The Insurance Industry's Contribution to Community Development

IMPACT

The Insurance Industry’s Contribution to Community Development

Summer 2016

Vol. 22 No.1

Impact is

published by

the Insurance

Information

Institute,

110 William St.

New York, N.Y.

10038;

212-346-5500.

Editor:

Diane

Portantiere;

Insurance

Information

Institute,

www.iii.org

On the cover:

Learn how

to Make Safe

Happen with

Nationwide.

Story on

page 12.

Cover photo:

Nationwide.

I.I.I. Members

ACUITY

AEGIS Insurance Services Inc.

Allianz of America, Inc.

Allied World Assurance Company

Allstate Insurance Group

ALPS

American Agricultural Insurance Co.

American Family Insurance

American Integrity Insurance Co.

American International Group

American Reliable Insurance

Amerisafe

Amerisure Insurance

Arch Insurance Group

Argo Group

Arthur J. Gallagher

Beacon Mutual

BITCO Insurance Companies

Canal Insurance

Catholic Mutual Group

Century Surety Company

Chesapeake Employers Insurance

Chubb

Church Mutual Insurance Company

CNA

The Concord Group

COUNTRY Financial

Country-Wide Insurance Company

CSAA Insurance Group, a AAA Insurer

CUMIS Insurance Society, Inc.

Dryden Mutual Insurance Company

EMC Insurance Companies

Enumclaw Insurance Group

Erie and Niagara Insurance

Erie Insurance Group

Farm Bureau Insurance of Missouri

Farmers Group, Inc.

GEICO

Gen Re

Germania Insurance

Grange Insurance Association

Grange Insurance Group

GuideOne Insurance

The Hanover Insurance Group Inc.

The Harford Mutual Insurance Cos.

The Hartford Financial Services Group

The Horace Mann Companies

Ironshore Insurance Ltd.

Island Insurance

Kemper Corporation

Liberty Mutual Group

Lloyd’s

Lockton Companies

Magna Carta Companies

MAPFRE Insurance

Marsh Inc.

MEMIC

MetLife Auto & Home

Michigan Millers Mutual Ins. Co.

Millville Mutual Insurance Company

Missouri Employers Mutual Insurance

MMG

Motorists Insurance Group

Munich Re

Nationwide

New York Central Mutual Fire Ins. Co.

The Norfolk & Dedham Group

Northern Neck Insurance Company

Nuclear Electric Insurance Limited

Ohio Mutual Insurance Group

OneBeacon Insurance Group

PartnerRe

Pennsylvania Lumbermens Mutual

Insurance Company

Providence Mutual Fire Insurance Co.

Scor U.S. Corporation

SECURA Insurance Companies

Selective Insurance Group

State Auto Insurance Companies

State Compensation Ins. Fund of CA

State Farm Mutual Automobile Ins. Co.

The Sullivan Group

Swiss Re

Travelers

USAA

Utica National Insurance Group

Westﬁeld Group

Willis

W. R. Berkley Corporation

XL Group

The Zenith

Zurich North America

Giving, Partnering and InVESTing

gain we are proud to feature several diverse

community programs in our new redesigned

issue. Horace Mann’s commitment to educators and

partnership with DonorsChoose.org provides vital

resources for teachers and children.

The ACUITY headquarters campus is the site of

many community activities throughout the year, includ-

ing a spelling bee, a math competition, a 4-H Awards

ceremony and more.

And not only does Westﬁeld support endeavors

that will attract new talent to the industry, its foundation

supports nonproﬁts that help stabilize families facing

barriers to success.

CSAA Insurance Group has formed a partnership

with The Crayon Initiative which is devoted to promot-

ing the arts for children by providing them access to the

resources they need.

State Farm recently partnered with Illinois Wesleyan

University’s Action Research Center to develop and

administer a comprehensive assessment tool to

help identify nonproﬁts’ strengths and weaknesses.

Nationwide’s partnerships helped launch the Make Safe

Happen program to educate the public about potential

risks that may cause injuries involving children.

And one Farmers’ agent started his own nonproﬁt

organization, Fighting for Families, Inc., which provides

support for veterans and their families. GEICO asso-

ciates were inspired to help young cancer patients

through the Lexiebean Foundations by organizing

karaoke contests, car washes, raes and bake sales.

Teams from QBE got involved with Habitat for

Humanity and Sunshine Place, a local organization that

provides a single point of access to social services

for needy residents.

And over the past 22 years, the Dryden Mutual

InVEST program has spread into 3 local high schools

and has touched the lives of over 750 local students.

Finally, as many of you know, I will be stepping

down from my role as the president of the Insurance

Information Institute in August to assume a faculty

position in the Darla Moore School of Business at the

University of South Carolina. Throughout my 18 years at

the I.I.I., I have been immensely proud of the charitable

and philanthropic activities of this vital industry. Ours

is an industry that is committed to the well-being of

communities all across America—and as this and every

issue of Impact document—it is clearly a commitment

that cannot be measured in claim dollars alone.

Robert P. Hartwig, Ph.D., CPCU

President & Economist

Insurance Information Institute

What’s Inside

Insurance Group Shows True

Colors by Giving Back ......................................... 3

Commitment to Social Stewardship

Impacts Local Communities............................... 6

InVESTing in Young Lives ................................... 8

Working Globally and

Encouraging Locally ............................................10

Taking Action and Making Impact .................. 12

Making Connections: Promoting

Insurance as a Career Choice .........................14

Helping Educators through a

Unique Partnership .............................................. 16

Giving Back and Providing

Opportunities to Military Veterans ..................19

Taking Pride in Giving Back..............................21

Colorful New Bikes Go to

Special Riders ......................................................22

Impact Magazine Summer 2016 3

oloring crayons are the norm at many

family-friendly restaurants. Children receive

them with their menus to draw, color and

pass the time while waiting for their food. But

have you ever wondered what happens to these

crayons once you leave? Hygiene concerns often

dictate that crayons placed at tables — whether

used or not — are thrown away and destined for

landﬁll. However, the life of a restaurant crayon now

has a happy ending, thanks to The Crayon Initiative

and CSAA Insurance Group.

As a AAA Insurer, CSAA Insurance Group

is one of the top property and casualty insurers

in the United States and supports The Crayon

Initiative’s mission of repurposing unwanted cray-

ons. Discarded crayons come from restaurants,

businesses and individual donations, and the

donated crayons are remanufactured and donated

to art therapy programs at children’s hospitals. To

date, nearly two thousand CSAA Insurance Group

employees have sorted more than 15,000 pounds

of crayons.

Established in 2014, The Crayon Initiative is

a Northern California-based nonproﬁt devoted to

promoting the arts for children by providing them

access to the resources they need. The Crayon

Initiative has diverted nearly 750,000 crayons

— thousands of pounds — destined for landﬁlls.

Insurance Group Shows

True Colors by Giving Back

Bryan Ware,

The Crayon

Initiative,

and Danielle

Cagan, CSAA

Insurance

Group, cut

the ribbon to

celebrate the

launch of the

mobile crayon

recycling

trailer.

Photos: CSAA Insurance Group.

4 Impact Magazine Summer 2016

The Crayon Initiative ensures

crayons collected in commu-

nities are remanufactured and

stay in those communities to

beneﬁt local children.

