Date: 2025-05-01 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00016039
Company: Arcellor Mittal USA
Triple Bottom Line Impacts
Beth Spurgeon ... Investing in nonprofit sustainability ... ArcelorMittal continues to 'build resilience' in community partners
Peter Burgess
At ArcelorMittal, we aim to meet the expectations of our stakeholders while simultaneously anticipating future local and global challenges. The benefits of this approach are clear - we attract and retain the best employees, our communities embrace our presence, and our customers consider us their supplier of choice. And as a result, we thrive.
Our commitment to our communities is an important aspect of this approach. Annually we invest $6.9 million in grants and matching donations. Our investments have been made through strategic partnerships with nonprofit organizations working in the areas of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education, the environment, and health and safety.
In recognition of our 10-year anniversary in 2017, we reflected upon these partnerships using the same resiliency lens we use for our business. We realized that we were missing an important opportunity for increased impact through grantmaking. In order to create positive, transformational change in our communities, we need to also invest in our partners’ efforts to build capacity and increase their sustainability. According to the National Council of Nonprofits, this type of capacity building grantmaking is critical to a nonprofit organization. It strengthens the organization’s ability to fulfill its mission over time and thereby enhances its impact on the local community.
We realized that we were missing an important opportunity for increased impact through grantmaking. In order to create positive, transformational change in our communities, we need to also invest in our partners’ efforts to build capacity and increase their sustainability.
As a result, in 2017, we launched “Building Resilience: Investing in Nonprofit Sustainability,” a grant initiative available to our nonprofit partners to support projects traditionally underfunded by foundations and corporations. These projects, which are designed to have a significant impact on the long-term sustainability of the organization, include: strategic planning; professional development; sustainability planning; diversity and inclusion training; technology implementation and data management; and fundraising enhancement or expansions.
The need for this type of financial support is critical. In the first two years of the program, we received a total of 121 funding requests. Last year, we provided $318,500 in funding to a cohort of 14 organizations followed by the announcement of an additional $325,000 to 14 nonprofit organizations just this month.
The results of year one were astounding. Our 2017 partner organizations reported that the funding catalyzed critical capacity building work that they might not have otherwise prioritized.
For example, the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Cleveland used their Building Resilience investment to purchase an improved database management system. This provides the organization with a more streamlined online giving platform and prospect research tool and a digital communication tool to enhance their capacity to connect with more donors, more frequently. Results included the identification and mapping of major donors, a doubled open rate of their fundraising emails, and a dramatic increase in donations.
“With our former donation platform, we processed 2,774 transactions in a 10-year period. In just nine months following implementation of our new system, we processed 1,420 transactions and experienced a 50 percent donation increase in our annual “Race for Kids” campaign,” Robert Koonce, chief development officer said.
The impact of our Building Resilience initiative goes beyond dollars, as our communications and corporate responsibility team offered networking and support to the nonprofits during the grant period. This culminated in regional convenings that gave grantees the opportunity to network, share their learnings and provide feedback. ArcelorMittal leaders also shared resources and provided trainings on relevant communications and fundraising topics.
The Dunes Learning Center, which received a critical investment to install fiber optic cable and extend high-speed internet throughout their campus also saw a huge benefit to the collaborative experience.
“I really enjoyed getting together with other nonprofits in the Building Resilience initiative and learning about their projects and impact. We all shared a lot of resources and have projects that we are going to be collaborating on together in the future,” said Michelle Krueger, grants specialist at the Dunes Learning Center. “The expertise that the ArcelorMittal staff brought was amazing in regard to communications and the different resources that we can bring back to our nonprofits.”
Earl Pike, the executive director of University Settlement, was thrilled to receive funding in 2017 to conduct a feasibility study for a new building. “ArcelorMittal goes far beyond the granting of the check. It’s not just a unilateral partnership, they provide strategic resources, they provide capacity building resources and they get their people involved,” he shared.
ArcelorMittal is proud to play an important role in strengthening our communities through strategic grantmaking and the Building Resilience program. The response – and even more importantly, the outcomes - are strong indicators that this type of investment is necessary and meaningful. We look forward to continuing to build resilience among our partners and in our communities and sharing those outcomes with you in the future.
Categories: Community Sustainability
About the author
Beth Spurgeon Beth Spurgeon serves as the division manager, corporate responsibility and the executive director of the USA Foundation for ArcelorMittal. She spearheads ArcelorMittal’s corporate responsibility and sustainability initiatives across the Americas region. In the U.S., she oversees ArcelorMittal’s community investment initiatives, including national and local nonprofit partnerships in the company’s focus areas of STEM education, environment, and health and safety. She also manages national sustainability, stakeholder engagement, and employee engagement initiatives for the company.