What's Behind a Big Four Accounting Firm's Record Grant for LGBTQ Youth?
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Crowdfunding and corporate foundations aren’t usually part of the same conversation. But a crowdfunding effort by a group of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) employees set the table for both the largest-ever grant by the PwC Charitable Foundation, and the largest in the history of the Trevor Project, which is on the receiving end of the $6 million investment.
The practice of engaging employees in philanthropy through new social giving platforms is on the rise, as employers move to involve their greatest assets. Since 2015, PwC employees have raised funds for the charitable organizations that are important to them through “Flash Fund Fridays,” a crowdfunding page on PwC’s internal giving platform that rounds up support from colleagues, friends and family. Last year, the PwC Foundation supported 20 of those initiatives, drawn at random, with $10,000 grants. In the four years since Flash Fridays began, it reports investing more than a half-million dollars in 62 charities.
A Partnership Emerges
Three years ago, a group of PwCers started a crowdfunder for the Trevor Project that quickly became one of the most popular. When the organization was selected to receive a $10,000 grant, the foundation launched a campaign to raise awareness for Trevor’s suicide prevention services for LGBTQ youth.
The relationship grew from there. Yolanda Seals-Coffield, the foundation’s new president, says that “Seeing our people’s deep passion for this organization led members of the PwC Foundation’s board to meet Amit Paley, CEO of the Trevor Project, who took them to three Trevor sites. Amit talked about the organization’s rapid growth and explained that their mission was to keep more LGBTQ young people alive—and to do that, they needed better technology support.” Recognizing the opportunity to make a meaningful impact, the foundation decided to deepen the relationship.
The Trevor Project was created in 1998 by the filmmakers behind Trevor, which told the story of a gay teen who attempted to take his own life. Since then, the project has remained focused on suicide prevention and supportive services for LGBT and questioning youth.
According to the Center for Disease Control, suicide is second only to automotive accidents as the leading cause of death for adolescents ages 15 to 19. In 2017, almost half of LGBTQ youth seriously considered ending their lives. TrevorLifeline, the crisis and suicide prevention helpline the Trevor Project created, was the first national, 24/7 resource to support that large cohort of at-risk young people.
PwC Foundation’s support will allow the organization to build a volunteer management system that reaches youth where they are—texting on smartphones, and the infrastructure to support the nearly 3,000 crisis counselors it needs to reach a million teens by 2022. It’ll also help Trevor use AI to retain volunteers and optimize their experience. Some of those volunteers will be PwCers, partnering with Trevor in a sustainable way for the first time.
PwC Charitable Foundation
PwC Charitable Foundation is the philanthropic arm of PricewaterhouseCoopers US, which has 79 offices across the country. The firm is part of a global network of more than 250,000 employees and is considered one of the “big four” auditing and professional services firms, along with Deloitte, Ernst & Young and KPMG.
The foundation’s stated mission is to “support the people of PwC in times of need,” and to invest in “emerging solutions to society’s greatest challenges in education and humanitarianism.” According to Seals-Coffield, the Trevor commitment follows the belief that “fostering inclusion and belonging is critical to creating access to opportunities and building innovative pathways for underserved populations to thrive in school and in the workplace.”
Organized as a public charity, the foundation is “fueled by the people of PwC.” In 2016, 99.6 percent of its revenues were raised from public sources, the majority of which were PwC partners, staff and the firm. Since 2001, it reports investments of $47 million in education, $13 million in humanitarian aid, and $10 million to a “People of PwC” program that assists employees in times of unexpected hardship. Cumulatively, the foundation reports grants and investments of $71.8 million toward advancing those issues.
Foundation Leadership
Corporate foundations sit in different places in different companies, and while leaders are typically drawn from inside, they often hail from different areas, like legal, PR, HR and law—or represent different geographies. The PwC Charitable Foundation board is composed of 13 PwC executives who serve pro bono. Outgoing President Shannon Schuyler is now PwC’s chief purpose and inclusion officer.
The foundation’s new president, Yolanda Seals-Coffield, has been the company’s chief employment counsel since 2010, and currently leads a team of lawyers who are responsible for advising PwC’s human capital team and the offices of partner affairs and diversity. She’s served on the foundation’s board of trustees since 2012 and was elected secretary in 2015.
Seals-Coffield expects her background leading diversity efforts to inform her work going forward, saying, “I was the first person in my family to go to college, and benefited from every great educational program out there designed to make women of color successful. In my personal life and in my role with PwC, I have seen how underserved individuals can thrive in an inclusive environment. As PwC Foundation president, I will work to help create inclusive environments and give all people greater access to the tools and opportunities to succeed in life.”
Rising corporate support for LGBTQ issues
As previously reported in Inside Philanthropy, there’s been a notable upswing in corporate support for LGBTQ issues in recent years. The most recent report from Funders for LGBTQ Issues shows that corporate funding in the area more than tripled between 2012 and 2017. Total giving for 2017 broke records at $27.1 million, fueled by companies that work in HIV/AIDS, like Gilead Sciences and ViiV Healthcare. Other steadfast leaders like the M.A.C. AIDS Fund and the Levi Strauss Foundation were also among the top 10.
With this grant, the PwC Foundation is poised to move into one of those slots.
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