Wells Fargo is one of America’s largest financial institutions, one of its biggest employers, with 275,000 team members, and one of the largest contributors to non profits supporting education, community development, human services, the arts and the environment.

Wells Fargo’s commitment to social and community responsibility is revealed in some very impressive numbers:

• Average daily awards to nonprofits: $554,235
• Number of employee volunteer hours in 2009: 1.23 million
• Number of employees volunteering in 2009: 32,000
• Total invested in 2009: $202 million
• Number of nonprofits receiving awards: 18,000

Working through their local financial centers, the company learns what a community’s needs are, then provides the resources—financial, social or human—that will help the most.
Wells Fargo employees, or team members, are very involved in their communities. They serve on 10,000 nonprofit boards and raised $41.9 million during the 2009 United Way campaign—the largest employee campaign in the U.S. That figure is an impressive 21 percent increase over 2008 (even when combining Wells Fargo and Wachovia’s separate 2008 campaigns).

Team members also give time to teach money management skills, build homes, mentor youth and raise funds for nonprofits in their communities. The company helps out by matching team members’ financial contributions to schools dollar-for-dollar, up to $5,000 per person. Last year that added up to $14.4 million in donations!

Wells Fargo gives directly to the organizations their employees support, through Volunteer Service Awards. These grants reward team members who volunteer in their communities by contributing cash to the nonprofit or school. The top award in 2009 was $50,000 to Project Night Night, an organization that provides blankets, books and stuffed animals to homeless children to help them get a better night’s sleep. A Wells Fargo team member is involved with the nonprofit and will use the funds to provide Night Night packages to 20,000 more homeless children.

Finally, Wells Fargo offers a valuable service that few other big companies do: they give team member time off with pay and benefits to work with a nonprofit that matters to them to help build long-term sustainability. In 2007, 20 team members took advantage for the program. The company allows up to four months’ leave for team members who are accomplishing great things, like establishing orphanages in Nigeria.