National Life Group’s Charitable Foundation will be able to Do Good – much more good – in 2018.
CEO Mehran Assadi announced at this week’s Vermont campus employee meeting that the Foundation’s board has approved doubling the budget to $2 million starting next year.
Mehran said the decision reflects the company’s growth and success over the past five years.
He said the charitable giving is also at the core of what National Life does as a mission-driven, purpose-filled company.
When visiting larger producer groups, Mehran said, agents are often as interested in hearing National Life’s Do Good story as anything else. The Foundation’s work is central to that story.
The foundation’s giving has increased steadily over the past decade, mirroring National Life’s own growth.
As recently as 2006 the Foundation contributed $350,000 a year to charities in northern and central Vermont.
In the ensuing years, the Foundation has expanded to support:
- Nonprofits in northern Vermont and the Dallas area.
- National prizes for the LifeChanger of the Year program.
- Contributions to match employees’ charitable donations through the annual Community Giving Campaign. (By the way, this year’s campaign launches on Wednesday. Watch National Life Today for details.)
- Agent Do Good Awards.
- Do Good Tour stops.
Beth Rusnock, Foundation president, said the latest increase in the budget will enable two new programs to launch.
The first is Main Street Grants, an outgrowth of our Main Streets Across America marketing campaign. This is a pilot project that will make an award of up to $50,000 to at least one downtown in Vermont early next year.
“Our expectation is that Main Street Grants will be used to support the continued efforts within communities to drive the economy, provide cultural outlets, and foster a sense of pride,” according to guidelines shared with downtown groups.
The plan is to expand the program in future years, with a potential focus next on the region around our office in Texas.
The other expansion program is still being developed. Beth said the Foundation has adopted a cause, in keeping with National Life’s mission-driven business model.
She is working with charities and other philanthropies to explore how to tackle the intractable issue of addressing childhood hunger.
The goal is to develop programs in Vermont that, if proven successful, could be duplicated elsewhere around the country.
The Foundation will also continue to fund nonprofit organizations in the regions where our primary home offices are, with the possibility of expanding that work, as well.