“The Crayon Initiative is

an innovative program with

many societal beneﬁts, and we are proud to pro-

vide meaningful support,” said Danielle Cagan, vice

president of corporate communications and public

aairs at CSAA Insurance Group. “In addition to our

ﬁnancial contributions, our employees demonstrate

our value of caring for the community by provid-

ing signiﬁcant

volunteer hours to

support this fantas-

tic program.”

To help The

Crayon Initiative

expand its reach,

CSAA Insurance

Group donated

$40,000 to fund

The Crayon

Initiative’s new

mobile crayon

recycling trailer. The mobile trailer allows

The Crayon Initiative to melt, recycle and create

new crayons on-the-go. The nonproﬁt can

now travel across the country and, ultimately,

increase the number of crayons donated to

children in need.

“The work we do has a signiﬁcant impact on

our local community, but there is so much more

we can do with a travelling workforce and volun-

teers from other communities,” said Bryan Ware,

founder of The Crayon Initiative. “The mobile

crayon recycling trailer that CSAA Insurance

Group funded will advance our mission to ensure

The Crayon

Initiative

has received

prominent

media

coverage,

helping to

spread the

word about

the nonproﬁt’s

mission

nationwide.

CSAA

Insurance

Group

employees

celebrate

sorting

crayons with

The Crayon

Initiative.

Impact Magazine Summer 2016 5

that children have the tools they need to enjoy

the healthful beneﬁts of art and creativity, while

also reducing waste in landﬁlls.”

Unwanted crayons collected by The Crayon

Initiative and sorted by CSAA Insurance Group vol-

unteers directly beneﬁt the environment. Since

crayons are not biodegradable and create a waxy

sludge that may not break down for centuries, divert-

ing crayons from landﬁlls helps protect the planet.

The crayon sorting volunteer events are

fun and easily accommodate employee work

schedules. Working in one-hour shifts, volun-

teers are given bins of assorted crayons from

restaurants, schools and individual donations.

Standing or sitting at tables with colleagues

— familiar and new — employee volunteers

socialize while sorting red, yellow, green, blue

and brown crayons.

“This is such a fun and fulﬁlling event,” said

Darbi Perkins, a CSAA Insurance Group employ-

ee. “Giving creativity to kids in children’s hospitals

around the country and removing unwanted cray-

ons from landﬁlls — it’s a win-win!”

Once the crayons are sorted, The Crayon

Initiative remanufactures the crayons and cre-

ates new packs that are sent to hospital pediatric

wards. During a hospital stay, it’s important for chil-

dren to maintain a sense of normalcy that is critical

to childhood development. Crayons oer hospital-

ized children a creative outlet for self-expression,

which may provide needed psychological support,

alleviate feelings of anxiety and enhance problem-

solving and critical thinking skills.

Since partnering with The Crayon Initiative,

CSAA Insurance Group has sorted and helped

create nearly 75,000 new packs of crayons for

children’s art therapy programs. The company

has also held volunteer events with The Crayon

Initiative at the insurance group’s locations in

California, Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma and

Nevada, with more to come by year’s end.

“We are pleased to welcome The Crayon

Initiative at all our major locations to support

the organization’s altruistic mission,” said Roger

Hancock, community aairs manager at CSAA

Insurance Group. “We recognize the importance

of giving back to our community and are

grateful for the opportunity to provide volunteer

support for this worthy cause.”

The Crayon Initiative has been featured

in People magazine, The Today Show Sunday

Weekend Edition, NBC Nightly News with Lester

Holt and has been featured prominently in local

TV markets, spreading the word about the organi-

zation’s mission nationwide.

CSAA Insurance Group has a community ser-

vice legacy of more than one hundred years and

the company’s national, award-winning volunteer

program annually engages nearly 4,000 employ-

ees at 500 company-supported nonproﬁt projects.

Last year, 98 percent of CSAA Insurance Group

employees volunteered — the highest volunteer

participation rate in the country for a company

with more than 3,000 personnel. CSAA Insurance

Group has been recognized as one of the 50

most community-minded companies in the U.S. by

Points of Light in partnership with Bloomberg LP,

and has also received the prestigious Excellence

in Workplace Volunteer Programs award from

Points of Light.

CSAA Insurance Group employees receive

up to 24 hours of paid company time o to

volunteer each year, and through the Com-

munity Safety Foundation, funded by CSAA

Insurance Group, employees are recognized

for their volunteer eorts by receiving funds to

donate to nonproﬁts. The company also supports

employees’ personal donations through a match-

ing gifts program. It all adds up to contributing

in meaningful ways to communities in need, and

sometimes making a dierence can be as simple

as sorting crayons.

“We believe that in order to grow and learn,

children need to have the freedom to be creative

and express themselves through art,” said Ware.

“Crayons are a building block for childhood cre-

ativity. With crayons, the possibilities are endless.

We can do anything, go anywhere or be anyone

we want to be: ride a dinosaur through a rainbow

desert, launch a rocket ship into outer space, bat-

tle a ﬁre-headed, purple monster or draw a family

portrait. No matter who you are or where you are,

imagination provides the ideas and crayons bring

those ideas to life.”

6 Impact Magazine Summer 2016

isitors to ACUITY’s headquarters in the

fall of 2012 were met with a scene that

was unlike anything they expected to

ﬁnd at an insurance company. Inside the building,

there was a vintage 45-foot Ferris wheel, circus

acts, carnival games, food and music, and more. It

was all part of “Cirque du NICU,” a fundraiser that

earned over $250,000 to support the construction

of a neonatal intensive care unit at Aurora

Sheboygan Medical Center.

The event was just one of many held at

ACUITY’s headquarters over the years in support

of what the company calls Social Stewardship.

ACUITY’s philosophy of giving back to the local

community is a deeply ingrained part of its corpo-

rate culture.

“As an insurer, our role is to protect the well-

being of the hundreds of thousands of individuals,

families and business owners who place their trust

in us,” explained Ben Salzmann, ACUITY President

and CEO. “Likewise, in the community, we see our

role as helping to protect and promote the many

valuable organizations that serve the public day in

and day out.”

In addition to being a home for fundraising

events, the ACUITY headquarters campus is the

site of many community activities throughout

the year. “We place a high priority on helping

organizations that provide social services to the

community and, in particular, children’s organiza-

tions and academic events,” said Joan Ravanelli

Miller, ACUITY General Counsel and Vice

President-Human Resources.

In just the past year, ACUITY has hosted

the Wisconsin Junior Achievement Business

Challenge, the Wisconsin State Regional Spelling

Bee, a MATHCOUNTS competition, a 4-H Awards

Ceremony, the Mead Library Cool Picks read-

ing program, the ACUITY Invitational Chess

Championship and more.

Within local communities, the insurer also sup-

ports and sponsors events, such as the ACUITY

Health Challenge. The Health Challenge, with nearly

1,000 participants, is a 5k or 2-mile run/walk that

raises money for health-related causes and facilities.

ACUITY makes an impact in the community

through direct donations as well. In 2003, the

company created the ACUITY Charitable

Foundation, which evaluates requests and moni-

tors community needs under the direction of a

seven-member board. In 2015 alone, ACUITY

contributed $3 million to worthy organizations,

including a $1 million donation for the creation of

the ACUITY Intensive Care and Intermediate Care

Unit at HSHS St. Nicholas Hospital. According to

benchmarking organization Ward Group, ACUITY

donates 300 percent of what other corporations

of its size give to charity.

