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NEW YORK – July 13, 2010 -
Chase Community Giving
announced today the small and local charities that will
receive a portion of the $5 million in grants from Chase
through the
Chase Community Giving program running on the Facebook®
platform. Winning charities will use the funding to support
their causes such as helping families affected by autism;
elevating standards for animal treatment; supporting
families of kids with food allergies; and providing clothing
donations to underserved children, among many other worthy
causes. More than 200 winners from 34 states and Washington,
D.C., were selected.
Participants of the Chase Community
Giving program selected
the Harry Potter Alliance based in Somerville, Mass., to
receive a $250,000 grant from Chase in the Summer program.
The charity uses popular culture to inspire young people
across the world to become civically engaged. Starting with
the story of Harry Potter, this group has now contributed to
human rights advocacy in Darfur and Burma, donated more than
55,000 books globally, and donated more than $123,000 to
fund cargo planes to Haiti. The Harry Potter Alliance has
received praised from author J.K. Rowling, social justice
legend Paul Farmer, and several human rights organizations
for its innovative approach.
“The enthusiasm and participation in
the Chase Community Giving Summer campaign has been
overwhelming,” Kimberly Davis, president of the JPMorgan
Chase Foundation, said. “Yet again, we’ve seen that
harnessing the power of social networking as a platform for
people to decide who should receive our grants has been so
compelling because it gives them a voice to support small
and local charities in a way they never could before.”
“This funding will allow us to expand
our network, to promote literacy, equality and human rights,
and engage youth in unprecedented ways,” Andrew Slack,
Executive Director of the Harry Potter Alliance, said.
“We will be able to convert our love of popular fiction to
awareness and action in the real world. To Chase Community
Giving, for this incredible opportunity, our gratitude goes
beyond words. We are determined to make you all proud.”
The following four runners-up were selected by Chase
Community Giving participants and each receives $100,000:
- Kristin Brooks Hope Center,
of Washington, D.C., which founded 1-800-SUICIDE and
trains suicide prevention counselors specializing in
counseling Veterans.
- North American Bear Center,
of Ely, Minn., which advances the long-term
survival of bears through education.
- A Spring of Hope, Inc., of
Coconut Creek, Fla., which builds wells in rural African
schools to improve community health conditions and
promotes education at a grassroots level.
- Sarvodaya USA Corporation,
of Madison, Wis., which helps impoverished communities
in Southeast Asia meet basic human needs through
individual and community development.
The number of Chase Community Giving
participants grew by more than 730,000 in this program, with
more than 2.5 million participants “Liking” the application.
Chase Community Giving on the Facebook platform has been the
most popular corporate philanthropy crowdsourcing campaign
in Facebook history.
Launched on June 9, this was the second
Chase Community Giving program and was more focused on
smaller, local charities. This Summer program attracted more
than 2.5 million participants to choose from 500,000 of
their favorite small and local charities and to vote for
them to win a share of $5 million. To be eligible for the
program, charities had to be a registered 501(c)(3) public
nonprofit, have annual operating expenses of $1 million or
less, not discriminate against any particular groups and
meet other requirements as described in the program’s rules.
Like the previous round, the $5 million to be granted in
Chase Community Giving is in addition to the bank’s regular
philanthropic giving. JPMorgan Chase donates more than $100
million annually to charitable giving.
For more information on the program and
a full list of 200 winners, please visit
http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving.
About Chase
Chase is the U.S. consumer
and commercial banking business of JPMorgan Chase & Co.
(NYSE: JPM), which operates more than 5,100 branches and
15,000 ATMs nationally under the Chase brand. Chase has 146
million credit cards issued and serves consumers and small
businesses through bank branches, ATMs and mortgage offices
as well as through relationships with auto dealerships and
schools and universities. More information about Chase is
available at
www.chase.com.
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