Company maintains philanthropic giving
When Bank of America took over the former Fleet Bank’s operations in 2004, it brought new corporate colors, a new motto and new ways of doing business. What local nonprofits feared most, however, was that it would bring new philanthropic priorities.
Seifert Systems Invests in Energy Efficiency to Strengthen Operations
For manufacturers, energy is more than just another operating expense. It plays a critical role…
Learn More
They had a lot at stake: Fleet was one of their top benefactors. For the United Way of Rhode Island, it was “one of our top five donors,” President and CEO Anthony Maione said. For the Trinity Repertory Company, it was “in our top three,” fund-raiser Steve Sorin said.
In 2003, the last full year that Fleet was in operation, it gave $1.43 million to Rhode Island nonprofits, according to Bank of America spokesman Ernesto C. Anguilla. Fleet executives also served on numerous nonprofit boards, and bank workers volunteered across the state.
“You had your banking job, but you were also involved in the community,” recalled Anne Szostak, a Fleet veteran who retired in June 2004 as executive vice president and director of human resources for FleetBoston Financial.
“We made a special effort to make sure we gave charitable dollars,” Szostak said, “but we also had dozens of people out on the ground working at the Food Bank, at Boys and Girls Clubs – all types of events.”
When corporations merge, however, many times even longstanding relationships fall apart. It’s been well-documented across the country, and with a North Carolina-based bank taking over the homegrown Fleet, the prospects seemed even worse.
It didn’t help matters that around the time of the merger, several high-profile Rhode Islanders left the bank, including Szostak and Neil D. Steinberg, chairman and CEO for the state.
William F. Hatfield, a Barrington resident who was FleetBoston’s vice chairman for Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts, and represented the bank on several boards, said many people approached him and other executives to express their concern.
“We stated very clearly that Bank of America, as an organization, really has corporate philanthropy at its core,” said Hatfield, now the bank’s Rhode Island president. “And we didn’t just say that to make people feel comfortable. We, frankly, had done our homework.”
Bank of America’s history in other markets, Hatfield said, showed a “steadfast commitment to the community.” And even as the merger was occurring, Anguilla noted, the bank made a national pledge to give $1.5 billion over 10 years, including $100 million in New England.
Still, the bank’s philanthropic priorities could have changed – but they haven’t, Hatfield said.
“One of the great things at Bank of America is we have this wonderful corporate philanthropic umbrella, but then we bring it down to the community level,” he said. “Looking specifically at Rhode Island, we have the opportunity to shape our [own] priorities.”
Fleet’s priorities had been arts and culture; community development – from housing to work force training – and education, especially K-12, Hatfield said, and they remain the same now. Grant-making decisions continue to be made, for the most part, at the local level, he added – though for larger amounts (he wouldn’t specify the threshold), headquarters gets involved.
The only significant change, Hatfield said, was that Fleet took grant applications on paper, whereas Bank of America takes all requests online, so it can handle them “in a very consistent manner and really manage the process more efficiently.”
And the bottom line has only improved: In 2005, the first full year of Bank of America operations in Rhode Island, the company gave $1.79 million to local nonprofits, Anguilla said, a 25-percent increase from 2003. In addition, Team Bank of America, as the company volunteer corps is known, gave 8,000 hours to local initiatives, he said.
(Anguilla didn’t have figures on Fleet volunteerism, but Bank of America has made one policy change that encourages workers to give of their time: Every employee is now allowed to devote two work hours per week to a volunteer initiative.)
The bank’s sustained commitment has not gone unnoticed. Szostak, who continues to be active in local philanthropy, said she’s “hearing terrific things” about both the time and money that Bank of America is giving to Rhode Island charities. “I think they’ve lived up to everything they’ve promised and then some.”
Trinity’s Sorin offered a similar assessment, and he credited Hatfield and other former Fleet executives. “Just because they changed employer names, they didn’t change their personalities,” he said. “These are good people. They knew Trinity Rep, they knew what we do in the community, and they continued to be enthusiastic about that.”
Hatfield also co-chaired Trinity’s Pell Awards last year, Sorin said, and partly due to his support, it was the most successful awards event in the theater’s history.
“From the United Way perspective, we were very pleased with the way it worked out,” said Maione. “Corporate giving stayed the same, and Bill Hatfield … really stepped up and became an advocate for things like affordable housing.”
Still, both Sorin and Maione said, every time there’s a corporate merger, it can’t help but thin the ranks of executives who can serve on nonprofit boards and make individual donations.
“There are leadership givers who used to be with the company who are no longer with the company, and those gifts can be hard to track down,” Maione said, “especially if people leave and take jobs across the country.”
In his 10 years at Trinity, Sorin has learned to live with all the mergers. It’s always sad to lose important friends and supporters, he said, “but new people come in, too. I think it’s incumbent upon us in the nonprofit community to be cognizant of who’s coming and going. We’re trying to make new friends constantly.”