“As both an insurer and a part of the commu-

nity, ACUITY recognizes the importance of public

health and in helping people who are at a point

of crisis in their lives. We are a longstanding

supporter of facilities, programs and initiatives that

provide needed healthcare and wellness

services,” said Salzmann.

Employees help determine contributions

of the ACUITY Charitable Foundation as well.

In 2015, they allocated a year-end donation of

$350,000 among six charities, with the distribution

decided by the votes of all ACUITY employees at

the company’s December Town Hall Meeting.

ACUITY also provides millions of dollars of

direct contributions to schools. This includes

sponsoring the ACUITY Technology Center at

Commitment to Social

Stewardship Impacts Local

Communities

Impact Magazine Summer 2016 7

UW-Sheboygan and securing naming rights for

public school facilities and ﬁeld houses, initiatives

that support education and increase community

awareness about careers in insurance.

“By helping provide resources to grade

schools, high schools and colleges, and by bring-

ing the best young minds to ACUITY through

scholastic competition, students come to know

ACUITY as a supporter of academic achievement,”

said Salzmann. “Our eorts also have an impact

on the future workforce by showing them oppor-

tunities that exist in the insurance industry and

demonstrating to them the value ACUITY places

on education.”

ACUITY’s commitment to social stewardship

is a direct reﬂection of the over 1,000 employ-

ees who work at its headquarters and across the

25 states in which the company does business.

Those employees also make an impact on com-

munities through their own volunteerism.

“There are hundreds and hundreds of individ-

uals who are involved with, and have a personal

stake in, groups that make a dierence in their

communities,” said Salzmann.

In the workplace, ACUITY employees also

contribute to charitable causes each year through

donations of time, money and much-needed sup-

plies. For instance, each year ACUITY employees

donate cases of school supplies to social services

organizations, helping children get a great start

to the school year. An annual holiday gift drive

provides Christmas gifts for needy children in the

community. The A Team, a group of ﬁtness-focused

sta members, participates in dozens of events

and partners with myTEAM TRIUMPH, which allows

disabled people to participate in endurance com-

petitive events. Sta members who grow produce in

gardens on ACUITY’s headquarters coordinate with

A circus-

themed

fundraiser

at ACUITY’s

headquarters

provided the

inspiration for

a permanently

installed

Ferris wheel in

the company’s

current

renovation.

continued on page 24

Photo: ACUITY.

8 Impact Magazine Summer 2016

obert B. Baxter, CPCU, CIC,

ﬁrst became involved with a

high school insurance training

program designed and supported

by the Independent Insurance

Agents & Brokers of America called

“InVEST” in 1989 when he was the

Marketing Manager for the branch

oce of General Accident Insurance

in Syracuse, New York. A group of

local insurance agencies and other

Syracuse-based company oce sta

were in the early stages of supporting

a “Project InVEST” program at

Fowler High School in the inner city

of Syracuse. Since General Accident operated

a large branch oce at that time within the

city limits on a bus route, he immediately saw

the possibilities for helping the local InVEST

committee in many ways. He was asked to join

the local InVEST committee and served on it

continuously from 1989 through 1993, even after

he was promoted to Assistant Branch Manager

in 1990 and then to Branch Manager in 1991. In

that time frame, the Fowler High School insurance

classes averaged 20 to 25 students a year and

InVEST became a high impact business program

in the Syracuse School District.

In early 1994, Baxter left General Accident to

become the CEO of Dryden Mutual. While attend-

ing an InVEST statewide meeting for teachers in

late 1993 just before he left General Accident,

he met a high school business teacher from

Dryden, New York, at an Independent Insurance

Agents & Brokers of New York conference who

was trying to start a new InVEST class. He quickly

volunteered to help her when he started working

at Dryden Mutual Insurance Company. From his

experiences in urban Syracuse, he learned that

certain program modiﬁcations could make InVEST

an even better ﬁt in a small town area like Dryden,

New York. Accordingly, he started using a modi-

ﬁed program to make it relatively easy to start an

InVEST class at Dryden High School in the spring

of 1994 and then go into full-year classes that

have been conducted continuously since then.

The potential to train a pool of possible future

employees fascinated him because his new com-

pany was based in a small community far from the

larger labor pools in major cities. Over the past

22 years, the Dryden Mutual InVEST program has

spread into 3 local highs schools and has touched

the lives of over 750 local students.

InVEST has turned out to be a terriﬁc way for

the insurance industry to get directly involved in

the education of young people at the high school

and community college levels. Although Baxter’s

original motivation was to use InVEST as primarily

a way to educate future consumers, along the way

it became a way to screen and recruit some future

employees for the insurance industry. As another

side beneﬁt, InVEST involvement has created posi-

tive public relations for the insurance industry in

local communities.

These local InVEST programs in Central New

York have integrated support from a wide variety

of local insurance organizations. Two neighboring

insurance companies (Finger Lakes Fire & Casualty

of Trumansburg, New York and Security Mutual

InVESTing in Young Lives

Students take

notes during

an InVEST

ﬁeld trip.

Photos: Dryden Mutual.

Impact Magazine Summer 2016 9

of Ithaca, New York) have volunteered sta and

student visiting rights to various InVEST classes.

A local investment advisor, a local life insurance

agency and many local independent insurance

agencies have all contributed time as speakers in

these local high school InVEST classes.

The InVEST classes near Dryden have been

unusually successful in competing for both local

and national InVEST scholarships. As might be

expected, local students have been awarded

many thousands of dollars from local InVEST

company and agency sponsors over the past 22

years. But local students have also been unusually

adept at competing for InVEST scholarships on a

national level from the Independent Insurance &

Brokers of America. All told, InVEST scholarships

have contributed over $100,000 to local students

over the past 22 years.

Buoyed by the ongoing successes in the

area, Dryden Mutual’s Board of Directors eventu-

ally decided to become a major ﬁnancial sponsor

of InVEST on a national basis through the IIABA

based in Alexandria, Virginia. This countrywide

ﬁnancial commitment is all the more signiﬁcant

because it comes from a relatively small, domestic

insurance company, not a national carrier. Dryden

Mutual’s logic is that since InVEST works so well

locally, the idea is certainly well worth “investing”

in the support of similar programs all across the

United States.

Virtually all of the local insurance industry

speakers in local InVEST programs love working

with young people at the high school level as they

are beginning to ask questions about potential

career paths. All the speakers also fully appreci-

ate that they are making substantial contributions

to the vital

issue of

“ﬁnancial

literacy.”

It is also

clear that

at this

stage of

their lives, InVEST can be extraordinarily useful as

a way to focus on whether or not potential exists

for these students in the insurance services sector

of our economy.

Selected InVEST students from local high

schools and some who continue on to a local com-

munity college have been oered paid internship

opportunities at Dryden Mutual over the past 22

years. In addition, internships have been oered at

several local independent agencies. Approximately

100 local high school and community college

students have been able to directly get a feel for

what it is like to work in an agency or company in

their own communities. As further proof, consider

the fact that after 22 years of sponsoring local

InVEST programs, almost 32% of all current Dryden

Mutual’s 60 full-time employees were ﬁrst exposed

to insurance in a local InVEST program!

