United Way News

5/27/2010
Wells Fargo Earns Top Spot as Largest United Way Employee Campaign in U.S.

Wells Fargo became the largest employee campaign in the entire U.S.,
based on 2009 campaign results and rankings recently finalized by United Way Worldwide. Wells Fargo team members pledged a record $41.9 million through their annual Community Support and United Way Campaign — a 21 percent increase over the 2008 combined Wells Fargo and Wachovia campaigns. Combined with corporate gifts, this totaled more than $60 million, which will be used in part to help United Way meet national goals to increase the number of students who graduate, help more families become financially stable, and increase the
number of healthy youth and adults.

Locally, the Ventura County Wells Fargo workforce campaign raised more than $150,350 to help United Way of Ventura County advance the common good. In addition, the Wells Fargo Foundation invested $10,000 to support the United Way's Young Leaders Society programs including the annual Youth Empowerment Summit which provides career, life mentoring, and educational scholarships for high school and community college students, Global Youth Service Days which mobilized Ventura County youth through volunteerism, and JumpStart, a financial literacy pilot program for high school youth set to launch this fall.

“This year, Wells Fargo became the largest employee campaign in the entire U.S.,” said United Way Worldwide Executive Vice President, Atul Tandon. “Wells Fargo and its team members increased not only their giving, but also volunteered more than one million hours. This momentous accomplishment demonstrates Wells Fargo’s corporate citizenship and its employees’ incredible generosity and commitment to helping others.”

Additionally, more than 32,000 Wells Fargo team members volunteered 1.23 million hours in 2009 nationally by providing financial literacy classes, free tax preparation and much more. This past March, United Way Worldwide recognized Wells Fargo with a Summit Award for exceptional volunteerism as a testament to the company and its employees’ ongoing commitment to communities. The company also gave $202 million in grants to support other nonprofits.

“During these difficult economic times, it’s more important now than ever for companies and their team members to give back to their communities to help create economic growth and prosperity,” said Robbin Preciado, Wells Fargo Pacific Coast Community Bank regional president. “I continue to be amazed by the incredible dedication and compassion our team shows by generously investing their time, energy, and personal financial resources in our communities. That is the spirit of our culture and our vision and values.”

Wells Fargo is a distinguished member of the United Way Global Corporate Leadership program, an elite group of the country’s top corporate citizens, dedicated to improving lives and strengthening communities to create a better life for all people. Wells Fargo has been recognized by Forbes, Business Week, Newsweek and Barron’s as one of the world’s most admired, most generous and most respected companies.