- JPMorgan Chase announced it is making a $50 million global philanthropic commitment for the immediate public health and long-term economic challenges from the COVID-19 global pandemic
JPMorgan Chase announced it is making a $50 million global philanthropic commitment for the immediate public health and long-term economic challenges from the COVID-19 global pandemic. The funds will be used for supporting communities and people hit hardest by this public health crisis through an initial $15 million commitment.
This includes $5 million to provide immediate healthcare, food and other humanitarian relief globally and $2 million to existing nonprofit partners around the world that are responding to the COVID-19 crisis in their communities. And $8 million will be used for assisting small businesses vulnerable to significant economic hardships in the U.S., China and Europe.
The other $35 million will be deployed over time to help the most vulnerable communities and people recover from the crisis and have an opportunity to benefit from future economic growth. And JPMorgan will be leaning into its core areas of expertise, including financial health, jobs and skills, small business growth and neighborhood development and apply lessons learned from initiatives like AdvancingCities.
“We are mobilizing the firm’s resources to support customers, employees and communities – especially the most vulnerable – in this time of crisis,” said Peter Scher, Head of Corporate Responsibility and Chairman of the Mid-Atlantic region. “We are making immediate investments to help those most affected by humanitarian challenges and looking into sustainable and innovative solutions to help small businesses and underserved communities recover when the crisis subsides.”
In order to address the immediate humanitarian and healthcare crisis, JPMorgan is providing $5 million to the following organizations focused on providing emergency medical supplies, food, and other critical health-related essentials. Of the $5 million, $2 million will go towards the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund supporting the World Health Organization to provide essential supplies such as protective equipment to frontline healthcare workers thus enabling countries to track and detect the disease by boosting laboratory capacity, and accelerating efforts to fast-track the discovery and development of lifesaving vaccines. And $1 million will go to Feeding America’s COVID-19 Response Fund to help U.S. communities in need of critical food security through a network of 200+ food banks. Plus $1 million will go to the GlobalGiving Foundation’s COVID-19 European Response Fund and $1 million will go to the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation.
JPMorgan is also matching employee donations to these COVID-19 relief efforts dollar-for-dollar. And employees have an opportunity to contribute to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund supporting the World Health Organization, Feeding America’s COVID-19 Response Fund, GlobalGiving Foundation’s COVID-19 European Response Fund, or the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation.
JPMorgan Chase Institute’s research shows that 50% of small businesses have less than 15 cash buffer days. This means that the small business economy could be majorly disrupted by the current climate. So JPMorgan is promptly deploying $8 million, including $5 million in the U.S. and $3 million in international markets to support vulnerable and underserved small businesses.
Specifically, JPMorgan is helping Black, Hispanic and Asian Pacific Islander owned businesses that may struggle to access capital and keep their doors open. And this includes entrepreneurs that have participated in the firm’s Entrepreneurs of Color Fund and Ascend in places such as Seattle, California and New York. Support includes working with local Community Development Financial Institutions that will provide low or zero-interest loans and interest rate buydowns to help offset the costs of business slow-downs and unexpected challenges, as well as technical assistance support for issues like remote working capabilities. And it will support vulnerable, underserved, and underrepresented entrepreneurs and small businesses across Europe and China to navigate and access available and emerging financial and non-financial support.
Plus JPMorgan will also provide $2 million to existing nonprofit partners — who are facing new challenges supporting vulnerable populations in response to COVID-19. The funds will go towards helping partners maintain operational capacity as they adjust their programming and provide resources to support their remote working capabilities, resiliency planning, fundraising, and communications.
In terms of a long-term commitment, JPMorgan is working closely with government, business and community partners. And JPMorgan will commit $35 million towards medium-to-long term challenges communities are likely to face as the COVID-19 crisis continues to unfold.