Every insurance company and agency

depends on local labor supplies even in this

evolving digital age. Recruiting a high quality

future labor supply is absolutely vital to the insur-

ance industry. InVEST provides potential “farm

teams” for future insurance operations in many

communities across the U.S., and Baxter ﬁrmly

believes many more insurance companies and

agencies should get involved if they want to opti-

mize their future in a highly competitive industry.

Dryden

Mutual CEO

Robert B.

Baxter

congratulates

InVEST

students at a

recent awards

ceremony.

Of the 19

community

college

graduate

Dryden

Mutual

Employees

shown below,

11 were part

of the Project

InVEST

Program

at the high

school level.

10 Impact Magazine Summer 2016

hroughout its long history, QBE Insurance

Group, a leading general insurance and

reinsurance company, has played an active

role in the communities in which it operates. With

thousands of QBE communities worldwide, the

company launched the QBE Foundation in 2011 to

coordinate its philanthropic philosophy and activi-

ties. “The QBE Foundation supports charities that

help people overcome disadvantage, strengthen

their abilities and live more independently, suc-

cessfully and productively,” said Nia Jones, the

North America Foundation manager.

“We believe our corporate responsibility

mirrors our insurance role in the community.

Ultimately, in our business, we assist people when

they ﬁnd themselves in need through accident

or misadventure. The Foundation’s work sup-

ports the same mission,” said Mark Cantin, North

America President of Field Operations and North

America Foundation Chair. Cantin added that the

QBE Foundation provided nearly $1 million in

grants in North America during 2015.

In its North America operations, the QBE

Foundation supports employee-directed philan-

thropy in several ways:

Each year, employees vote to select the 10

organizations which receive large grants of

$25,000 to $175,000. In addition, employees

may donate to the Foundation through payroll

deduction and the Foundation matches

employee contributions. Donations go to the

10 large grant organizations

Each calendar quarter, employees can nomi-

nate other organizations for local grants up to

$10,000. Employees are also encouraged to

volunteer at the organizations receiving QBE

grants—or at any other charitable organiza-

tion—and the Foundation provides an annual

paid volunteer day for each employee.

Employees also get involved in their commu-

nity through activities jointly sponsored by

Employee Activity Committees in larger QBE

locations. These committees host quarterly

Working Globally and

Encouraging Locally

QBE

volunteers

helped

purchase,

prepare and

serve food

to needy

residents.

Photos: QBE Insurance.

Impact Magazine Summer 2016 11

employee events, which often include a chari-

table component (such as a toy drive during

the QBE holiday party).

Some of the Foundation’s grants go to organi-

zations also supported by members of QBE’s

four Diversity & Inclusion business resource

groups (women, military veterans, LGBT and

multi-cultural). The business resource groups

have hosted QBE team volunteer eorts for

Foundation grant recipients including

Wounded Warrior activities and Dress for

Success clothing drives.

Foundation manager Jones said that QBE North

America employees take the QBE internal brand

“make it happen” to heart when it comes to team

and individual volunteer eorts in their communities.

In summer 2015, 100 New York sta (about a

third of the NYC headquarters), including North

America Chief Executive Ocer Dave Duclos

and other executives, volunteered on a Habitat

for Humanity project for a Staten Island, New

York, family whose home was uninhabitable after

Hurricane Sandy. The QBE employees used their

QBE volunteer day to construct walls, install dry

wall and lay ﬂooring. The Foundation donated

$75,000 to help with the repairs. “It was a great

opportunity for the QBE team to get to know each

other and the homeowners—I was really proud of

the way we came together,” said Duclos.

After the project, Duclos invited North

America employees to report on their own vol-

unteer eorts. The heart-warming responses

illustrated employees’ deep personal passions as

well as great team eorts for a good cause.

Over 40 QBE Sun Prairie, Wisconsin employ-

ees, including the IT community outreach team,

helped purchase, prepare and serve food

to 140 local residents at a Sunshine Supper,

sponsored by Sunshine Place, a local organiza-

tion that provides a single point of access to

continued on page 24

QBE sta,

including North

America Chief

Executive

Ocer

Dave Duclos

and other

executives,

volunteered

on a Habitat

for Humanity

project in

Staten Island,

New York.

Taking Action

and Making Impact

his year Nationwide celebrates its 90th

anniversary of protecting what matters

most, including a long history of focusing

on the safety of young children.

For more than 65 years Nationwide has been

committed to educating the public about potential

risks that may cause injuries involving children.

Recognizing that awareness plays an important

role in prevention, Nationwide partnered with

Safe Kids Worldwide, Nationwide Children’s

Hospital and other experts to launch the Make

Safe Happen program in 2014.

“There’s a real need to raise awareness

of accidental childhood injuries,”

said Mike Boyd, Nationwide’s senior vice

president, Enterprise Brand Marketing. “The

Make Safe Happen program is designed

to do just that with tips and tools to help

keep children safe. With the program in its

second year, Nationwide is looking to make a

dierence with new research, partner-

ships and advocacy programs.”

Consider a few important

facts: Nearly 50 percent of acci-

dental injuries happen in and

around the home; 72 percent

of parents are not aware that

accidental injuries are the

leading cause

of death in

children

Photo: Nationwide.

Impact Magazine Summer 2016 13

and each year more than 9,000 families lose a

child due to accidental injuries. It can happen to

anyone, anywhere, and in a matter of seconds.

This year, the Make Safe Happen program

looks to make a positive dierence in the lives

of children by highlighting four critical at-home

safety risks — furniture and TV tip-overs,

poisoning, drowning and ﬁre. These critical

issues require greater awareness and can

potentially be prevented by taking action. To

help in these eorts, Nationwide is committed to

inspiring one million safety actions by the end

of the year. Safety actions include activities such

as caregivers and children attending an event,

downloading the Make Safe Happen app or

completing a safety checklist.

One way Nationwide will reach its safety

actions goal is by supporting the American Red

Cross Home Fire Campaign, which provides

parents, youth and at-risk communities with ﬁre

prevention education and safety equipment.

Now in its second year, the campaign’s local can-

vassing eorts have replaced more than 305,000

smoke alarms in 5,000 cities. Nationwide’s

support has helped replace 80,000 smoke

alarms in three months alone. Additionally,

support of the Red Cross AquaticsCentennial

Campaignwill help teach 50,000 people about

water safety and how to swim across 50 cit-

ies where drowning rates are highest. This

allows children and adults who likelywould not

otherwise have the opportunity to learn these

lifesaving skills. Nationwide is proud to have par-

ticipation from the Red Cross on theMake Safe

HappenAdvisory Council.

Nationwide is also living into its safety

actions goal as the presenting sponsor of Safe

Kids Day, a partnership with Safe Kids Worldwide.

Safe Kids Day helps parents and caregivers

to make their homes a safer place for children

through a series of safety events that engages

families and communities across the U.S. to take

action and protect children.

During the spring and summer, Nationwide

agents will be distributing important safety

resources and materials at more than 100 local

events across the country. Nationwide will also

support these local safety events with a new

Make Safe Happen social media campaign.

