Volunteering & Community

Despite people giving $400 billion most Americans are only half as charitable as they intend. To help bridge that gap, progressive and purpose-driven brands are adopting new strategies to engage their people in more social impact.

Legg Mason and our affiliate colleagues in the US and UK are helping to ensure that students in our communities are starting the new school year off on the right foot – and have continued support throughout the academic year.

These efforts are aligned with our primary charitable/philanthropic focus, which is education, particularly in the area of underserved youth.

Research shows that for a young person to succeed in life, social and emotional learning skills are as – if not even more important – than academic achievement. With these skills, youth are empowered to succeed and become our future leaders.

More than 65 million people are outside of the mainstream financial system in the U.S, which means they are relying on high-fee alternatives and are not able to access basic financial needs like savings accounts, credit cards, or even a credit score. The Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund (CFE Fund) announced today a $1 million grant from the Wells Fargo Foundation to double the size of its successful “Bank On” Fellowships, which funds a full-time Bank On coalition leader in a community for two years to focus solely on improving banking access for residents.

In my 35-plus years with our great company, I’ve had the chance to spend time with many of our 122,000 team members, from our facility in Pasco, Washington to the one in Jacksonville, Florida. We come from different backgrounds, different cultures and even different countries. We’re hard-working, well-intentioned people, and we want what’s best for our friends, families and communities.

With my new role comes a new opportunity to empower our outstanding people – to make sure we have the tools to live our best lives and contribute to the broader world. As a company, we’ve already been expanding our workforce education program, Upward Academy. And this week, we’re kicking off our participation in the non-partisan TIME TO VOTE CAMPAIGN alongside other 140 companies.

ICO Impact Group client Akoin is proud to be speaking at Serendipia’s Blockchain for Social Impact Summit on October 4th in san francisco.

Over 150 attendees are set to attend Broadway Studios for insightful talks on how Blockchain can be used to redefine how our societies, businesses and communities are working in cohesion to change the world and achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Twentieth Century Fox Film and AMC Theatres are joining forces to provide underserved and underrepresented young people across the country access to the powerful new film THE HATE U GIVE, as a tool for driving empowerment, empathy, and dialogue. The studio and theatre chain are hosting free screenings in nine metro areas during the film’s limited release – at 11am local time, Saturday, October 6: Atlanta, GA, Baltimore, MD, Dallas, TX, Houston, TX, Los Angeles, CA, Miami, FL, New York, NY, Philadelphia, PA, and Washington, DC.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) today announced $6 million in neighborhood revitalization grants to 50 nonprofits through the Wells Fargo Housing Foundation 2018 Priority Markets Program.

“These 50 nonprofits share our focus of strengthening communities through local neighborhood revitalization efforts in support of sustainable housing,” said Martin Sundquist, executive director of the Wells Fargo Housing Foundation. “The impact of each dollar invested through this program will be magnified by enabling nonprofits to combine funding with other community grants as the catalyst for their neighborhood revitalization work, serving as a powerful example of the positive impact that can be achieved with thoughtful public-private collaboration.”

Xylem Watermark is proud to kick off our annual Global Month of Service in October - an entire month dedicated to volunteerism and raising awareness for the necessary improvements to clean water access around the world. Since 2016, Xylem employees have come together in October to participate in activities across the globe with one common mission – to provide and protect safe water resources for communities in need and to educate people about water issues.

Sandoz, the Novartis generics and biosimilars division, today announces the launch of the second Sandoz Healthcare Access Challenge (HACk). The Sandoz HACk is a global competition that invites entrepreneurs and innovators in the field of digital technology to submit inspirational ideas with the potential to complement – or even positively disrupt – established approaches to driving access to healthcare. Sandoz HACk opens for entries today (October 4), closing on November 30, 2018.