Wells Fargo charities moving to Philadelphia
Two charitable branches of mega-bank Wells Fargo that have given almost $4 million to Lehigh Valley organizations in the last twodecades plan to transfer programs and $100 million in assets into a new foundation.
Wells Fargo Regional Foundation and Wells Fargo Regional Community Development Corp. will be rolled into the Regional Foundation LLCandbeoperated as part of the Philadelphia Foundation, officials said Monday and in a news release Friday. The Wells Fargo charities makegrants and loans to local development nonprofits in eastern Pennsylvania, NewJersey and Delaware.
The regional foundation has awarded nearly $3.9 million to organizations in the Lehigh Valley since its inception in 1998, according to Wells Fargo spokesperson Crystal Dundas. Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley has directed most of the money toward revitalization efforts in Allentown’s Jordan Heights neighborhood and the West Ward section of Easton, she said.
Meanwhile, the Community Development Corp. has provided low-interest loans to CACLV’s Rising Tide Community Loan Fund. Its most recent loan was in 2018 for $150,000, Dundas said.
Alan Jennings, CACLV’s executive director, said Wells Fargo — which also is the largest bank by deposits and branches in the Lehigh Valley — has given “significant support” over several years, but he expressed concern about the change in operations.
“The people at this bank are outstanding,” Jennings said, “but I worry about whether Philadelphia will show much brotherly love.”
But officials said the current 47 Wells Fargo regional foundation grants, which are paid out over multiple years, will continue without interruption, and there will be no changes in loans made by the development corporation arm. Aishah Miller, a Wells Fargo vice president and executive director of the Wells Fargo Regional Foundation, said the Regional Foundation “will retain this geographic focus in operating the legacy programs.”
Wells Fargo’s foundation has doled out 800 grants worth nearly $107 million since its founding in 1998 to house charitable assets of banks that had been rolled into CoreStates Financial Corp. and FirstUnionCorp.,andanotheraffiliate that makes low-interest loans, officialssaid.BesidestheValley,the programs’territoryincludesBerks, Bucks,Carbon,MonroeandMontgomerycounties.
Regional Foundation is expected to begin operating sometime in the next few weeks, with grants set to beawardedlater in 2021. For more information, email wellsfargoregionalfdn@ wellsfargo.com.
Wells Fargo runs a separate corporate foundation that is not part of the transaction with the Philadelphia Foundation, according to the release. It will continue focusing on affordable housing, small business and financial health in the community.