Press Releases: Northwest
December 27, 2005
New Kaiser Permanente program to match employee donations results in greater giving
Northwest non-profits get triple in 2005 from Kaiser Permanente
PORTLAND, Ore. – In 2005, Kaiser Permanente tripled the amount it gave to community non-profit organizations as a result of a decision to match employee and physician contributions to its annual Community Giving campaign.
Spurred by the pledge to match donations dollar for dollar, Kaiser Permanente employees increased giving from their own pockets by 9 percent overall. The biggest jump was in donations above $500, which rose by 130 percent. As a result, Kaiser Permanente gave $305,000 in matching donations to five umbrella organizations in its service area, up from the $100,000 it contributed in 2004 before the matching program.
Increased amounts went to the Black United Fund ($36,710) and the umbrella environmental group Earthshare ($82,597), with United Ways serving Portland-Vancouver, Salem, Ore., and Longview, Wash., receiving $186,608. Employees earmarked many of their United Way donations for agencies like the American Red Cross to help them provide humanitarian aid in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Wilma.
Nancy Stevens, director of Kaiser Permanente’s Community Benefits program, says “Offering a corporate match for each dollar given prompted our staff to give larger amounts, which was our hope. I’m very impressed with how generous our employees, physicians and dentists were this year.”
Kaiser Permanente is America’s leading integrated health care organization. Founded in 1945, the organization serves the health needs of more than 8.4 million people nationwide. About 475,000 people in Oregon and Southwest Washington receive their health care from Kaiser Permanente.
