Bank of America’s commitment to corporate social responsibility: Investing in communities and environment.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a company taking responsibility for its actions towards society and the environment. The company itself adopts it for self-regulating its operations in an ethical way rather than profit maximisation. By this, corporates can improve their reputation, attain better customer satisfaction and employee welfare, reduce risk and generate long-term shareholder value. When we look at Bank of America (BOA), we can see that it carries out Corporate social responsibility through Community Development, Environmental Sustainability, Philanthropic giving and so on. In this Blog, we will take a quick look into these activities and try to comprehend Bank of America’s involvement in CSR.

Bank of America’s active involvement in CSR activities.

•      Community development

They are committed to promoting economic mobility in communities they serve through partnerships with non-profits, their charitable programs, and the power of their employee volunteers.

Bank of America supports efforts that provide vital services to the community, like affordable housing, hunger relief and workforce development. To make the communities strive, they partnered with Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and other non-profit organisations that know their local populations well. Their Neighborhood Builder program is far-reaching, and they worked with those organisations to create sustainable change.

They support various arts and cultural institutions included in thriving communities. Their employees actively participate in charitable efforts worldwide, specifically focusing on providing stable housing through Habitat for Humanity and educating families on better money management through a programme called Better Money Habits (Economic Mobility & Community Development Programs).

•      Environmental Sustainability

Being environmentally friendly is at the core of all the Bank of America’s business activities. They focus on being environmentally friendly in their global business strategy, work with environmentally friendly organisations, make their operations more sustainable, educate their employees to be more ecologically conscious, control risks and supervise their activities.

With the support of the Paris Climate Agreement, they aim to achieve net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in their supply chain, operations and financing activities before 2050. For helping the environment, they are putting a lot of money, around $1 trillion, by 2030 to help the environment and promote sustainable development. They aim to move to a cleaner and more sustainable economy by following the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. They claim that their investments will provide analytical and financial support to find fixes to climate change and other environmental issues. Their operations will focus on using clean energy, energy usage efficiency, promoting sustainable transportation and proper land usage, and conserving water and waste reduction (Corporate Environmental Sustainability Strategy & Initiatives).

•       Philanthropic giving.

Bank of America runs its sustainable activity to make financial lives better. They provide meaningful and sustainable progress to help society’s biggest challenges by coordinating all their resources, such as finance, client product and services, activities and philanthropy. By giving importance to Responsible Growth, they provide their teammates, shareholders, and clients while taking care of social progress, economic mobility, and racial equality, the community’s needs at the centre.

They also have strong partnerships with non-profit organisations that handle fundamental to economic mobility in low and moderate-income communities. They focus on improving people’s lives by investing in jobs and health and strengthening broader community vitality by addressing the needs of small businesses and community development.

Through these partnerships, they support vulnerable communities, including seniors, youth, working families, people with disabilities, veterans and those impacted by the criminal justice system, to move forward and achieve their goals (Charitable Foundation funding opportunities from Bank of America).

Conclusion

In summary, Bank of America is involved in corporate social responsibility activities such as community development, environmental sustainability, philanthropy and many more. Through taking initiatives and partnering with non-profit organisations, they are helping to improve the lives and economic prosperity of local communities. They aim for a net zero carbon footprint and work for a more sustainable future. In addition, the bank’s philanthropic activities support many non-profit organisations that benefit society. Overall, Bank of America’s corporate social responsibility significantly impacts the world around us and can be considered a model for other companies that aim to impact the world positively.

References

Charitable Foundation funding opportunities from Bank of America (no date) Bank of America. Available at: https://about.bankofamerica.com/en/making-an-impact/charitable-foundation-funding (Accessed: March 23, 2023).

 

Corporate Environmental Sustainability Strategy & Initiatives (no date) Bank of America. Available at: https://about.bankofamerica.com/en/making-an-impact/environmental-sustainability (Accessed: March 23, 2023).

 

Economic Mobility & Community Development Programs (no date) Bank of America. Available at: https://about.bankofamerica.com/en/making-an-impact/advancing-economic-mobility (Accessed: March 23, 2023).