Charitable Contributions

Our goal with financial contributions from BOK Financial and the BOKF Foundation is to enhance the quality of life and economic wellbeing in the communities where BOK Financial operates and where our employees work and live including Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. Our charitable contributions are focused on four pillars of giving: United Way, economic development, education and basic needs

Our long-term strategic plan guides all contributions to assure maximum impact in the community and to develop mutually beneficial relationships with our nonprofit partner agencies. BOK financial contributions are budgeted on an annual calendar basis. We accept online charitable contribution/grant applications throughout the year.

Pillars of giving

Basic Needs

We provide volunteer and financial support to organizations serving the most vulnerable members of our community. Our efforts largely focus on organizations providing direct services addressing such issues as poverty, hunger, healthcare, housing and safety.

Education

An equitable, robust educational system drives long-term community growth. We support local nonprofits whose primary mission is promoting basic education, including public school foundations, early childhood education, financial literacy, and institutions of higher education.

Economic Development

Actions that raise the standard of living and economic health of our communities make them better places to live and work. We provide support to local chambers of commerce; nonprofits focused on workforce development, job training, etc.; and public/private partnerships investing in our communities.

Making community possible

At U.S. Bank, we are dedicated to supporting our communities through responsive and humbled actions focused on addressing racial and economic inequities and creating lasting change in our communities. Through our Community Possible Grant Program, we are partnering with organizations that focus on economic and workforce advancement, safe and affordable housing and communities connected through arts and culture.

The U.S. Bank Foundation is committed to making Community Possible through Work, Home and Play. We advance this work through collaborative grant making to bring equitable and lasting change through our focus on sustainable, high-impact funding with 501c3 nonprofit partners.

Home

Children and families are better positioned to thrive and succeed in a home that is safe and permanent. Access to sustainable low-income housing is increasingly challenging for low- to moderate-income families. In response, our giving supports efforts that connect individuals and families with sustainable housing opportunities.

Access to safe, affordable energy-efficient housing

We provide financial support to assist people in developing stability in their lives through access to safe, sustainable and accessible homes. Examples of grant support include:

• Organizations that preserve, rehabilitate, renovate or construct affordable housing developments for low- and moderate-income families, individuals, seniors, veterans, and special-needs populations
• Organizations that provide transitional housing as a direct stepping stone to permanent housing
• Organizations that focus on veterans housing and homeownership
• Construction of green homes for low- and moderate-income communities
• Clean energy retrofit programs for low- and moderate-income housing developments
• Organizations that provide access to renewable energy
• Improving waste management systems to include recycling and composting programs

Homeownership education

Owning and maintaining a home requires significant financial knowledge, tools and resources. We support programs that assist low- and moderate-income homebuyers and existing homeowners. Examples of grant support include:

• Homebuyer education
• Pre- and post-purchase counseling and coaching
• Homeownership-retention programs designed to provide foreclosure counseling

Work

We know that a strong small business environment and an educated workforce ensure the prosperity of our communities and reduce the expanding wealth gap for communities of color. We provide grant support to programs and organizations that help small businesses thrive, allow people to succeed in the workforce, provide pathways to higher education and gain greater financial literacy.

Investing in the workforce

We fund organizations that provide training for small business development, as well as programs that support individuals across all skill and experience levels, to ensure they have the capability to gain employment that supports individuals and their families. Examples of grant support include:

• Small business technical assistance programs
• Job skills, career readiness training programs with comprehensive placement services for low- and moderate-income individuals entering or reentering the labor force

Providing pathways for educational success

• To address the growing requirements for post-secondary education in securing competitive jobs in the workplace, we support:
• Organizations and programs that help low- and moderate-income and at-risk middle and high school students prepare for post-secondary education at a community college, university, trade or technical school and career readiness
• Programs and initiatives at post-secondary institutions that support access to career and educational opportunities for low- and moderate-income and diverse students

Teaching financial well-being for work and life

Financial well-being is not only critical for financial stability, it’s crucial in helping individuals be successful in the workplace. Examples of grant support include programs that positively impact:

• K-12 and college student financial literacy
• Adult and workforce financial literacy
• Senior financial fraud prevention
• Military service member and veteran financial literacy

Supporting the green economy through workforce development

The green economy is fast becoming an area of opportunity for workforce development programs. Funding support includes:

• Reskilling or retraining for jobs in renewable or clean energy
• Building and maintaining infrastructure to support renewable energy, including EV charging stations and bike/transportation programs

Play

Play brings joy, and it’s just as necessary for adults as it is for kids. But in low-income areas there are often limited spaces for play and fewer people attending arts and cultural events. That’s why we invest in community programming that supports ways for children and adults to play and create.

