“At U.S. Bank, we believe in the power of possible and seek to close gaps between people and possibility” says Reba Dominski, Chief Social Responsibility Officer for U.S. Bank and President of the U.S. Bank Foundation.
The company knows that the gap between where many people are today and where they want to be is much too wide. “And data shows that for women, people of color and people who live in low income communities, there are persistent, historic gaps in economic outcome.”
One of the company’s solutions to “close the gap” comes in the form of a small dollar loan product called U.S. Bank Simple Loan, which was launched in 2018. “It is designed to help customers deal with unexpected or short-term cash needs,” Dominski says. “It has a transparent, easy-to-understand installment loan.” This product was created, Dominski continues, “in response to data from a Federal Reserve study released in May 2018, about 40 percent of U.S. adults said they would not be able to cover a $400 unexpected expense."
In 2016, U.S. Bank offered a pilot for Simple Loan to gauge reception and gain insight. This evolved into what it is today.
“Simple Loan, in its first year, has resulted in savings of $12 million for customers. Since the launch of the product, our customers have opened more than 40,000 Simple Loans. On average, Simple Loan, from application to payment, takes eight minutes. 80% of our Simple Loans are coming through our mobile app.”
U.S. Bank is the first bank to create this kind of product that serves their customers in a way that can’t be found in many other places. The people who need it most are given access to the dollars they need with transparency and affordable, reasonable fees. “These are the kinds of responsible solutions,” Dominski says, “that banks can create to help close the gap between people and possibility.”
Simple Loan is not the only solution to making social impact. Over the past decade, U.S. Bank has invested nearly $113 million in both foundation and corporate funds to the Pullman community on the South Side of Chicago. Part of that investment included the opening of the U.S. Bank Pullman Community Center, which now brings recreation and education to 50,000 people in the neighborhood.
“Over the last year and a half we have done an enormous amount of work to increase our social impact focused on women, people of color, and low income communities and individuals—moving from philanthropic investments to whole bank investments. The examples of Simple Loan and Pullman are just us getting started and we need to do more to serve those who are not being served today.”
As Chief Social Responsibility Officer, Ms. Dominski becomes energetic when speaking of one of U.S. Bank’s most powerful and compelling social platform: Community Possible, a “unified giving and engagement strategy.”
Launched in 2016, Community Possible has three pillars: Work, Home, and Play. “These are the building blocks of all thriving communities,” Dominski says. “We know communities are stronger when they are connected through the arts, recreation, and play.”
A wave of volunteerism erupted this same year, when members of the CSR team were inspired by the Oscar Mayer Wiener mobile. “We had an executive coach bus in 2016 wrapped in US Bank blue, and it drove across the country, surprising employees and U.S. Bank customers with planned and random acts of service and volunteerism,” says Dominski.
“Over the last several years, we have organized a month of play. We make thousands of grants focused on play throughout the country. Then we ask our employees to make their own play commitment. We ask, ‘What can you do to take a break? What can you do more to play with family and friends?’ We know play stimulates creativity, it is necessary to reduce stress, and in our first year of doing this, we had 30,000 employees—almost half of our employees—make a ‘play commitment.’”
In 2019, U.S. Bank gave 20 organizations $50,000 in grants to improve affordable housing and to help more individuals find employment.
“What I’m most proud of regarding Community Possible,” Dominski explains, “is how it has become part of our culture and our vernacular.
“As we move forward, we want to keep equity at the heart of everything we do, from how we serve our employees to how we develop products and services and how we invest in communities. We are working really hard to evolve our strategies beyond philanthropy and to bring in the full resources of the bank—our investments, our products, our services, the expertise of 70,000 employees—to really help close the gap between people and possibility.”
In 2019, U.S. Bank employees volunteered over 334,000 hours.
U.S. Bank is ranked #3 overall in Social Responsibility according to Fortune Magazine. They were recently named one of the world’s most ethical companies by the Ethisphere Institute for the 6th consecutive year. They have donated $1 million to the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. They have invested $1 million in the Chicago Entrepreneurs of Color Fund and the Charlotte Rail Trail. And it doesn’t stop there.
Ms. Dominski expresses her joy in how much support she is given regarding these large donations. “It is clearly the right thing to do,” she says of the act of donating. “And we’re engaging our employees, our best advocates in helping make communities better and stronger.”
2020 brings a new year of serving those who need it most. Ms. Dominski and U.S. Bank have no intentions of slowing down any time soon.
“We’re going to [create more social impact] while staying true to who we are,” Dominski continues. “We know we do not have all the answers; we will always listen to and learn from the communities and people around us. And we’re going to continue to ground our work in data and insight while keeping in mind that behind every data point is a real human heartbeat.”
Editor’s Note:
After we interviewed Reba Dominski for this feature, the impacts of COVID-19 hit our world and our country. As an update to our story, we wanted to share U.S. Bank’s response to COVID-19 recovery and relief efforts. Please see the excerpt below from the company’s announcement on March 23, 2020.
On March 23, we announced two new programs to support our employees and communities in their response and recovery efforts during these unprecedented times. For employees, we introduced a Premium Pay Program, providing critical front-line employees with a temporary 20% hourly wage increase. Additionally, we announced a new $30 million commitment to human services organizations and local nonprofits to support COVID-19 recovery efforts in communities across the country.
Within two weeks of this announcement, we put $4 million in grants in the hands of three key partners: LISC, the United Way, and Operation HOPE. Our grants are focused on support for small business owners and crisis relief. Our investment in LISC will contribute to flexible loan products and coordinated solutions to small businesses facing critical challenges. Our grants to the
United Way Worldwide and to local United Way chapters will help add capacity to the 211 network, which has already experienced a 300% increase as individuals reach out for help, and to other health and human service programs. We invested in Operation HOPE to provide critical financial education coaching and counseling with a focus on individuals, families and small business in low to moderate income communities.
We also created a $1 million COVID-19 Local Market Impact Fund to address unmet needs in local markets across the country.
By year-end, we will provide $25 million to long term recovery including taking the balance of our Community Possible grant budget for the year and offering it as general operating grants for our partners. We know how many nonprofits are struggling and we want to make sure that our partners know that we trust them to use our grant dollars in whatever way is needed to sustain the life-changing work they do in our communities every day.
And we could not do any of this without our most valuable resource, our employees. That is why we are doubling our matching gift program and launching a cadre of Virtual Volunteers, employees who can leverage their specialized skills and talents to assist nonprofits as they manage through this unprecedented event.
U.S. Bank is located at 425 Walnut St., Cincinnati, OH 45202. For more information, call 513.632.4234 or visit usbank.com.