We’re Invested in Giving Back
We’re invested in making a difference through our time, talents, and financial resources.
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Skills-based volunteering
Coming together for good
We understand there are ways that our time, talents, and resources can make a broader impact. That is why we help our people devote their energies to giving back to causes that matter to them and their communities.
We are proud to be an honoree of The Civic 50 from Points of Light, recognizing us as one of the 50 most community-minded companies in the country since 2017.
Our spirit of service
In 2021, Charles Schwab and TD Ameritrade employees honored the company’s long-standing culture of investing in its communities through philanthropy and volunteer service by participating in Schwab Volunteer Month. For the first time in its history, the program shifted to an all-virtual format, providing more ways for employees and nonprofit partners to volunteer while staying safe during the pandemic. In addition, the event expanded from one week to nearly an entire month, providing more opportunities for involvement.
Many Schwab Volunteer Month projects help nonprofits increase the financial empowerment and well-being of the people they serve, and Schwab and TD Ameritrade employees have the opportunity to give back to their communities in a variety of ways, while staying safe and socially distanced.
Schwab Volunteer Month began as a single day of service on May 13, 2004, with just over 1,000 employee volunteers serving 37 nonprofits in seven cities across the country. Despite the ongoing pandemic, this year's Schwab Volunteer Month engaged more than 6,000 employees serving more than 130 nonprofits nationwide.
Applying our skills to help propel nonprofits
Our Pro Bono Challenge is a skills-based flash consulting event that enables Schwab employees to focus their time, talents, and expertise to help local nonprofit organizations expand their impact in our communities.
Cross-functional teams of employees provide consulting sessions to help participating nonprofits solve business and operational challenges. Employees contribute a range of skills, from IT and operations to marketing and communications. In 2020, 392 employee volunteers across the country participated at 10 events consulting on 67 projects providing consulting services valued at $748,995. This year, we held flash consulting events in Austin, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Indianapolis, Orlando, Phoenix, Richfield, Ohio, and San Francisco. Schwab also organized a new challenge working with military and veteran serving organizations and teamed new USAA colleagues with Schwab's MVN members.
Schwab also supports our communities through ongoing programs in our service centers and branch network. We provide in-kind donations that include office supplies, refurbished computer equipment, and office furniture. Employees host bake sales, food, equipment, and blood drives; and other fundraisers at Schwab facilities. And we provide administrative help for various nonprofits and make our facilities available for community groups and events.
"Schwab’s culture of service is so evident at these Pro Bono events—its employees are engaged and enthusiastic. And we see a majority of them continue to support the nonprofits long after the event is done. It represents a deep investment for their nonprofit partners, employees, and community.”
Danielle Holly
CEO, Common Impact
Oakland, California
Light, heartfelt music plays throughout. In a large room, groups of people sit around tables strewn with papers, notebooks, pens, napkins, and coffee mugs. There are also many easels with large pads of paper on which are written notes and diagrams. At one table, a bald man in glasses speaks to the men and women gathered, who pay close attention, nodding and taking notes. Quite a few of the people in the room wear Charles Schwab–branded T-shirts.
Onscreen text: Charles Schwab Pro Bono Challenge leaves lasting impact.
Onscreen text: Justin Renfro. Program Manager, KIVA.
Justin Renfro: What we've done today has huge potential to transform how Kiva works and really forces us to reevaluate where we're at, what we're working on, and how we think about what we do.
Onscreen text: Mark Washbush. Chief Operating Officer. Boys & Girls Clubs of Silicon Valley.
Mark Washbush: Through this process, what we really understand—and we're getting very clear about—is not only are we working with youth in terms of their own enrichment, but we're enriching the lives of our staff as well. So there's no real separation or distinction between youth development work and the professional development work that we're doing with our staff.
At a table, a man with a ponytail and a Charles Schwab T-shirt sits in front of a laptop, speaking to his tablemates while smiling. Two women in professional attire sit across from him, listening and smiling.
Shana Beal wears a blazer and scarf and stands in the busy conference room.
Onscreen text: Shana Beal. Development Officer. EARN.
Shana: We came away from today's workshop with a long list of activities that we can do as an organization to leverage our brand as something that EARN is a leader in the field.
Onscreen text: Danielle Holly. CEO. Common Impact.
Danielle: We've had organizations say, "I didn't just walk away with the deliverable that was scoped. I walked away with a new way of thinking."
Danielle stands on a small stage in a conference room. A presentation runs on a projection screen as she speaks into a hand-held microphone.
Light, heartfelt music builds to a crescendo.
Onscreen text: Charles Schwab. Own your tomorrow.
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Employee dollars go further
Our people are generous. In addition to their time and talents, Schwab employees donate consistently to their favorite charities. So we feel it’s only right to celebrate these efforts by participating in them through Schwab’s matching gift program.
Each employee can count on Charles Schwab Foundation to match their charitable donations up to $1,000 per year with an additional $1,000 match available for those who serve on a non-profit board. And so our people step up. Our employee participation in the matching gifts program significantly surpasses the industry average.
Changing futures through corporate philanthropy
Our communities matter. It’s why Charles Schwab Foundation is so passionate about supporting local causes and charitable activities, especially those that support financial literacy development. We channel that passion by providing grants, corporate sponsorships, and disaster relief funding to a variety of nonprofits.
