Chase Announces Winning Charities in Final Round of Chase Community Giving
Humanitarian relief group edges out pet rescue charity to receive top grant from Chase
New York, May 26, 2010 - Chase announced today the charities that will receive grants from Chase through Round Two of Chase Community Giving on Facebook. Winning charities will use the funding for a variety of meaningful causes such as youth arts education, pet rescue, humanitarian relief, aiding the homeless and helping people with disabilities.
Facebook users selected a humanitarian relief organization, Chabad of Argentina Relief Appeal of New York City, New York, and an animal welfare organization, Petfinder.com Foundation of Tucson, Arizona, as the top recipients of grants from Chase in the final round of Chase Community Giving. Chabad of Argentina, also supported by UNICEF, rescues at-risk children and teenagers. The Petfinder.com Foundation works with shelters, rescue organizations and animal welfare organizations nationally to help every adoptable pet find a good home. The two charities will receive $500,000 and $400,000, respectively.
These winners join previous Chase Community Giving grand-prize winners Invisible Children and Harry Potter Alliance. Invisible Children - winner of the first Chase Community Giving - works through the support of U.S. high school and college students to advocate for the rescue of children in central Africa who have been kidnapped from their homes and forced to serve as soldiers in a civil war in Uganda. Harry Potter Alliance - winner of the second Chase Community Giving - uses popular culture to inspire young people across the world to become civically engaged.
Three more runner-up charities were selected with the help of Facebook users and will receive from $200,000 to $300,000. These charities are: Sonia and Max Silverstein Hebrew Academy of Great Neck, NY, which is trying to raise additional funds to promote physical fitness and healthy eating for young people; Youth Education in the Arts of Allentown, PA, which supports the development of life skills in youth through participation in the performing arts; and Wildlife Center of Virginia of Waynesboro, VA, which is one of the world's leading teaching and research hospitals for wildlife, providing quality care each year to thousands of injured and orphaned animals.
"Facebook users have once again spoken, and showed which causes are most important to them" said Kim Davis, President of the JPMorgan Chase Foundation. "We're very proud of yet another successful season of Chase Community Giving and continue to be moved by the amazing work of the charities participating."
In Round Two, the top 100 charities receiving the most votes from Round One submitted "Big Ideas" on how they would use the grant money to make a significant impact in their communities. The charities rallied thousands of supporters through online videos, mass emails, and other grassroots efforts to promote their Big Ideas. These top 100 charities representing 27 states and the District of Columbia previously won $25,000 each in Round One.
In addition to the $5 million awarded to the charities receiving the most votes, a Chase advisory board will select charities to share an additional $500,000. Members of the advisory board will be announced in the coming weeks.
The Spring 2011 program is the third installment of Chase Community Giving. Earlier this year, Chase announced a two-year, $25 million commitment to the Chase Community Giving program, which allows Facebook's 500+ million users to choose from hundreds of thousands of charities and vote for them to win grants from Chase. More than 2.9 million Facebook users have "Liked" the Chase Community Giving page. Eligible charities included 501©(3) charities with an operating budget from $1 million to $10 million. Later this year, the Chase Community Giving will host another program for charities with budgets of less than $1 million.
JPMorgan Chase donates a total of more than $150 million annually to more than 3,000 non-profit organizations in local communities, nationally and abroad. This $5 million Facebook effort is in addition to the bank's traditional philanthropic giving.
For more information on the program, visit http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving.
About Chase
Chase is the U.S. consumer and commercial banking business of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), a leading global financial services firm with assets of $2.2 trillion and operations in more than 60 countries. Chase serves consumers and small businesses through 5,200 bank branches, 16,200 ATMs, mortgage offices, and online and mobile banking as well as through relationships with auto dealerships and schools and universities. Chase also has issued more than 90 million credit cards. More information about Chase is available at www.chase.com.