Volunteerism
PNC employees serve the communities in which they work and live. Volunteerism is a central component of PNC’s civic engagement, and the company offers a variety of ways for employees to engage.
Great Day at PNC
In early April 2017, as part of PNC’s annual celebration of PNC Grow Up Great®, employees volunteered more than 32,000 hours across 22 states and the District of Columbia to enhance early childhood learning. Employees participated in activities to meet the specific needs of the early education centers with which PNC partners. Among other activities, employees:
- Packed backpacks with books and educational resources
- Collected and donated new books
- Created puppet kits for children to develop social/emotional skills
- Read to pre-K students
- Built tricycles and wagons for use in preschools
- Wrote thank you notes to teachers
Lou Cestello, head of PNC’s regional presidents, reads to students in a pre-K classroom in Pittsburgh Public Schools
Skills-based Volunteerism
PNC encourages employees to leverage their talents to assist the growth and development of nonprofit organizations and their programs. Skills-based volunteerism helps non-profits address issues that they otherwise would not be able to accomplish due to a lack of staff or resources. While beneficial to the nonprofit organizations, this volunteerism also helps PNC employees develop stronger professional and leadership skills and prepare them for leadership roles.
In 2017, PNC employees applied their skills to assist six early childhood education organizations with diverse projects, including but not limited to:
- Meal planning to determine the number of students who qualify for a free meal and the cost to provide these meals
- Expense tracking to institute a system that can capture both downloadable and regular receipts from food vendors serving a non-profit
- Program performance evaluations to evaluate existing pre-K program effectiveness compared to other pre-K programs and to identify areas for improvement
- Demographic analysis to determine which families are most likely to benefit from district pre-K programs
Employee Volunteerism
PNC encourages employee volunteerism through a progressive policy that provides employees with up to 40 hours of paid time off per year to volunteer for PNC Grow Up Great. Since Grow Up Great’s 2004 inception, nearly 60,000 PNC employees have volunteered at early childhood education centers.
Grants for Great Hours Program
In addition, employees who volunteer at least 40 hours within a twelve-month period with a PNC Grow Up Great partner are eligible to earn and donate a $1,000 grant to that nonprofit. Groups of employees volunteering as a team can apply for grants up to $3,000.
To date, employees have earned and donated almost $6 million in grants for Grow Up Great partners.
Million Items Collected
PNC employees regularly collect and donate items for the well-being of pre-K children and their education. Collection drives are held throughout the year and address children’s needs for books, hats, mittens, coats, and school and art supplies. In 2017, PNC employees exceeded the 1 million mark in the number of items donated to young children since the 2004 inception of PNC Grow Up Great.
PNC Fairfax Connection Celebrates Fifth Anniversary
Since its 2012 debut, the $5 million PNC Fairfax Connection in Cleveland, Ohio has opened many eyes to the potential of residents of the historic Fairfax neighborhood. This free community resource center now provides 30 programs in areas such as technology, resume writing and professional development. The center also partners with 35 organizations, including local museums, to connect community members with programming to which they otherwise may not have access.
PNC Fairfax Connection’s 6,000 members have used these resources to achieve milestones, such as learning to use technology, obtaining a GED, applying for college and securing employment.
Hurricane Relief
The 2017 hurricane season was one of most damaging in terms of life and property losses and affected hundreds of thousands of Americans. The three most violent hurricanes, Harvey, Irma and Maria, caused more than an estimated $40 billion in damage in markets where we have both employees and customers.
Due to the impact of these disasters on customers and residents of the affected areas, PNC waived certain fees and contributed more than $900,000 in disaster relief, including matches to employee gifts.
Pro Bono Work
In June 2014, PNC’s Legal Department initiated a pro bono project that offers PNC attorneys an opportunity to provide free legal services to individuals in their local communities who need, but cannot afford, legal assistance. The program enables PNC attorneys to develop new skills and fulfill practice requirements by working with local groups to do good for the community.
The project is run by a committee of PNC attorneys who approve various pro bono opportunities each month and encourage their peers to participate. PNC attorneys are not obligated to participate, but have shown great enthusiasm for the project.
While PNC attorneys cannot handle cases involving transactions that may create conflicts of interest with, or reputational issues involving, PNC, the project offers 67 different opportunities with various organizations covering a wide variety of legal issues. In 2016, PNC purchased a standalone malpractice policy to cover pro bono activities, which has allowed the project to expand the number and types of opportunities it can offer beyond engagements previously insured solely by the nonprofit provider.
In 2017, PNC attorneys provided legal services to clients through various channels, including but not limited to a clinic hosted by the Senior Law Center in Philadelphia to draft wills/powers of attorney; the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund in Pittsburgh, representing transgender individuals to legally change their names; The Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Midwest (Cincinnati and Kansas City) Innocence Project, reviewing intake cases for the organization; and the Prairie State Legal Services organization, staffing a telephone bank for various legal issues.
During the first week of October 2017, the project also held its third annual Pro Bono Week to highlight pro bono opportunities for PNC lawyers and to celebrate successes from the prior year.
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