Charles Schwab Foundation
/OVERVIEW: Charles Schwab’s corporate philanthropy supports affordable housing, financial literacy and small business lending programs in areas where the bank operates.
IP TAKE: Charles Schwab’s corporate philanthropic giving mainly supports the company’s established grantee partners. It’s not accessible, common for Wall Street corporate funders. Networking with local management might help you get a foot in the door.
PROFILE: The Charles Schwab Foundation is the charitable arm of the international financial giant, the Charles Schwab Corporation. It should not be confused with the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation, the Schwabs’ personal giving organization. Since 2004, the Charles Schwab Foundation has given away over $4 billion to “underserved communities,” including over $3.8 billion for affordable housing, according to Schwab’s website.
Schwab’s engagement areas are small-business development, affordable housing and personal finance education.
Grants for Work and Opportunity
The Schwab Foundation’s small-business development giving primarily supports Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) that lend to local business through “microfinancing and innovative loans.” One grantee partner is the Opportunity Fund, a national CDFI that invests in businesses that have difficulty qualifying for loans with traditional banks.
Schwab’s personal finance giving area supports community programs that increase financial literacy and provide financial coaching. One grantee, MyPath, offers “financial education programs for under-resourced youth.”
Grants for Housing and Community Development
Charles Schwab’s affordable housing grantmaking works to combat the devastating effects of “housing insecurity on health, education, employment, and life opportunities” by “building and preserving more affordable housing.”
Schwab made a $10 million investment into the Housing Partnership Equity Trust (HPET), a social-purpose real estate investment trust consisting of a “collaboration of nonprofits raising capital for affordable housing.” Its primary mission is to “acquire and preserve rental housing that is sustainable, affordable, high-quality, and close to jobs, good schools, and other community resources.”
Important Grant Details:
This corporate funder does not provide detailed information about it grantmaking.
Schwab’s grants and donations tend to go to very large, well-established organizations.
Schwab’s philanthropy appears to take the form of strategic partnerships.
This funder does not run a grant application program or provide a way of getting in touch.
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