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Business is an unlikely hero: a force for good working to solve society's most pressing challenges, while boosting bottom line. This is social purpose at work. And it's a dynamic journey. Purpose 360 is a masterclass in unlocking the power of social purpose to ignite business and social impact. Host Carol Cone brings decades of social impact expertise and a 360-degree view of integrating social purpose into an organization into unfiltered conversations that illuminate today's big challenges and bigger ideas.
Carol Cone:
I'm Carol Cone and welcome to Purpose 360, the podcast that unlocks the power of purpose to ignite business and social impact. On today's Purpose 360 episode, it is one I am so delighted to share because it is an absolute inspiration to listen to it if you're responsible to create a signature social impact or environmental initiative for your organization or you need to evolve the current one that you have. My conversation is with Sally McCrady, chair and president of the PNC Foundation. And we're going to talk about their 20th anniversary of PNC Grow Up Great, a commitment to high quality early childhood education across the country.
Sally will share so many core insights of how do you build something that is true, that is aligned with your values, with your business, with your employees' desires, how do you keep it fresh, evolve it, and constantly embed it into the organization's ethos, culture, and business for great, great success? We worked with PNC for over 15 years and certainly partnered with them to architect something that would survive and indeed thrive in the long term. So many lessons to learn. So let's get started. I'm so excited and I know you will be too.
Sally McCrady:
Oh Carol. It's so great to be here. Thank you so much for having me and it's always great to catch up with old friends.
Carol Cone:
It's great. So please share with our listeners a little bit about PNC and then about yourself.
Sally McCrady:
Sure, I'd be happy to. I've actually been here for almost 27 years. 27 years probably next week. We are now very much one of the largest diversified financial services company in the country. We operate in 54 markets. It's a coast-to-coast franchise. We have probably getting close to 60,000 employees. And we are a premier financial institution and a full-service financial institution.
So to tell you a little bit about myself, as I said, I've been here for a long time and the reason I've been here for a long time, Carol to your point, is that the culture at PNC is incredibly consistent. The values haven't changed. And what I've enjoyed so much about the opportunity to work in philanthropy at PNC is that we are very locally driven. While we have a large corporate foundation and a corporate foundation budget, we really rely on our regional presidents that sit in each one of our 54 markets, our client and community relations teams and our community development teams to make decisions about how our philanthropic resources can be most impactful. And we believe very firmly that someone sitting here in Pittsburgh like I am where PNC is headquartered, you really can't understand the Chicago market, the San Antonio market, the San Francisco market, the way our colleagues do that live and work there. And that's why our local distribution of resources is incredibly important and has been the entire time I've been working in this space at PNC.
Carol Cone:
So we really wanted to dive in here because kudos to you for maintaining a commitment for so long, but to evolve it and to make it real. So let's talk about the genesis of PNC Grow Up Great. So I'd love you to go back those years. I know that you were at the beginning, but you also were in maternity leave I think right at the beginning of it. But you have been such a constant in its evolution. And again, congratulations that now you are the chair and president of the foundation. So let's talk about the beginning of PNC Grow Up Great and then why it's been so consistent and wonderful for the bank.
Sally McCrady:
Carol, you might have to help me with some of this because you were certainly there at the beginning preceding my involvement and we're so grateful to you and all of the work that you did along with my predecessor Eva Blum, who was your partner and crime on this, and certainly our former CEO, Jim Rohr, who really was his vision, this program really was his vision. And to your point, it really, it has been a joy to be able to work on something so consistently for 20 years. But really the genesis of the program, and we're asked this all the time, we weren't setting out to build a large early childhood education program. What we were setting out to do, as you know very well Carol, was to answer Jim Rohr's question, which was, "Please tell me the impact of our philanthropy." It's not a good situation to be in, to not have [inaudible 00:11:36] answer for your CEO.
And unfortunately that was the position we were in, not because we weren't doing terrific things in our communities, but again, back to that time we were in 12 markets, everybody was doing something a little bit different. So we were spreading our money around like peanut butter. And when you do that and you're then asked to roll it all up and talk about impact, it's very difficult. So it was really Jim's vision. And he said, "Wouldn't it be amazing if we could take the power of this large company" then half the size [inaudible 00:12:14] is today, "And put it behind one cause. Wouldn't it be amazing to see the difference that we could make?" And that was an incredibly exciting idea.
