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A Culture of Giving
Ascendium is on a mission to champion opportunity for learners from low-income backgrounds. Our employees take this mission to heart.
Whether employees counsel borrowers, forge new grant partner relationships, attend to our corporate finances, work with vendors, or protect our data and systems, their support for this collective mission extends beyond their time on the clock. It extends to their time in their communities.
In 2023, over 270 employees volunteered over 6,200 hours in the communities where they live and work. Over 1,350 hours came from paid volunteer time off, and over 4,850 hours came from volunteering outside of work hours.
Overall, 70% of Ascendium’s employees participated in Ascendium Cares, our employee giving program which provides diverse opportunities throughout the year to volunteer and donate. For instance, employees crafted everything from birthday banners to haunted house rooms for local children, did landscaping work, and sorted fruits and vegetables for a local food bank.
Ascendium employees volunteering throughout 2023.
$5.3 million given to local nonprofit organizations, including $2.5 million to the Black Business Hub, which will support at least 100 Black-owned businesses in a state-of-the-art center of commerce and entrepreneurism.
$1 million granted to local education and workforce training nonprofits through our annual Good Neighbor Grants program, in which employees nominate and choose grant recipients.
$515,000 donated to almost 100 local nonprofits after Ascendium tripled every dollar donated by employees.
$27,000 donated to over 30 nonprofits after Ascendium matched volunteer hours with donations to the organizations where employees volunteered.
