At a Glance · The mission of the World Bank’s Community Outreach Program is to make a difference in the lives of local families and children of people in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan community -particularly in the areas of education and youth development. · Activities focus on four main areas: workplace giving, community grants, staff volunteerism, and partnerships. Bank staff raise money annually for local nonprofits through a workplace giving campaign, and also for international disaster relief. Staff volunteer with a wide variety of community groups, which can also benefit from donations of recycled equipment, furniture, and supplies. A grant program provides financial support to selected local nonprofits while local high school students are offered paid summer internships. Program Overview Grants Program. The Community Outreach Grants Program awards grants to nonprofits in the Washington, D.C., area. In FY10, the Program awarded grants totaling US$604,000 to 19 local charities and five funding collaboratives undertaking the following activities: capacity building; civic engagement efforts related to education reform in Washington, D.C., public schools; renovation or preservation of low-income housing; HIV/AIDS prevention; skills training for unemployed workers; distribution of meals to street residents; Latino youth support; and prenatal and well-baby care. Funding Collaboratives. The Community Outreach Program actively participates along with other local grant-makers in three local funding collaboratives that are testing innovative approaches to addressing underlying social problems. A total of US$120,000 was distributed to three collaboratives in FY10: Community Development Support Collaborative, Washington AIDS Partnership, and Collaborative for Education Organizing. Staff Volunteerism. Bank staff provided more than 10,000 hours of community service to charities in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area in FY10—at all levels—from hands-on direct service to leadership roles such as serving on Boards of Directors of nonprofit organizations. The Bank has a Volunteer Day policy, which allows staff to take administrative leave one day a year to offer their time to a charity. The Community Outreach Program works with Bank departments to organize community service projects and integrate team-building activities with these projects, such as Rebuilding Together’s National Rebuilding Day, held every year in April. In-kind Donations. The Community Outreach Program recycles office furniture, office supplies, and computer equipment by donating these items to charitable organizations, as well as offering free meeting/conference space. The total value of donated goods and services in FY10 was more than US$300,000. Student Internships. Urban Alliance is a unique nonprofit which partners with the World Bank Group to provide DC public high school students with paid internships, adult mentors, and job-training. Urban Alliance provides an opportunity for low-income youth to gain the skills necessary to succeed in the world of work by matching them with corporations requiring entry-level help and have staff interested in giving back by becoming mentors. During the summer of 2010, 19 students worked as interns in units throughout the Bank. The interns are paid a salary and are also provided paid training one day a week. The program has been expanded to include year-long internships for several students. The outcomes are impressive – a 99% on-time high school graduation rate for Urban Alliance interns and 88% of program graduates enroll in college Annual Giving Campaign. The World Bank Community Connections Fund is an independent nonprofit organization set up to oversee the allocation of charitable donations raised via the Bank’s annual workplace giving program, known as the Community Connections Campaign. Staff and retirees can make donations via payroll deductions or cash. The Campaign benefits more than 250 nonprofit organizations such as DC Central Kitchen, Habitat for Humanity Washington DC, Latin American Youth Center, and Whitman-Walker Clinic, as well as more than 40 international nonprofits such as Doctors Without Borders. The FY10 campaign was an unprecedented success: more than US$1.4 million was donated by staff—either directly or via a variety of special fund-raising events. The Bank made a 100 percent corporate matching contribution, to bring the total donated to $2.8 million. Disaster Relief. During FY10, natural disasters created havoc in the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions, leaving them without food, shelter, or resources. World Bank Group staff mobilize to respond to such natural disasters around the world by donating through the World Bank Community Connections Fund. During FY10, staff raised over US$867,000 for international relief campaigns in Haiti, El Salvador, Chile, Burkina Faso, Philippines and Indonesia. Together with Bank corporate matches and matches provided by the World Bank Community Connections Fund (WBCCF), the total amount donated for disaster relief came to over US$1.4 million. Funds raised through such donation drives are provided to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that are directly involved in the disaster relief operations. In FY10, these organizations included the American Red Cross, Doctors without Borders and Save the Children. Highlights - In FY10, Community Outreach grants totaled US$603,000.
- World Bank Group staff typically donate more than 10,000 hours of community service per year.
- The Community Connections Campaign raised more than US$2.8 million in FY10.
- The total value of donated goods and services in FY10 was more than US$300,000.
- # - Media Contact: Viki Betancourt, (202) 473-9127, vbetancourt@worldbank.org Updated September 2010 |
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