Click here for grant eligibility guidelines.
Alan Graham, sporting a white beard, glasses, and a baseball cap and buttoned-down shirt emblazoned with the Mobile Loaves & Fishes (MLF) logo sits facing the camera in a room in the Community First! Village.
Alan: We don't have to help other people. It's not mandatory on our part, but I just believe that it's innate in who we are as human beings that we want to help other people.
Light, upbeat music plays. Alan stands smiling outside at the Community First! Village. Behind him, the area is completely lit up with Christmas lights.
Onscreen text: Alan Graham, Mobile Loaves & Fishes
Alan [off-screen]: My name is Alan Graham, and I'm the CEO and founder of Mobile Loaves & Fishes.
Old photographs show Alan and his wife at their wedding and Alan in a business suit and tie.
Alan [off-screen]: By about 1984, I built one of the most significant real estate brokerage and management operations in central Texas. But I was absolutely freaking miserable.
Alan walks through the Village grounds. The trees are bare and the light in the sky is dim.
Alan [onscreen]: And I go, "Sweetie, I have this idea. There are hungry people on our street corners. Let's go feed people."
Old photographs show the MLF pickup truck with a catering bed; Alan and a woman smiling in front of the truck; Alan and three other men sitting in the back of car showing a piece of paper with a picture of the pickup on it; Alan and another man holding a heated food carrier, the trailer behind them loaded with fruit; and a long line of homeless people waiting to be served food from the truck.
Alan [off-screen]: So we went and bought a pickup truck, put a brand new catering bed on it, and . . . it just blew up.
Alan [onscreen]: Today, we have served over five-and-a-half million of those meals to Austin’s homeless and working poor people.
Still photos of two women making a tableful of peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches and people being served food from the MLF truck are shown.
Alan [onscreen]: We have a phrase within Mobile Loaves & Fishes that says, "Housing will never solve homelessness, but community will."
Alan walks across the Community First! Village. Some buildings are under construction. A man in a construction helmet and yellow vest shows him architectural plans spread across a table.
Alan [off-screen]: 2004 I got this idea to go out and lift one guy up off the streets into a privately owned RV park—that ultimately led to build an RV park on steroids, which you're sitting in the middle of right now.
Aerial shot of the Community First! Village, the Austin skyline off in the distance on the horizon. Three people are walking dogs in the middle of a street. The camera pans over the tree-lined streets of the Village and its homes, mobile homes, windmill, gardens, and greenhouse.
Onscreen text: Community First! Village, Austin, Texas
Alan [off-screen]: Here we are 14 years later, in the middle of a 51-acre master planned community, that when fully complete will be home to around 500 formerly chronically homeless men and women.
A series of Community First residents stand in front of their homes smiling. One home has a wreath on the door, while another has an American flag on the porch. One man holds in his arms a small dog wearing a sweater. A woman sports large, purple Prince-symbol earrings. A man turns in a circle in his motorized wheelchair. Others chat with Alan, who has his arm around one of the residents.
Alan [off-screen]: This isn't just a place to find a hot meal or a comfortable bed or a clean bathroom. It's a place to learn, a place that we can call home.
A middle-aged man, a Community First resident, sits in a room in the Village.
Male resident [onscreen]: They really do care about you on a personal basis out here. I'm supposed to be here.
The man wears a winter cap outside under a tree, his breath visible on the cold day. He waters plants in the Village’s greenhouse.
A middle-aged woman, a Community First resident, sits in a room in the Village.
Female resident [onscreen and then offscreen]: I came from being a very broken person, to going to school, to getting married.
The woman walks down a Village street lined with mobile homes. She stands smiling in front of one of them.
Alan talks to a man in front of his Village home. The man, goateed and tattooed, is cooking on his grill. The man shows Alan a framed picture of himself in front of his home. Next to that is a wooden placard that reads “Shorty’s Place.”
Male resident [off-screen and then onscreen]: These people, they're paying the rent every month. They're maintaining themselves and the outside of the house. That is far better than where they were without this place.
A man unlocks the front door of his home and throws the door wide open. An aerial shot shows the Community First! Village and the surrounding area.
Alan [off-screen]: Each of us are created with two desires: One is to be fully and wholly loved, and the other one is to be fully and wholly known. Let's go make that happen.
A single note is played and held across the final screens.
Onscreen text: Since 2010, the Charles Schwab Foundation has donated $30 million in direct grants to heroes like Alan Graham who share our commitment to building a better future in our communities.sTo learn more or lend your support to Mobile Loaves & Fishes, visit mlf.org
Charles Schwab logo appears.
Since 2010, Charles Schwab Foundation has donated over $37 million in direct grants to organizations like Mobile Loaves and Fishes, led by local Austin hero Alan Graham, who shares our commitment to building a better future in our local communities.
Corporate philanthropy and employee giving
In addition to our commitment to financial empowerment, Charles Schwab and Charles Schwab Foundation provide financial support to a variety of charities.
Corporate philanthropy and employee giving
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$10.2 millionin direct support to nonprofit organizations in 2021
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Over 3,522nonprofit organizations that received financial support in 2021
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Over $6.1 millionin matching gifts, including both employee donations and Charles Schwab Foundation matches, donated to 3,163 causes in 2021
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More than 4,235Schwabbies volunteered over 9,680 hours in support of our communities in 2021