So with that, he didn't say, "Go do early childhood," he said, "Come back with a plan. And the first thing that was done was really ask our employees, if we were going to do this, where would you like to see PNC focus?
Our employees said somewhere in the area of children and education, which is a crazy big space as we all know, million different ways you could go, but Carol, that's where you and your team really came in and helped us do so much research to really find an issue that was cutting-edge, that was trending, that wasn't already crowded with corporate voices, but also where we could make a real impact and really impact our communities in the children and our communities. And the more we learned about early childhood education and the amazing trajectory, children that have access to high quality early education, the amazing trajectory their lives then go on, the more we became convinced this was the place to focus.
Carol Cone:
I think you covered that so well because it was head and heart and then ultimately hands. So if the employees, they wanted something with children and then the heart was the outcome especially for families in need and that children that were socially, emotionally, and intellectually ready for kindergarten did advance and did have a greater opportunity for success in life.
For our listeners, they said, "Okay, issue's interesting, now go, what would it look like?" And so we went away and we started putting together partners and opponents because you're a bank, you're not experts in early childhood. And I have to give you such, such kudos because when we said you needed an advisory board, usually advisory boards are like [inaudible 00:16:02] talk to them once a year. First of all, we picked great people together.
But they were so invested in the advisory board, which was key to really crafting the initiative. They were so excited to be part of it because no big organization, no corporation had stepped up to this issue. So once we got great advisors. And then to PNC's great credit, you activated them, you got them together. I know all those great meetings that we would have and we would listen to their voices and their ideas. And then you also had meetings in some of their local markets. So that was really, really, really powerful for the initiative. So let's talk about some of the framework because together it was framed very, very carefully. And I want you to talk about volunteerism because volunteerism is a core, core tenant of the bank and how you relate with your employees and your communities.
Sally McCrady:
Absolutely. And I think you're exactly right, nothing works in a corporation without the strong backing of your employees. And so our employee volunteers have been incredibly supportive of the program, energetic, excited. Carol, you probably remember one of the first things that we did was really change our HR policy to provide employees with up to 40 hours of paid time off every year to volunteer. And it's interesting because we certainly benchmarked that at the time [inaudible 00:20:18] other corporations and it was absolutely gold standard. You fast-forward 20 years and it's still gold standard.
Carol Cone:
Absolutely.
Sally McCrady:
It's just incredibly gratifying that we still have that policy still possible for employees to take a week every year and get paid to volunteer either for Grow Up Great or for our racial and social justice program now. So that's a new addition that we started in 2021. But we've had over a million volunteer hours for Grow Up Great. We're closing in on, I think we're just above 1.1 million in total volunteer hours. It's been wonderful way... It has been a huge evolution because Carol, you probably remember when we first started working and we're huge partners with Head Start, as well as other early childhood centers that serve majority low and moderate income children and families, so a lot of large urban public school systems.
But when we first started working with Head Start, they were like, "Oh great, you can come read to children or you can come help us with our outdoor cleanup or clean up our playground." Those are all great and we certainly have employees that want to do that, but what we've been able to do and wanted to do in conjunction with our partners was to think much more deeply about the needs at our volunteer organizations and the skillsets that we have at PNC because obviously with that many employees, we have people that are experts in technology, experts in cyber security, experts in realty services, experts in HR, all things that non-profits can utilize and utilize our skills.
So I've been so proud over the 20 years when you now look at our volunteer opportunities, how deep and rich the volunteer opportunities are. Certainly absolutely we can all go volunteer with children. You have to get your clearances first and we help our employees through that process, but now there are so many opportunities that are really skills-based that can have a profound impact in supporting the organizations where we volunteer.
Carol Cone:
It was brilliant. It was really, really great. Can we talk about the structure of the program because for some of our listeners, you and I are like 20 years down the road, just about your partners and how Grow Up Great works?
Sally McCrady:
Sure. Again, back to the brilliant architects of the program, including you, