American Express fulfills its social commitment through grants to thousands of nonprofit organizations worldwide. The focus area of the foundations are disaster relief, environment, poverty, humanitarian assistance, Historic Preservation, civic processes. Focus countries are Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan United States and United Kingdom.
Programs & Activities
- Serve2Gether Consulting: Launched in 2012, Serve2Gether Consulting matches selected nonprofits and social enterprises with employees on short-term consulting project in order to address a specific organizational challenge or opportunity identified by the nonprofit client. Selected organizations must commit staff resources of 3-5 hours per week over a 10 week period to work with their assigned consulting team. At the end of the consulting engagements, participants compete to receive a seed funding grant to begin implementing the recommendations resulting from these consultations.
- Historic Preservation Initiatives: Over the last 15 years, American Express has helped preserve 146 sites in 63 countries, including sites from the World Monuments Fund Watch List, as well as sites who received sustainable tourism grants. These sites integrate historic preservation, sustainable tourism management and visitor education. Projects that have received funds include: St Paul’s Cathedral, London, England; The Ruta de la Amistad, Mexico City; Sawara in the Kanto region of Japan; Route 66 – the historic corridor that runs between Chicago and Los Angeles in the United States – and Easter Island, Chile.
- The American Express Leadership Academy: The American Express Leadership Academy is a signature program of the Leadership funding theme. Founded in 2008 in partnership with the Center for Creative Leadership, today the Leadership Academy includes five nonprofit partners, encompasses nine separate programs, spans four countries and impacts hundreds of high-potential emerging leaders annually.
- Employee-Driven Philanthropy: Through its gift matching programs the American Express Charitable Fund provided over $5.8 million in funds to match over $5.9 million in employee donations in 2011. In addition, the fund awarded $220,500 to 236 nonprofits on behalf of its employee’s volunteer service in 2011.
In order to be eligible for funding organization should meet the following criteria: Organization must certify tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) and 509(a)(1), (2) or (3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Organizations outside the U.S. must be able to document nonprofit status. Any non profit organization which meets the eligibility can send a request for fund. For more information, visit this link.