The Make Safe Happen program also

oers valuable safety tips and solutions through

its website, www.makesafehappen.com and

through a free mobile appto help parents and

caregivers make their homes safer by oering

room-by-room advice customized for the ages of

the children in the home. The app is owned by

Nationwide Children’s Hospital and developed

by the safety experts in the hospital’s Center for

Injury Research and Policy.

Nationwide’s partnership with Nationwide

Children’s Hospital reinforces a deeply held,

shared interest in children’s well-being. With the

goal of using mobile technology to empower par-

ents and help prevent childhood injury, the free

mobile app was made possible through funding

from Nationwide and the Nationwide Foundation.

“We are honored to partner with Nationwide

Children’s Hospital and Safe Kids Worldwide

as we deepen our commitment to childhood

safety,” said Elicia Azali, associate vice president,

Enterprise Programs. “Nationwide has a long-

history of supporting the well-being of children,

which makes our partnership with the hospital and

other national safety organizations a natural ﬁt.”

Nationwide encourages everyone to take

action by downloadingthe free Make Safe

Happen mobile app or checking out the make-

safehappen.com website for helpful safety tips

and information. And, of course, you can help

Nationwide inspire more parents and caregivers

to take action by spreading the word on social

media using #MakeSafeHappen.

14 Impact Magazine Summer 2016

s an industry, we are all working to

promote insurance as a stable, rewarding

career choice for students and career

changers. We also give charitably to nonproﬁts

across the country.

Not only does Westﬁeld support endeav-

ors that will attract new talent to the industry,

its private foundation supports nonproﬁts that

help stabilize families facing barriers to success.

Through these relationships, Westﬁeld ﬁnds itself

in a unique position to help connect students and

job seekers with insurance careers.

“The industry needs to ﬁll 295,000 jobs in the

next six years while battling an ‘image problem’ that

causes insurance to be overlooked by traditional

students as a great career option,” said Connie Frey,

Westﬁeld University Relations Leader. “Through our

family stability nonproﬁt partners, Westﬁeld knows

there are thousands of teens and adults who would

like to know about an industry with the potential to

provide a stable and rewarding lifestyle.”

Westﬁeld Insurance Foundation’s nonproﬁt

partner Youth Opportunities Unlimited (Y.O.U.) is

northeast Ohio’s leading youth workforce develop-

ment organization. Y.O.U. provides job preparation,

placement and other development activities to

Making Connections:

Promoting Insurance as a

Career Choice

A student

from Youth

Opportunities

Unlimited

networks with

Westﬁeld

Insurance

employees.

Impact Magazine Summer 2016 15

high school students whose families are at or

below the poverty line in Cuyahoga County.

One group of Y.O.U. students recently

traveled 45 minutes to Westﬁeld Insurance head-

quarters. The teens participating in Y.O.U. have an

84 percent graduation rate at their East Cleveland

high school, compared to a 64 percent graduation

rate for students not enrolled in Y.O.U.

Throughout the day, Westﬁeld employees met

with the students and discussed job experiences

as well as the path that led them to the insur-

ance industry. In addition to traditional insurance

jobs such as underwriting and claims, employees

represented ﬁelds such as hospitality, IT, market-

ing, human resources and legal. Westﬁeld’s HR

team also conducted mock job interviews with the

students to help them develop the necessary job

skills to secure summer employment.

A Westﬁeld employee resource group

for women held a similar event for Cuyahoga

Community College (Tri-C) adult learners. The

adults were participants in a non-credit program

called Women in Transition, which empowers adult

students by helping them identify marketable

skills, explore interests, research career options

and connect with job training programs. The pro-

gram is a longtime nonproﬁt partner of Westﬁeld

Insurance Foundation.

Retiring CEO Jim Clay kicked o the event

with an introduction to insurance, which was fol-

lowed by a welcome by Tri-C President Alex

Johnson, Ph.D. Participants then moved to round-

table discussions with Westﬁeld employees to

discuss insurance roles and industry misconcep-

tions as well as shared concerns, such as barriers

women face while trying to access and succeed in

high-wage careers.

These two career exploration events impact-

ed nearly 50 teen and adult students — and the

experience was well worth it. Months later, partici-

pants continued to engage in conversations and

build relationships with the contacts they made.

In addition to these events, Westﬁeld continues

to partner with nonproﬁt organizations and individu-

als who can help connect the dots for job seekers.

For example, Westﬁeld’s longtime partner and

local radio morning show co-host Jimmy Malone

is talking about the insurance industry in a unique

and personal way. Through College Now Greater

Cleveland, the Malone family has raised $3.2 million

and awarded scholarships to more than 175 stu-

continued on page 24

Westﬁeld

Insurance’s

Bob Taylor and

Belinda Darr

help Youth

Opportunities

Unlimited

students practice

interview skills.

Photos: Westﬁeld.

16 Impact Magazine Summer 2016

ducators spend hundreds of dollars of their

own money on classroom supplies each

year. Many teachers buy pencils, pens,

paper and folders just to make sure their students

have what they need to learn. Others will spend

money on bean bags and rugs to make an inviting

reading area or on games to help students with

math skills. With many school budgets getting

tighter, teachers are looking for other ways to fund

tools they need to teach their students. That is why

Horace Mann partners with DonorsChoose.org.

Founded by Educators for Educators®, Horace

Mann believes the educators taking care of chil-

dren’s futures deserve someone to look after

theirs. The company provides home, auto and life

insurance and retirement solutions to educators.

Helping Educators through a

Unique Partnership

Michele

Delong, a

music teacher

in Springﬁeld,

Illinois, teaches

her kids how to

play the drums.

She’s received

many musical

instruments

through

DonorsChoose.

org.

Impact Magazine Summer 2016 17

By partnering with DonorsChoose.org, Horace

Mann has been able to help educators discover

the crowdfunding website, educate them about

posting projects and even help fund some of them.

Horace Mann agents serve nearly 60 percent

of the more than 108,000 public schools in the

DonorsChoose.org database, allowing the com-

pany and its agents to make a signiﬁcant impact

through its partnership. In 2015, nearly 82,000

projects valued at $54 million were funded in

schools served by a Horace Mann agent, reaching

more than seven million students.

DonorsChoose.org Founder and CEO Charles

Best said Horace Mann’s partnership is unique

because of the relationship it has with teachers.

“They know teachers better than almost anyone

else,” he said. “Horace Mann knows teachers spend

out of their own pockets on school supplies, so they

are able to point to DonorsChoose.org as a solution

for teachers to be able to spend more of their hard-

earned money on their own ﬁnancial success.”

Agent Josh Lamers said the partnership

between DonorsChoose.org and Horace Mann

allows teachers to dream about projects they

might not be able to do otherwise because their

district can’t pay for them. Lamers introduced

Holli Ratli, Principal at C.T. Sewell Elementary in

Henderson, Nevada, to DonorsChoose.org at the

start of the partnership. Her school now receives

an average of $40,000 to $50,000 a year in

resources from DonorsChoose.org.

“Josh introduced our teachers to

DonorsChoose.org, a program that makes grant

writing for teachers attainable and manageable.

He conducted workshops at our school showing

This partnership has

touched the lives of

future doctors,

scientists and

engineers in ways

unimaginable.

Students

demonstrate

their motor

skills using

scooters

obtained through

DonorsChoose.

org.

