The Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF), a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping communities and enriching lives, hosted the 2024 IICF Philanthropic Roundtable on Thursday, gathering leaders from twenty-five major insurance organizations for a series of presentations on charitable giving and volunteerism in the insurance industry and initiatives focused on philanthropy, inclusion and sustainability topics. During the 2024 Philanthropic Roundtable, IICF also released the 2023 IICF Philanthropic Showcase, an annual retrospective of global charitable contributions, volunteer projects and innovative leadership initiatives of IICF Key Partner Companies. Please view the 2023 IICF Philanthropic Showcase here.
Representatives from AIG, AXA XL, Burns & Wilcox / H.W. Kaufman Group, CNA, Ernst & Young LLP (EY US), Intact Insurance Specialty Solutions, Marsh, Munich Re US P&C Companies and Verisk presented at this unique event for philanthropic knowledge sharing. Their 2023 Showcase highlights include:
- AIG (Sarah Marien, Director of Global Corporate Citizenship) – Members of AIG’s Environmental Liability Management team partnered with Chicago-area brokers to help support local foster children through Foster Love. Volunteers assembled kits, including words of encouragement and support resources for STEM learning. During #GivingTuesday, AIG colleagues and their families contributed 500 hours in volunteerism and acts of kindness and donated in support of over 60 charities.
- AXA XL (Louis Salter, Sustainability Coordinator) – In 2023, AXA XL joined with Pollinator Partnership to launch the ‘’Backyard Biodiversity’’ program, with the aim to educate colleagues on how to protect and promote pollinators. So far, over 400 colleagues have engaged with an educational toolkit, and 1,100 colleagues have attended webinars to raise awareness of the critical importance of pollinators and supporting biodiversity.
- Burns & Wilcox / H.W. Kaufman Group (Patricia Chiodo, AVP, Human Resources / O’Neil Franso, Corporate VP, Human Resources) – In September 2023, employees volunteered 1,000 hours at dozens of food banks across North America in support of the associate-driven Harvesting Hope Against Hunger initiative. Associates in Florida offices organized donation events to benefit Dress for Success, contributing 5,000 pieces of professional attire, and others filled and donated more than 2,200 backpacks with school supplies to local elementary students through the nonprofit Variety.
- CNA (Raissa Correa, Corporate Social Responsibility Manager) – CNA’s ERGs connect their members with their communities, demonstrating allyship through volunteerism and giving. Each ERG has a unique mission and delivers a variety of networking and professional development, recruiting and volunteerism opportunities for employees across the enterprise. Collectively, CNA’s eight ERGs supported nearly 80 nonprofits in 2023.
- EY (Ritu Malhotra, Corporate Responsibility Leader, Financial Services Organization) – EY’s global corporate responsibility program EY Ripples aims to positively impact one billion lives by 2030. It focuses on working with impact entrepreneurs, supporting the next generation and environmental sustainability, aligned with the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals. In its first five years, EY has developed a base of 22,000 impact entrepreneurs, expanded to 126 participating countries and positively impacted 127 million lives.
- Intact Insurance Specialty Solutions (Carmen Duarte, VP DEI & Social Impact / Sasha Aronson, Marketing & Communications Strategist) – In 2021, Intact established a community engagement program, which now includes 11 US offices across the country. Through the program, local teams can pursue hyperlocal opportunities and provide more significant charitable giving by establishing ongoing partnerships with local nonprofits such as Neighborhood Boys & Girls Club in Chicago, IL, Orangewood Foundation in Anaheim, CA and United South End Settlements in Boston, MA.
- Marsh (Katy Rodriguez Botello, Global Senior Social Impact Manager) – Marsh is making a lasting impact in education in marginalized communities across the US through volunteer efforts with A Better Chance. The nonprofit organization directly benefits over 2,000 students of color annually by providing career opportunities and increased access to the nation’s top independent and public schools through mentorship, resume and interview assistance and connections to employers committed to fostering diversity and equity
- Munich Re US P&C Companies (Cheryl Rosario, Head of DE&I and CSR / Zakiyya Reyes, DE&I Coordinator, Munich Re America Services, Inc.) – Through a unique internal internship program, Dare 2 Dream, specifically created for high school students who reside in communities often underrepresented, these young students develop critical thinking, presentation, networking and personal branding skills. Commemorating the tragedy of September 11th with acts of service, unity and peace, over 300 employees and their families packed over 162,000 meals distributed by Feeding America-affiliated food banks.
- Verisk (Melissa Hendricks, Chief Marketing Officer) – Verisk builds global resilience for individuals, communities and businesses. This purpose also propels the company’s efforts to contribute directly to the success of area communities with volunteerism and charitable giving. Programs like Verisk’s 10th Annual Volunteer Week are designed to drive impact by building resilience to help people bounce back, adapt and thrive in the face of uncertainty.
“Each year, IICF is proud to bring together this extraordinary group of insurance industry leaders for the IICF Philanthropic Roundtable, and even more so in 2024 as we celebrate IICF’s 30th anniversary and the industry’s legacy of giving,” said Bill Ross, CEO of IICF. “The year ahead holds tremendous promise and today we saw so many creative and truly impactful ways the insurance industry is giving back to our communities. We hope everyone will join us in the IICF 30th Celebration, which is focused around our fight against childhood hunger, and consider a donation that will help children in need.”
IICF Key Partner Companies, who provide the highest levels of strategic and financial support to the foundation, also joined in the discussion in addition to those presenting, including: Amwins, Aon, Chubb, CRC Group, Crum & Forster, Falvey Insurance Group, HUB International, Liberty Mutual, Lloyd’s, Markel, Mayer Brown, NEIL, Swiss Re, The Hartford, USAA and Zurich.
IICF also made several announcements at this year’s Roundtable on 2024 initiatives, including:
- IICF’s 30th Anniversary Celebration: IICF is celebrating thirty years of impact and the insurance industry’s legacy of giving by raising funds for children struggling with hunger. Donors of $30 or more receive a complimentary annual IICF Global Membership: https://www.iicf.org/30thcelebration
- 5th annual IICF Step Up Challenge: Beginning April 22, this 4-week exercise challenge promotes wellness and team building, while raising funds for children at risk of hunger: https://stepup.iicf.org/
- IICF Regional Forums: New York (June 4), Chicago (June 6), Los Angeles (June 11), Dallas (June 13) and London (June 19) Forums feature action-oriented programming focused on leadership, sustainability, inclusive future for the industry and more. Register: https://www.iicfregionalforums.org/
- IICF Philanthropic Index: IICF reported more than $1.1 Billion in charitable giving by a select group of 120 insurance businesses in 2022, and 7.5 million volunteer hours served, in its inaugural report highlighting the industry’s charitable and volunteer contributions in our communities.
About the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF)
The Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF) is a unique nonprofit that unites the collective strengths of the insurance industry to help communities and enrich lives through grants, volunteer service and leadership. Established in 1994, IICF is celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of serving as the philanthropic voice and foundation of the insurance industry throughout 2024, having contributed more than $47 million in community grants along with over 337,000 volunteer hours by more than 125,000 industry professionals. IICF reinvests locally where funds are raised for maximum community impact, serving hundreds of charities and nonprofit organizations across the US and UK.
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