Access to artistic and cultural programming and arts education

Our investments ensure economic vitality and accessibility to the arts in local communities, as well as support for arts education. Examples of grant support include:

• Programs that provide access to cultural activities, visual and performing arts, zoos and aquariums and botanic gardens for individuals and families living in underserved communities
• Funding for local arts organizations that enhance the economic vitality of the community
• Programs that provide funding for arts-focused nonprofit organizations that bring visual and performing arts programming to low- and moderate-income K-12 schools and youth centers

Supporting learning through play

Many young people across the country do not have the resources or access to enjoy the benefits of active play. Supporting active play-based programs and projects for K-12 students located in or serving low- and moderate-income communities fosters innovation, creativity, and collaboration and impacts the overall vitality of the communities we serve. Funding support includes:

• Support for organizations that build or expand access to active play spaces and places that help K-12 students learn through play and improves the health, safety and unification of neighborhoods in low- and moderate-income communities
• Programs that focus on using active play to help young people develop cognitive, social and emotional learning skills to become vibrant and productive citizens in low- and moderate-income communities

Outdoor places to play

Environmental stewardship enhances and improves the livability of our communities. Supporting efforts to preserve, protect and enhance outdoor spaces is now part of our Play pillar of giving. Funding support includes:

• Cleanup efforts in community spaces, including (but not limited to) beaches, rivers, and streams
• Protecting green spaces within the community, including planting trees, mangroves and seagrass
• Programs that support community, native and/or pollinator gardens, including community composting

NOTE: The U.S. Bank Foundation utilizes an electronic Letter of Interest to identify organizations with unique and innovative programs that fit within our pillars of Work, Home and Play. U.S. Bank Foundation accepts applications by invitation only.

U.S. Bank Foundation

The U.S. Bank Foundation is committed to making Community Possible through Work, Home and Play. We advance this work through collaborative grant making to bring equitable and lasting change through our focus on sustainable, high-impact funding with 501c3 nonprofit partners. Established partners are annually invited to apply for a grant via an invitation from a Community Affairs Manager. New and emerging organizations bring balance to our grant making through our Letter of Interest (LOI) application, and we ensure funding is set aside each year to explore new opportunities.

Our Community Affairs and Foundation Team works closely with U.S. Bank regional leadership, Business Resource Groups and our National Community Advisory Committee to ensure that the prevailing needs of our communities are met in all communities we serve. Nonprofit organizations new to U.S. Bank Foundation are encouraged to submit a LOI at any time during the year.

Mission & Commitment to Our Communities

We believe all people deserve the opportunity to dream, believe and achieve.

The building blocks of vibrant communities – a stable job, a home to call your own and a community connected through culture, recreation and play – continue to be atthe heart of possibility for all of us. Through U.S. Bank’s Community Possible Platform, we are dedicated to supporting our communities through responsive and humbled actions focused on addressing racial and economic inequities and creating positive and transformative change in our communities.

Community Possible is designed to embrace thediversity in our communities. We consider grant requests without regard to race, ethnicity, color, sex, religion, age, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, sexualorientation, gender identity and/or expression, disability, marital status, genetic information, veteran status or other factors that are protected by law.While the U.S. Bank Foundation generously funds many nonprofit organizations in our communities, it's impossible to fund every request. To make the most meaningful impact in ourlocal communities, we focus our grant giving to fund economic development tied to Work, Home and Play.

Community Possible Grant Program

We support organizations and programs that advance the following funding priorities, focusing on organizations that have an intentional approach to addressing immediate needs and systemic economic and racial barriers to success. As part of our commitment to a sustainable future, environmental stewardship is a consideration in each of our three focus areas:

