When a Bank’s Giving Benefits Its Business, Too

As Eastern Bank approaches five years since it de-mutualized and became a publicly traded company, it continues to be an outspoken advocate through the Eastern Bank Foundation.

It also reaps some benefits from its giving as customers and employees alike seek it out because of the foundation’s work.

Nancy Huntington Stager has been with the Eastern Bank Foundation since its infancy. Today its president and CEO, she was approached to lead the nonprofit in 2000 and has seen it grow to $250 million. The foundation gives away $12 million to 15 million each year.

Eastern Bank started its foundation in 1994 but in 2020 renamed it from the Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation to simply the Eastern Bank Foundation in an effort to show a willingness to partner with communities along with the work the foundation does being an investment in a community and not just an act of charity.

Five years ago, the foundation also turned its focus to economic inclusion. It now devotes half its giving budget to inclusion and economic mobility.

While the bank served the Boston community through its role as a financial institution, its leaders wanted to make larger contributions to the community.

“Banking services can’t serve, can’t solve every need,” she said. “So, by having a foundation and having the ability to make contributions, both with our time and with our money and with our expertise, we can have even greater impact to make our communities thrive.”

A Focus on Economic Inclusion

While the foundation focuses on a wide variety of issues, it has been a vocal advocate for equity and economic inclusion. It has lent its weight and given money to a range of high-impact initiatives serving communities of color, such as the Commonwealth Development Compact and the Builders of Color Coalition.

The former is an effort to convince cities that they should consciously create opportunities to help women- and minority-owned real estate development firms grow when disposing of public land. The latter is a trade group for developers from historically underrepresented groups that, through education and networking, tries to grow the ranks of developers of color in Greater Boston.

“Building equity makes everybody stronger, so we are very highly focused on building equity, economic inclusion, economic mobility, the ability for people to have wealth transfer across generations – all these things make our community stronger and social justice is an important aspect of that,” she said.

The foundation hasn’t just focused on racial equity, either.

It played a role in helping establish the Massachusetts LGBT Chamber of Commerce. The LGBT Business Network, the charitable arm of the Chamber, focuses on building the capacity of LGBT-owned businesses.

Acquisition Inspires Attitude Change

While Huntington Stager said that the foundation can’t advocate for every issue, its staff learned from observing Boston’s Wainwright Bank and Trust that even a small bank can have a large voice and impact.

Wainwright was notable for its own strong support for universal civil rights for LGBT Americans and women’s rights.

Executives even testified before Congress in 1996 – a time when nearly half the country thought same-sex sexual relations should be illegal, according to Gallup polls –  in support of a federal bill that would have barred companies from firing employees just because of their sexual orientation

When Eastern Bank acquired Wainwright in 2010, it gave leaders at Eastern and the foundation an opportunity to reflect on how the two organizations operated. They realized that employees and customers want organizations such as Eastern to have an active voice, Huntington Stager said.

“They don’t need us to have a voice on every issue but there are core issues where it makes sense for us to use our corporate voice and to encourage others to do the same,” she said. “We don’t shy away from that because we feel that it’s part of being a strong member of the community.”

Huntington Stager also noted that through her experience working in human resources, a consistent approach in terms of being a vocal advocate helps improve the work environment at the bank.

“We take positions and we stick with them,” she said. “People respect that, and employees look for that. Employees stay at Eastern because the issues that we’re involved with are important to them. So, it’s both a recruitment and a retention advantage, and it’s simply the right and smart thing to do.”

That attitude is proudly on display in the slogan on many Eastern Bank ads: “Join us for good.”

New Investments in Housing

Eastern’s latest philanthropic investments are in the affordable housing sphere.

The Eastern Bank Foundation last month $4 million to support a new housing product created by the Massachusetts Housing Partnership. The ONE+ mortgage program provides heavily discounted, fixed-rate 30-year loans, along with up to $50,000 in down payment and closing cost assistance for first-time homebuyers.

The foundation’s money will specifically help first-time homebuyers in Lynn Lawrence and Lowell. In addition to the donation, Eastern Bank and the foundation helped design the program with MHP.

“Providing pathways to homeownership and wealth building are critical parts of our mission as Greater Boston’s leading local bank and when they’re combined, life-changing impact happens,” said Bob Rivers, executive chair and chair of the board of directors of Eastern Bank. “We are here to do our part in removing the barriers to homeownership, especially in the Gateway Cities of Lynn, Lawrence and Lowell where we have a long-standing focus on supporting economic development.”

It also gave money to a new city of Boston fund that will help nonprofits buy low-rent apartments in Boston and preserve them as deed-restricted affordable housing.

Huntington Stager said that the foundation doesn’t want to get lost in the bevy of problems that exist in our society today. It wants to turn that concern into action.