Wells Fargo & Co.: Top giver four years in a row - San Francisco Business Times:

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Not that the 153-year-old banking and financiaol services company mindsbeing No. 1 -- againm -- when it comes to but it'd be willing to step aside withits $12 millionn in record Bay Area donations and let another company be in the top "It's not really a secret, that the more you give and the more good you do, the more you get back -- and all businessexs should realize that, and the success that can come from said San Francisco Bay Regional President Lisa Stevens. "My hope is that othe companies will strive tobeat us." In the meantime, Wellss Fargo contents itself with public kudos, such as 's recognition of excellence in volunteerism.
Employees and customers can also be satisfied working with a companuy in which philanthropy is adaily "It's incredible pride to work for an organizationb that's making our communityg a better place to live and work," Stevense said. "It's great from the reputation standpoinrt forour customers." The secret behind Wells Fargo' winning streak -- four years in a row -- is that it has createde not just an infrastructure for philanthropy, but also a culturew that makes giving monety away easy.
Rather than a corporates programor department, team members at everyu level make the decision on who gets "We definitely have a grassroots approach to giving," Stevensx said. Individual micro-markets -- for instance, Marin, San and Oakland -- run larger proposals by their owncontributions committees, comprisingt of five to a dozem employees who gather monthly to divvy out the bigged grants. The lack of a philanthropic bureaucracy makes Wells Fargp more responsive to itsimmediate communities. "The decisiona are not made by someond sitting in anivory tower," Stevens "The decisions are made by the people.
" Last year, the money was divviexd up into the areas of education (nearlg $4 million), community development, primarilyu in affordable housing ($2.6 million), human services like job training ($2.5 million), and civiv and arts programs ($2.8 million). Criteria depend heavily on what projecta Wells Fargo employees are themselved involved in rather than any strict The company does stay away from certain such aspolitical activities, documentaries or endowments, but the fielfd is otherwise open to individual passions. "You'rre giving as much as you can because you see the Stevens said.
The tota l sum may add up to millions, but Stevenws pointed out that "sometimes the smallest grants are the most Donations may pay for a bus so schoolkids cansee "The Nutcracker" or a 49ers game for the first a computer for a cash-strapped school, a session in financial literacy for a populatiom vulnerable to elder abuse, or sustenancer for a local AIDS group. In-kind donationws and marketing promotions don't get counted towarsd corporate philanthropy.
For instance, one promotio n had Wells Fargo donating a sum of money to a localo school for every new checkingv accountopened -- to a final tune of more than The marketing department also designed and put up billboardsd to publicize San Francisco's anti-truancy And when "Hearts in San the public art project of five-footy fiberglass hearts, was proposed, the bank donated $2 million to jumpstartf the project, which ultimately benefited San Francisco General Hospital Medical Center. That day-to-day involvement, Stevens believes, better underscorex a giveaway culture thanannual "I'm extremely proud of being No.
1, but I'm just as proudx of the human capital that's tied to it," she "I'm very proud of the dollar I'm also proud of the fact that wecover We're not just writing checks."