A “thank you”

to Horace

Mann for its

contributions.

Photos: Horrace Mann.

18 Impact Magazine Summer 2016

our teachers how to utilize it, oered incentives

for participation and made contributions to the

projects posted,” said Ratli. “We receive a signiﬁ-

cant amount of resources from DonorsChoose.

org that we would otherwise not have if it

weren’t for this program. We are very thankful

to Horace Mann for its commitment and its sup-

port of our educators and our children, and to

DonorsChoose.org for such a great program.”

Ratli said the most valuable projects for her

school have been those requesting books or

technology. “We see the community really support

those. They impact not just the 25 students ﬁrst

exposed to them, but those supplies are used by

other groups of students again and again.”

Carrie Buck, Principal of Pinecrest Academy-

Horizon in Henderson, Nevada, said ﬁrst graders

at her school were able to raise trout because of

a DonorsChoose.org project. “Students tracked

their growth and wrote about it in their journals.

It was the coolest lesson because we released

them into the wild at a local pond. Families, par-

ents and students were trout crazy,” shared Buck.

“I love the partnership between Horace Mann and

DonorsChoose.org. It’s about ensuring teachers

have everything they need to do the best job they

possibly can teaching our children.”

Chris Popek is Principal at C.C. Ronnow

Elementary School in Las Vegas, Nevada. His

physical education teacher recently received

pedometers from a DonorsChoose.org project.

“It’s a cool way to talk about exercise,” said Popek.

“Josh introduced us to DonorsChoose.org and it

has allowed my teachers to be innovative.”

Brittany Winnie, a teacher at Cerbat

Elementary in Kingman, Arizona, has had 21 proj-

ects completed. “With the salary I receive, there

is absolutely no way I would be able to get any

of the supplies these projects have given me. I

couldn’t have done it without DonorsChoose.org

and its generous partners,” said Winnie.

Don Wendel, a Horace Mann agent in New

Ulm, Minnesota, has also seen DonorsChoose.

org work magic for educators. “When an educa-

tor has a question about DonorsChoose.org, they

call our oce.” Wendel, like Lamers and many

other Horace Mann agents, holds DonorsChoose.

org Workshops in schools. “Once we introduce

a teacher to DonorsChoose.org and they post a

project and have it funded, they get excited about

it and spread the word. It has been instrumental in

helping teachers get supplies for their classroom.”

Melissa Hunter, a fourth grade teacher at

Washington Elementary in New Ulm, Minnesota,

said each year Wendel encourages teachers to

post projects. “DonorsChoose.org has helped me

oer a book club to my students before school. I

was told I could do the book club, but funding for

the books wouldn’t be available. DonorsChoose.

org gave me the books to make this book club

possible, and all of my students have beneﬁted

from this rich classroom library.”

Carl Reed, a Horace Mann agent in St. Louis,

Missouri, said teachers appreciate the partner-

ship Horace Mann has with DonorsChoose.org.

“Teachers really respect that this isn’t something

we just come in and do once. We consistently

support our educators through this program. It

shows we value them beyond just coming in and

funding an initial project. We continually are there

to support them,” said Reed.

Suzette Simms, Principal of Cool Valley

Elementary in St. Louis, Missouri, said teach-

ers began posting projects on DonorsChoose.

org after learning about it from Reed. They have

posted more than 80 projects over the last three

years. “Due to budget cuts over time, teachers are

looking for support from parents and organiza-

tions to assist with needs in the classroom. Our

STEM program (Science, Technology, Engineering

and Mathematics) has beneﬁted the most.

DonorsChoose.org has touched the lives of future

doctors, scientists and engineers in ways unimagi-

nable. DonorsChoose.org has been a gift.”

Since starting its partnership with

DonorsChoose.org, Horace Mann has donated

more than $3.5 million dollars to the program. But

Kirk Smiley, Principal Partnerships Director at

DonorsChoose.org, said Horace Mann’s contribu-

tions go far beyond the dollars donated. “Our

partnership is unique. Horace Mann agents are on

the ground and are our ambassadors, helping

educate teachers about DonorsChoose.org. No

one else does that at such scale,” said Smiley.

Impact Magazine Summer 2016 19

elping communities and individuals

in need is an important part of what

makes Farmers Insurance a unique

organization. Whether it’s in their capacity as

dedicated insurance professionals helping

customers with their individual claims to helping

entire communities recover from devastation after

a tornado or a hurricane, helping and pitching in to

provide assistance is part of the spirit of Farmers®.

In addition to their professional commitment

to customers, agents and employees at Farmers

regularly provide thousands of hours of volunteer

assistance to community-based organizations

across the country and help raise countless funds

and in-kind donations to help local groups con-

tinue their important work.

In 2014, Farmers signed an agreement with

the Department of Defense oce of Employer

Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) which

served to further increase the importance of the

organization’s commitment to members of the

military and those veterans recently transitioned

to civilian life. Adding to the corporate commit-

ment to our nation’s military veterans, thousands

of Farmers agents in communities disbursed

throughout the country have also chosen to

include their eorts to this endeavor by joining

the company’s eorts and, sometimes, developing

their own initiatives to help.

One Farmers agent, in Northridge, California,

is just one example of how local agents have

embraced this initiative to help America’s military

heroes in need.

A Farmers agent in Southern California since

2005, Patrick Lufrano typiﬁes how agents can, and

have, taken up the mantle to do their share to aid

families, especially those with a military connection.

“For as long as I’ve been in business I’ve

wanted to help as many people as I can, profes-

sionally by helping customers become smarter

about their insurance options as a Farmers agent,

to ﬁnding ways to contribute through my philan-

thropic eorts,” said Lufrano. “In particular, I want

to give back to our nation’s military veterans and

their families.”

For Lufrano, this meant starting his own non-

proﬁt organization, Fighting for Families, Inc.,

whose mission is to provide support for local vet-

erans and their families.

“I started the Fighting for Families charity to

have a local impact on our community and its vet-

erans. All the funds that are raised are donated

to a disabled local veteran or family of a local

veteran whose life was taken in the line of duty,”

said Lufrano.

Giving Back and

Providing Opportunities to

Military Veterans

Farmers

agent

Patrick

Lufrano

presents

a check to

local veteran,

Gabriella

Rodriguez,

and her son,

Joe.

Photo: Farmers Insurance.

20 Impact Magazine Summer 2016

He has organized an annual golf tournament

to help raise funds to help local military families.

Just before Christmas in 2015, the Fighting for

Families organization and Farmers Insurance iden-

tiﬁed local veteran, Gabriella Rodriguez, to receive

a donated car and cash support. Rodriguez, an

Army veteran who served in Afghanistan, lost her

husband in 2013 when he was killed while serving

a tour of duty in Afghanistan. She was left to pre-

pare for his funeral while also awaiting the birth of

their ﬁrst child.

The ﬁnancial stress of losing her husband and

raising a child alone prevented her from main-

taining a properly functioning vehicle that would

permit her to commute to work and run the nec-

essary errands required to raise a young infant.

Soon, her existing car gave out, which impacted

her ability to maintain stable employment.

Upon hearing their story, Lufrano and the

Farmers organization worked with the insurer’s

Rides for Hope program to secure a refurbished

car for her. Additionally, Lufrano’s Fighting for

Families charity group presented her with a check

for $25,000 to help her get back on her feet.

