Yesterday, we looked at several financial institutions using Black Friday/Cyber Monday to promote banking products (see note 1). But it’s also a great time to focus on community outreach and charitable pursuits, a tack taken by Bank of America (note 2). 

The bank is supporting Feeding America, which leverages a small amount of cash into a large number of meals by tapping bulk food donors. It says that every dollar donated translates into 8 meals. Bank of America’s providing $1 million outright plus an additional $500,000 pledged in matching funds. The bank will match customer/employee donations 3 to 1 (note 3). All in all, that’s $1.75 mil to U.S. food banks which will cover nearly 15 million meals.

Bottom line: Overall, its a great effort. The bank is feeding the hungry, and more importantly, educating thousands of potential donors about the magic multiplier of the efficient food bank supply chains. It was a good choice to close out the holiday weekend. 

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Bank of America’s homepage promoted Feeding America on Cyber Monday (28 Nov 2011).

Landing page (link)

Cobranded donation page at FeedingAmerica.org (link)
Note: The bank’s program has generated 2,299,113 free meals as of 29 Nov at 10 PM Pacific. Twenty hours later, the number had risen by 173,000, implying $22,000 in donations.  

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Notes:
1. The Financial Brand has additional info on ING Direct Canada’s Cyber Monday special.
2. Of course, a little positive PR couldn’t hurt the bank either.
3. Looking at the math, I’m not sure how many customers will really see a 3-to-1 match, which means $250,000 in customer donations are eligible for a bank match. The bank has in the neighborhood of 25 million customers. If just 1% of its customers each donate a single dollar, the cap will be hit. But still, $500,000 = 4 million more meals, so I certainly can’t complain.