media followers and is broadcast in 28 languages across 180 countries, in addition to its two weekly highly rated cable TV shows, digital platforms, groundbreaking over-the-top streaming service and much more.
The translation of that reach is astonishing: In 2017, WWE generated 3.1 billion impressions, held 237 community events and donated more than $25 million in media value to its community partners. And its work has not gone unnoticed: Last year, the 39-yearold company received the League Humanitarian Leadership Award at the Sports Humanitarian Awards, presented by ESPN.
When WWE partners with a charity, such as Susan G. Komen in May and October, Curran says the Komen logo will be found in every aspect of the company’s presence: from its social media and digital platforms and specially branded merchandise to even the lapel pins worn by on-air talent and the ring skirts.
“We try to use every piece of our business to be able to tell the story and tell the story in a meaningful way, because at the heart of our business, we’re storytellers,” she says. “It’s about getting people to understand that, as an organization, we care and we want to make sure that we can make a difference.”