“Helping veterans like Gabriella is what our

Fighting for Families group is all about,” said

Lufrano. “Working with other companies and

individuals committed to helping veterans is very

gratifying and inspiring to me. The hard work of

fundraising that we do is very much worth it when

we see the dierence we are making in the lives

of the military families we touch.”

For his eorts on behalf of veterans, Lufrano

was honored by the Los Angeles City Council

where several council members thanked him for

his commitment to America’s heroes.

“Being recognized by the Los Angeles City

Council is a real honor for me, but it’s the mili-

tary veterans who have served that deserve the

recognition,” said Lufrano. “I look forward to

continuing to help military veterans, as well as

individuals and families in the greater Los Angeles

area, to ensure they are taken care of.”

Whether it’s signing an agreement with the

Department of Defense or the eorts of individual

agents like Pat Lufrano, Farmers is committed to

supporting veterans and those ready to transition

to civilian life in a number of ways.

InNovember 2015,Farmers launched a six-

state “Suits for Soldiers” campaign for agents,

employees and customers to collect and donate

suits for military members transitioning to civilian

life. With a goal of donating 5,000 suits, Farmers

Insurance announced the ﬁnal tally topped 8,000

women’s and men’s suits during the two-month

eort concluding at the end ofJanuary 2016.

Key to the success of the drive was notable

participation across the Eastern seaboard from

Farmers Insurance agencies and territory oces

in Connecticut,Georgia,Maryland,New York,

New JerseyandPennsylvania. The suits are being

provided to various veteran nonproﬁt organi-

zations through The Veteran Education and

Transitional (VET) Program, and then issued to mili-

tary members, both men and women, transitioning

to civilian careers with complimentary resumé

assistance.

Farmers has also established itself as an

organization committed to provide employment

opportunities for veterans and their families. The

insurer has been designated one of the top 150

military employers and one of the top 50 military

spouse employers by MilitaryFriendly.com.

For those transitioning veterans with an entrepre-

neurial spirit interested in owning their own business,

Farmers has a team specially dedicated to help.

“Farmers is committed to hiring veterans

and providing additional opportunities for current

and former armed services members,” said Luisa

Acosta-Franco, head of recruitment marketing

and ﬁeld support for Farmers Insurance. “Those

heroes who have served our nation proudly will

ﬁnd that we have a number of opportunities they

should consider when they are ready to re-enter

civilian life.”

Farmers has a number of opportunities avail-

able throughout the U.S. for which veterans may

be qualiﬁed. Additionally, the national insurer is

actively recruiting professionals with military expe-

rience for opportunities as Agency Owners.

Current or soon-to-be veterans are

encouraged to learn more about opportunities

with Farmers Insurance by visiting www.beafarm-

ersagent.com or www.farmers.com/careers.

Impact Magazine Summer 2016 21

n the spirit of being a Good Neighbor, State

Farm® is working to make a dierence in the

Bloomington/Normal, Illinois, community near

its headquarters by assisting local nonproﬁts in

providing innovation expertise and helping to

increase organizations’ business acumen.

State Farm recently partnered with Illinois

Wesleyan University’s Action Research Center

(ARC) to develop and administer a comprehen-

sive assessment tool to help identify nonproﬁts’

strengths and weaknesses. The company pro-

vided a $2,500 grant to each participating

organization. State Farm employees served as

consultants and provided service hours to non-

proﬁts requesting support.

Deborah Halperin is the Director of the ARC,

which facilitates the alignment of university resourc-

es with community engagement opportunities.

“We wanted to know what challenges non-

proﬁts were

facing as well as

what resources

they could share

with each other.

We invited sta

and board mem-

bers to complete

the assessment

for their orga-

nization,” said

Halperin.“ Results

were reported

back to each

nonproﬁt both on

their own data

and the group

data. This was

really meant to

be a tool for the

nonproﬁt to take a look at where they were and

where they wanted to go.”

Halperin said having a community partner like

State Farm on board was invaluable.

“State Farm is like the butterﬂy in the garden,”

she added. “They know what everyone is doing

because they support such a wide network of

nonproﬁts. The company is generous in knowl-

edge, social capital and ideas.”

State Farm Philanthropy Analyst Jerome

Maddox has worked with the ARC team since

2009.

“Through the eorts of the ARC, State Farm

and nonproﬁt organizations, change within

the community is taking place,” said Maddox.

“Organizations are now looking at their assets as

a way to strengthen and build revenue. They are

also looking at their weaknesses and seeking

Taking Pride in

Giving Back

continued on page 23

State Farm

employees

and

Community

Health Care

Clinic sta

tackle issues

to build

capacity of

the Clinic.

Photo: State Farm.

22 Impact Magazine Summer 2016

t was a big, colorful, laughing scene when

100 youngsters met up at GEICO to pick out

colorful new bikes they could take home

all for themselves. Among them were many

special riders — young cancer patients — and

some of their brothers and sisters who took their

new wheels for a quick spin at the company’s

Woodbury, Long Island, oce complex.

It all came about after the head of the Long

Island-based Lexiebean Foundation, Joe Falabella,

came to GEICO to talk to associates about the

organization’s heartfelt mission to help young can-

cer patients and their families. During Falabella’s

visit, GEICO associates were moved after hearing

about the emotional and ﬁnancial burdens families

face while a child receives cancer treatment.

The Lexiebean Foundation works tirelessly to

ease stress for families who have a child battling

cancer through giving ﬁnancial assistance as well

as delivering care packages that include blankets,

pillows, games, books, gift cards and more. Care

packages help lift the spirits of patients and their

families during extended hospital stays that coin-

cide with chemotherapy, surgeries and radiation

treatments.

After hearing from Falabella, GEICO associ-

ates were inspired to make a dierence, and it

didn’t take much time after that for them to swing

into action. “I’m really proud of what our associ-

ates accomplished in such a short time,” said John

Pham, GEICO’s regional vice president for New

York. “Our associates organized karaoke contests,

car washes, raes and bake sales and raised

• •

Colorful New Bikes

Go to Special Riders

GEICO’s Long Island associates

didn’t stop with just the Lexiebean bicycle

event. Associates cranked their charitable

giving into high gear, and broke an oce

record by raising more than $1 million for

the United Way of Long Island. In addi-

tion, the GEICO Philanthropic Foundation

added a matching gift, for a total of more

than $2 million that went to dozens of

charities that make a dierence in the

company’s back yard.

And because associates frequently

have auto safety on their minds, they

ended up organizing a day-long pro-

gram of car seat checks in Woodbury for

associates. More than a hundred moms,

dads and kids showed up for a free car

seat installation inspection, and an over-

whelming majority left with greater peace

of mind after inspectors helped adjust

their safety seats to ﬁt just right. Since

the event was so well-attended by

associates, the Woodbury oce plans to

extend the program to local Long Island

families for 2016.

GEICO’s Woodbury oce has 20

sub-committees as part of GEICO’s Global

Corporate Community Citizens volunteer

program. Woodbury associates contribute

to numerous causes across Long Island

each year, including:

• Awareness walks such as Autism

Speaks, Light the Night, American

Heart Walk, MS Walk and March of

Dimes. Along with having dozens of

associates actively participate, GEICO

donated at least $10,000 to each of

these causes.

