U.S. Virgin Islands, August 16, 2022 — As part of its corporate social responsibility commitment to the Virgin Islands, Banco Popular de Puerto Rico (Popular) announced a partnership with the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands (CFVI) that establishes the Popular VI Community Fund at CFVI with an initial donation of $100,000 from the bank.
The purpose of the fund is to support the philanthropic interests of Popular and its employees in the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, specifically to enhance services from nonprofit organizations that are focused on youth programs, entrepreneurship, and environmental protection. This initiative focuses on the well-being of the communities Popular serves in St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. John, Water Island, and Tortola.
The fund will receive donations directly from Popular employees in the Virgin Islands region who choose to voluntarily contribute through payroll deductions. In turn, CFVI will support Popular’s grant-making through various methods, including hosting employee informational sessions, providing information to assist in exploring grant opportunities in the community, as well as financial reports and information about the grant-making from the fund, sharing grantee successes and challenges, and exploring volunteer opportunities for interested employees.
“At the Community Foundation we look forward to working with our colleagues at Popular on this exciting initiative. The field-of-interest fund is a perfect charitable vehicle for companies like Popular because it’s flexible and provides a wide range of options for an organization,” said CFVI President, Dee Baecher-Brown. “Popular can identify an area or areas of interest and CFVI will manage the rest. And thanks to CFVI’s generous network of Angel donors, there are no fees charged for administering the fund. We so appreciate Popular for their leadership in serving as a model for other businesses that would like to become more involved in our community,” she said.
Since 1979, Popular has concentrated its support of non-profit organizations in the areas of scholarships, education and community development projects.
“Popular believes that investing in the places they serve is key to achieving the goal of improving the social and economic well-being of their employees, customers, and communities,” said Oran Roebuck, Senior Vice President and Division Manager of Popular’s Virgin Islands Region. “We are extremely excited to be partnering with the Foundation and plan to award our first grants in the Virgin Islands from the Popular VI Community Fund at CFVI later this year.”
The company is making an annual contribution to the fund of $100,000, which does not include any employee contributions.
“With Popular’s leadership and commitment, this is bound to be a model program for others to follow, and one we hope could inspire other USVI companies to explore the idea of opening their own field of interest funds that will ultimately benefit the territory in perpetuity,” said Baecher-Brown.
Organizations interested in learning more about establishing a fund at CFVI can email general.info@cfvi.net.
An initial round of funding totaling $50,000 is currently available to provide eligible nonprofit organizations with 501(c)(3) status that provide direct services in the areas of youth programs, entrepreneurship, and environmental protection with grants of up to $10,000 each.
CFVI and Popular are committed to equitable grantmaking and will consider geographic diversity and the importance of reaching underserved communities in its funding decisions. For more information and to submit an application, visit cfvi.net. Applications must be submitted by August 29, 2022.
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