Empower: Increasing community impact from employee giving and corporate social responsibility

Empower: Increasing community impact from employee giving and corporate social responsibility

GREENWOOD VILLAGE, COLO. May 7, 2024 – Empower released its 2023 Community Impact Report, which highlighted an increase in philanthropic activity from its associates across the organization.

In the past year, $4.1 million was donated to nonprofits;1,904 nonprofits were supported, and approximately 36,100 hours of volunteer hours were completed by associates.

In 2023, the nation’s second-largest retirement service provider1 reported the following, which includes activity from associates across the U.S. and India:

  • 24% increase in volunteer hours
  • 11% increase in associate giving
  • 19% of associates volunteered  
  • 28% of associates participated in the firm’s Associates, Community, Together (ACT) charitable program
  • 24% of associates are members of a Business Resource Group (BRG) – 4% more than in 2022

“The value our associates’ place in giving back has expanded in tandem with the company’s growth,” said Djuana Beamon, chief diversity and social responsibility officer at Empower. “Empower associates aspire to make a difference in people’s lives – whether it’s for our customers or communities – which is reflective of our values as an organization.”

In support of its associates, Empower provides a charitable giving program where employees can set up automatic payroll donations to the charity (or charities) of their choice, and the company automatically matches eligible donations up to $5,000 annually and provides 16 hours of paid volunteer time to associates to be used annually.

Current activities

  • The company continues to grow partnerships with organizations like Wall Street Bound, Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement (HACE), the College Diversity Network, and the Association for Wholesaling Diversity in pursuit of cultivating and hiring top talent. While there will be more work to be done to support diversity and inclusion, Empower continues to recruit talent who represent the diversity of clients and communities they serve.2
  • Empower plans to expand opportunities for associates to connect with each other and their communities whether they commute daily or work fully remote, focusing on skills-based and virtual volunteering.
  • Empower will continue to diversify its suppliers and plans to build and grow partnerships with national organizations like the National Minority Supplier Development Council, National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, and Disability:IN.
  • For the third consecutive year, Empower will continue the Neurodiversity at Work program in partnership with Teaching the Autism Community Trades (TACT). Since launching the program in 2022, 17 people have participated, resulting in nine apprentices being offered a full-time position, all of whom still work at Empower.3

Socially responsible investing offering

As environmental, social and governance capabilities evolve and new investment opportunities come to market, retirement savers expect their own options to also evolve. Empower has more than 450 ESG funds4 available on the broad Empower platform and more than 200 on its Empower Select™ platform from which plan sponsors can choose.5  The company also offers a professionally managed socially responsible portfolio directly to individual investors who are seeking a strategy incorporating both inclusive and exclusive ESG filters to screen individual stocks and ETFs.

Learn more about Empower’s 2023 Community Impact Report

Related news:

Empower employees selected for DCIIA Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Awards

ABOUT EMPOWER

Recognized as the second-largest retirement services provider in the U.S.1 by total participants, Empower administers approximately $1.5 trillion in assets for more than 18.5 million investors6 through the provision of retirement plans, advice, wealth management and investments. Connect with us on empower.com, Facebook, X, LinkedIn, TikTok and Instagram.

Media contacts:

Stephen Gawlik - Stephen.Gawlik@empower.com

Mandy Cassano - Mandy.Cassano@empower.com

1 Pensions & Investments DC Recordkeeper Survey (2023). Ranking measured by total number of participants as of September 2022.

2 Empower's DEIB goals are aspirational and achieved through outreach, education, and recruiting efforts. All employment decisions are made without consideration of any protected status. Empower's use of % is solely to measure KPI progress. Compensation decisions for managers are unrelated to their attainment of DEIB goals.

3  As of the publication of the 2023 Community Impact Report.

4 As of Dec. 31, 2023.

5  ESG Funds as designated by Morningstar. Morningstar’s definition of an ESG Fund is: An indication whether the investment product uses ESG criteria as a central part or binding factors of their security selection and portfolio-construction process. Strategies that incorporate ESG factors typically have explicit sustainable criteria that invested companies must meet. These strategies generally use some combination of positive screening, negative screening, and active engagement with the investee company or holding. These strategies endeavor to promote sustainability and minimize negative impact, without focusing on a specific theme or area of action.

6 As of December 31, 2023. Assets under Administration (AUA) refers to the assets administered by Empower. AUA does not reflect the financial stability or strength of a company.

Securities, when presented, are offered and/or distributed by Empower Financial Services, Inc., Member FINRA/SIPC. EFSI is an affiliate of Empower Retirement, LLC; Empower Funds, Inc.; and registered investment adviser Empower Advisory Group, LLC. This material is for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide investment, legal or tax recommendations or advice. 

Empower refers to the products and services offered by Empower Annuity Insurance Company of America and its subsidiaries.

“EMPOWER” and all associated logos and product names are trademarks of Empower Annuity Insurance Company of America. 

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