• Sponsoring the Special Olympics of

Associates

open their

hearts and

their wallets

John Pham

(left) and

Adam Magnes

(middle left),

GEICO,

present a

check to

Leighann and

Joe Falabella,

founders of

The Lexiebean

Foundation.

Also on this

page: Colorful

bikes and

helmets ﬁlled

the GEICO

parking lot on

Long Island.

Photos: GEICO.

Impact Magazine Summer 2016 23

enough funds to buy nearly 100 bikes. They also

donated an additional $10,000 to the Lexiebean

Foundation for future programs.”

“GEICO associates also enlisted 25 of the

company’s partner body shops on Long Island to

pitch in with this fundraising initiative. Along with

donating dozens of additional bikes, many of the

shops showed o their skills by customizing bikes

with masterful paint jobs. Themes included the

GEICO Gecko, the oh-so-popular Minions and

even a bike with the U.S. Army featured.

“The gift of a brand new bike helps ease a

lot of the stress that accompanies the rigors of a

child’s cancer treatment,” said Falabella. “We’re

eternally grateful for the generosity shown by this

coalition of body shops and GEICO. They’ve lifted

the spirits of many children and their families.”

GEICO associates even took the fun a step

further with the body shops by starting a friendly

competition to see who could create the best

design. They handed out plaques to the top three

shops based on a “fan favorite” vote cast by those

in attendance at the event.

But, accolades aside, there was one clear

winner for the day, and that was the beaming

smile every bicycle brought to each child in

attendance.

• •

collaborators to assist in change.”

In another example of the company giving

back to the community, State Farm employees

who are experts in marketing, philanthropy, inno-

vation, medicine and public aairs recently met

with the Community Health Care Clinic (CHCC) in

Normal, Illinois. The group shared their expertise

in the areas of social media use, text and tech-

nology use in fundraising, greater engagement of

medical professionals, fundraising and increasing

volunteerism. Many of the ideas were adopted

for implementation as part of the CHCC’s ﬁrst

capital campaign.

Angie McLaughlin is the Executive Director

of the CHCC, whose mission is to provide quality

healthcare to the medically underserved popula-

tion of McLean County through the operation of a

free medical clinic.

“It was important for us to partner with State

Farm to truly be innovative and think outside the

box.CHCC sta and volunteers are immersed

in our mission and don’t really have a ‘view from

the outside’, “said McLaughlin. “By bringing in

State Farm team members from several dier-

ent departments and backgrounds to work with

CHCC representatives, theInnovationTeam

created the idealsetting to brainstorm unique,

impactful, yet reasonable ideas to kick start our

capital campaign. We could have never created

this environment on our own.”

State Farm Counsel John K. Kim serves as

the President of the Board of Directors for the

CHCC.

“State Farm is able to provide insight from so

many perspectives that assist nonproﬁts like the

Clinic,” said Kim. “For example, to have partners

from marketing, executive health and other busi-

ness areas provide input and ideation, these are

skillsets that a nonproﬁt may not have immediate

access to or otherwise could not aord.”

“These partnerships are a just a couple of

the many great examples of our commitment to

helping build safer, stronger and better educated

communities,” said Lonnie Smith, Philanthropy

Manager at State Farm.

New York Long Island region and hold-

ing several fundraisers throughout the

year including a Polar Bear Plunge.

• Hosting a toy drive around the holi-

days and collecting hundreds of toys

to donate to local children’s hospitals

around Long Island.

• Teaming up with the Interfaith Nutrition

Network to make Easter baskets for

children.

• Holding an annual food drive that

beneﬁts two local food banks on Long

Island.

Taking Pride in Giving Back

continued from page 23

24 Impact Magazine Summer 2016

Meals On Wheels to donate fresh pro-

duce to their community meal eorts.

“We are continually humbled by

the outpouring of support by our sta

for the community,” said Ravanelli

Miller. “Their eorts have established

ACUITY as a good corporate citi-

zen, a strong and reliable business

partner and a great place to work.”

In fact, ACUITY is ranked as the num-

ber 2 employer in the entire nation,

according to Great Place to Work®.

With ACUITY’s commitment to

social stewardship and its fun-loving

culture, it will come as no surprise

that a new Ferris wheel will soon be

a permanent part of the company’s

headquarters. This enduring symbol

of ACUITY’s impact on the com-

munity will be installed as part of its

expansion project that is increas-

ing the campus to over one million

square feet.

“ACUITY is part of the local com-

munities in which we operate, and

we could not exist without the sup-

port of those communities,” said

Salzmann. “We are honored to

extend our support to community

and charitable organizations, both on

a corporate and individual level.”

Social Stewardship

continued from page 7

dents. College Now provides

guidance and access to funds to help

at-risk teens and adults prepare for

and graduate from college.

With Westﬁeld as a title sponsor

and host of Malone’s annual golf

outing, and many other carriers and

agents as supporters, insurance

struck a chord with Malone. Malone

and local carriers are organizing a

panel of millennials who work in the

insurance industry for a road show,

which will visit northeast Ohio

colleges where Malone regularly

speaks. Malone’s message to

college and high school audiences

as well as the scholarship recipients

he mentors is about choosing a path

that leads to a quality life.

“We’re not measuring success

of these events based on dollars

donated or jobs placed; it’s about

leveraging what we know,” said

Jani Groza, Westﬁeld Insurance

Foundation executive director.

“People need quality jobs and the

industry needs qualiﬁed candidates.

It makes sense to connect the dots.”

Making Connections

continued from page 15

social services for needy residents

(and recipient of QBE Foundation

local grant). The highly-organized

QBE volunteers were able to start

serving early, much to the delight of

the dinner attendees.

The QBE North America Internal

Audit Team volunteered at the not-

for-proﬁt organization, God’s Love

We Deliver. The organization pre-

pares and delivers over 1.4 million

nutritious and tailored meals annually

to 5,000 clients in the New York and

New Jersey area who are too sick to

cook for themselves because of life-

altering illnesses. The Internal Audit

team suited up in aprons, gloves

and hairnets to chop vegetables and

pack meals for delivery

Michelle Adams, Executive

Assistant/Administrative Supervisor

for QBE NAU, works in the Ramsey,

Minnesota oce. Her family ben-

eﬁted from the March of Dimes NICU

Family Support Program after both of

her children were born prematurely

and spent months in intensive care.

She now spends several days a

month volunteering with the program

and uses her annual QBE volunteer

day to host a Christmas event for par-

ents with children in the NICU.

QBE clients and customers also

inﬂuence QBE’s philanthropic eorts.

QBE employees often participate

in customers’ fund-raisers. And, in

the last year, QBE has rolled out

Premiums4Good, an initiative that

invests a small percentage of a QBE

customer’s premiums into Social

Impact Bonds, Green Bonds and

infrastructure projects which deliver

strong social beneﬁts.

As part of the Premiums4Good

initiative, QBE Group Chief Executive

Ocer John Neal recently

announced that QBE is the largest

investor in the Future Generations

Global Investment Company (FGGIC)

which is listed on the Australian

Securities Exchange. The FGGIC tar-

gets an annual donation of one

percent of the fund’s value to chari-

ties committed to supporting young

people aected by mental illness.

Working Globally

continued from page 11