Grant Categories

• Play: Arts, culture and places to play.
  • Access to artistic and cultural programming and arts education:
    • Our investments ensure economic vitality and accessibility to the arts in local communities, as well as support for arts education. Examples of grant support include:
      • Programs that provide access to cultural activities, visual and performing arts, zoos and aquariums and botanic gardens for individuals and families living in underserved communities
      • Funding for local arts organizations that enhance the economic vitality of the community
      • Programs that provide funding for arts-focused nonprofit organizations that bring visual and performing arts programming to low- and moderate-income K-12 schools and youth centers
  • Supporting learning through play:
    • Many young people across the country do not have the resources or access to enjoy the benefits of active play. Supporting active play-based programs and projects for K-12 students located in or serving low- and moderate-income communities fosters innovation, creativity, and collaboration and impacts the overall vitality of the communities we serve. Funding support includes:
      •  Support for organizations that build or expand access to active play spaces and places that help K-12 students learn through play and improves the health, safety and unification of neighborhoods in low- and moderate-income communities
      • Programs that focus on using active play to help young people develop cognitive, social and emotional learning skills to become vibrant and productive citizens in low- and moderate-income communities
  • Outdoor places to play:
    • Environmental stewardship enhances and improves the livability of our communities. Supporting efforts to preserve, protect and enhance outdoor spaces is now part of our Play pillar of giving. Funding support includes:
      • Cleanup efforts in community spaces, including (but not limited to) beaches, rivers, and streams
      • Protecting green spaces within the community, including planting trees, mangroves and seagrass
      • Programs that support community, native and/or pollinator gardens, including community composting
• Work: Workforce education and economic prosperity.
  • Investing in the workforce:
    • We fund organizations that provide training for small business development, as well as programs that support individuals across all skill and experience levels, to ensure they have the capability to gain employment that supports individuals and their families. Examples of grant support include:
      • Small business technical assistance programs
      • Job skills, career readiness training programs with comprehensive placement services for low- and moderate-income individuals entering or reentering the labor force
  • Providing pathways for educational success:
    • To address the growing requirements for post-secondary education in securing competitive jobs in the workplace, we support:
      • Organizations and programs that help low- and moderate-income and at-risk middle and high school students prepare for post-secondary education at a community college, university, trade or technical school and career readiness
      • Programs and initiatives at post-secondary institutions that support access to career and educational opportunities for low- and moderate-income and diverse students
  • Teaching financial well-being for work and life:
    • Financial well-being is not only critical for financial stability, it’s crucial in helping individuals be successful in the workplace. Examples of grant support include programs that positively impact:
      • K-12 and college student financial literacy
      • Adult and workforce financial literacy
      • Senior financial fraud prevention
      • Military service member and veteran financial literacy
• Home: Neighborhood stability and revitalization.
  • Access to safe, affordable energy-efficient housing:
    • We provide financial support to assist people in developing stability in their lives through access to safe, sustainable and accessible homes. Examples of grant support include:
      • Organizations that preserve, rehabilitate, renovate or construct affordable housing developments for low- and moderate-income families, individuals, seniors, veterans, and special-needs populations
      • Organizations that provide transitional housing as a direct stepping stone to permanent housing
      • Organizations that focus on veterans housing and homeownership
      • Construction of green homes for low- and moderate-income communities
      • Clean energy retrofit programs for low- and moderate-income housing developments
      • Organizations that provide access to renewable energy
      • Improving waste management systems to include recycling and composting programs
  • Homeownership education:
    • Owning and maintaining a home requires significant financial knowledge, tools and resources. We support programs that assist low- and moderate-income homebuyers and existing homeowners. Examples of grant support include:
      • Homebuyer education
      • Pre- and post-purchase counseling and coaching
      • Homeownership-retention programs designed to provide foreclosure counseling

Types of Funding Requests

• Operating grants: An operating grant is given to cover an organization’s day-to-day, ongoing expenses, such as salaries, utilities, office supplies and more. We consider operating support requests from organizations where the entire mission of the organization fits a Community Possible grant focus area.
• Program or project grants: A program or project grant is given to support a specific, connected set of activities, with a beginning and an end, explicit objectives and a predetermined cost. We consider highly effective and innovative programs that meet our Community Possible grant focus areas.
• Capital grants: A capital grant is given to finance fixed assets. The U.S. Bank Foundation considers a small number of requests for capital support from organizations that meet all other funding criteria, whose entire mission statement fits a Community Possible grant focus area, and with which the Foundation has a funding history. All organizations requesting capital funding must also have a U.S. Bank employee on the board of directors. U.S. Bank does not fund more than 1% of the non-endowment total capital campaign fundraising goal. All capital grant requests are reviewed and approved by the national U.S. Bank Foundation Board or by the U.S. Bank Foundation President.

Factors of Consideration

Because the Foundation receives funding requests in excess to the annual grant program budget, we must decline support to worthy organizations and programs. We may decline support to organizations we have previously supported to expand community engagements. Support should not be expected to continue in perpetuity and declination does not reflect a negative appraisal of the organization or the value of its programs and service.

The following factors are among those the foundation will consider:

• Innovation and/or differentiation in our focus areas of Work, Home and Play
• Programming and services that advance positive community engagement efforts
• Demonstrated outcomes and impact
• Service delivery to low-and moderate-income, women and people of color
• Diversity in the management and governing board of the organization
• The financial health of the organization

The Dane G. Hansen Foundation, Logan, KS, is partnering with the Community Foundation to facilitate grants to improve the quality of life for communities in North Central Kansas.

Grants will be awarded to projects or programs that address:

• Education: Enhances the learning environment and expands opportunities for students. Provides increased self-reliance on personal life skills and workforce capability.
• Health Care: Ensures access to quality health services and promotes healthy life practices.
• Community Social Services & Security: Enhance access to social services needed for individuals of special needs and supports systems to provide community disaster relief and general community emergencies.
• Conservation & Environment: Support efforts to improve and maintain high air and water quality, appreciation for our natural environment and enhances economic and social benefits of outdoor resources.
• Arts & Culture: Provide cultural and artistic opportunities to enhance the quality of life for local residents and to encourage tourism and the exchange of ideas.
• Community Beautification: Support efforts to improve and maintain public spaces to enhance community pride and encourage socialization among residents.

NOTE:  Round 1 applications are due March 3, 2023. Select applicants will be invited to join the second- and third round RFPs.

Background

The national housing shortage continues to make headlines. Estimates on the number of homes needed to close the gap run in the millions. But one thing is clear: without a stable, affordable place to call home, it’s impossible to thrive.

In an effort to scale needed housing solutions, Enterprise and the Wells Fargo Foundation have teamed up to launch a new $20 million competition. The Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge will identify and propel implementation-ready innovations that transform current practices and reimagine access to affordable homes.

Eligible applicants will compete for individual grants of $1 million, $2 million and $3 million to scale ideas that lay the groundwork for system-wide change. Winners also will receive two years of technical assistance to turn their ideas into real-world programs.

Focus Areas

The Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge aims to meet the nation’s affordable housing challenges across Native, rural, suburban, Tribal and urban communities.

Proposals must encompass one or more of three focus areas:

Construction

• Construction innovations must introduce transformative practices, processes or new materials that will create construction efficiency, streamline supply chains, bolster climate resiliency, or reduce building costs.
• Construction approaches can include but are not limited to:
  • Creation and use of innovative, environmentally sustainable materials 
  • Streamlining the construction supply chain (e.g., materials production, purchasing, delivery, assembly) 
  • Innovative development in the affordable housing construction workforce to accelerate production 
  • New economies of scale through efficiencies in building design
• Construction technologies can include but are not limited to deployment of enhanced building practices and new building technologies.

Financing

• Financing innovations must introduce new tools or strategies to transform or offer alternatives to current practices, broadening access to capital, unlocking or leveraging financial resources, and creating a more equitable housing market for renters and homebuyers.
• Financing approaches can include but are not limited to:
  • New investment strategies
  • New funding sources to support acquisition, development, or building operations
  • New financing mechanisms for acquisition, construction, or permanent financing
  • Improved efficiencies in financing and underwriting
  • Risk mitigation through new investment approaches
  • New credit enhancement strategies
  • Unique ownership structures
  • New approaches that reduce the cost of capital
• Financing technologies can include but are not limited to deployment of technology that accelerates the financing process, development of tools that reduce timelines for approval, and development of tools that facilitate efficient, equitable access to capital.

Access and Resident Support

• Access and Resident Support innovations must introduce new processes or models that improve the housing experience for residents, such as housing access, choice, and stability, advancing fair housing, promoting personal agency and creating pathways for upward mobility.
• Access and Resident Support approaches can include but are not limited to:
  • New models that increase housing choice for renters and homebuyers, such as:
    • Improved housing search process
    • Expanding acceptance of renter subsidies
    • Ensuring equitable access to capital to support homeownership
    • Identifying and addressing discrimination or differential treatment against protected classes
  • Services that connect residents with resources to support upward mobility
• Access and Resident Support technologies can include but are not limited to development and deployment of technology to improve access to housing options, resident experience and resident housing stability.

Innovations across all three focus areas must demonstrate how they center racial equity and, where applicable, integrate environmental sustainability.

IMA Foundation

Shortly after the incorporation of IMA more than 40 years ago, the company’s founders showed true vision and commitment to the community by creating the IMA Foundation. With employee owners at the core of our business, the goal of the IMA Foundation is to represent the passions of our associates and make strategic contributions within the foundation focus areas.

IMA Foundation Vision

Empowering our communities to create opportunities which protect assets and make a difference.

IMA Foundation Mission

To provide philanthropic support in the communities where we work and live.

Focus Area

The IMA Foundation focuses its efforts in three key areas:

Advancing Youth

To reduce the drop-out rate and offer a chance of quality futures for our young people.

• Mentoring programs.
• After school programs.
• Youth Mental Health.

Arts & Culture

To improve the quality of life in our communities through the arts.

• Cultural institutions.
• Arts in Education programs that offer arts education programming in public schools.

Education

To support educational institutions so that young people graduate with increased skills and knowledge, resulting in a higher skilled workforce in the future.

• Educational institutions.
• K-12 public education.
• Higher education.

Community Grants - American Family Insurance Dreams Foundation Grant Program

The American Family Insurance Dreams Foundation, Inc builds on our long-standing commitment and support of communities we serve by offering unrestricted, general operating grants to eligible non-profit 501(c)(3) partners.

Our approach to grantmaking is evolving. We are committed to using trust-based values to create meaningful, impactful relationships and reduce the inherent power imbalances of the traditional funding model. Like many of our community partners, we are also committed to learning, listening, and changing through collaboration and trust.

The Dreams Foundation grant funding priorities are Academic Achievement and Education, Healthy Youth Development, Economic Opportunity, and Community Resiliency (formerly Basic Needs). These priorities align with our organizational efforts to invest in and improve the communities where we live and serve.

Grant Priorities

Academic Achievement and Education

Programs and services that advance educational equity in learning and academic achievement through access to high quality education. Our grant making focus includes wrap-around educational programming from birth through college with an emphasis on the following:

• Early Childhood Education
• Academic Support and achievement
• STEAM
• Reading and literacy

Healthy Youth Development

Programs and services that support the ongoing needs of young people from birth through 25 including:

• Social-emotional learning
• Mental and behavioral health
• Reducing mental health stigma and discrimination

Economic Opportunity

Programs and services that increase employment access and opportunity, including:

• Job training
• Financial literacy
• Workforce and career readiness
• Reading and literacy

Additionally, within this grant priority, we also have an emphasis on organizations and programming that offer educational or workforce opportunities for incarcerated or previously incarcerated individuals.

Community Resiliency

Formerly our Basic Needs giving priority, these are programs and services that remove barriers to short and/or long-term needs of individuals and families. Specific areas of grantmaking include:

• Food Security through foodbanks and pantries, community gardens, and sustainable food sources
• Housing via emergency shelter, and transitional/long term stable housing
• Transportation and Daycare to pursue education and/or maintain employment

Communities of Focus

Within our grant priorities, the Foundation places an emphasis on supporting organizations that work with individuals and communities that include:

• Economically disadvantaged
• Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC)
• Youth (birth through 25) and young families

Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation Grant

The Foundation will consider requests to support museums, cultural and performing arts programs; schools and hospitals; educational, skills-training and other programs for youth, seniors, and persons with disabilities; environmental and wildlife protection activities; and other community-based organizations and programs.

Leadership Transformation Grants

An opportunity to make lasting progress on your biggest challenges.

A nonprofit organization founded by the Kansas Health Foundation, the Kansas Leadership Center (KLC) provides training to foster leadership for stronger, healthier and more prosperous Kansas communities. Through the Leadership Transformation Grant, KLC partners with organizations to help them create a culture of leadership that embraces change, tackles problems and seizes opportunities. We are looking for partners across the state to saturate their organization with our proven framework in order to make lasting progress on their biggest challenges.

KLC’s own research center indicates that leadership development at all levels of an organization leads to a more engaged workforce in the non-profit sector, with employees more committed, more hopeful for the future, and more satisfied with their job. Among high-tech employees, it yields an adaptive mindset, collaborative problem-solving, and better listening and communication. And ORS Impact, funded by a third party, interviewed over 50 of KLC’s past grantees to learn the effect of leadership training on an organization. The research indicates a strong link between increasing leadership behaviors among employees, positive change to culture and greater progress on key challenges facing the organization.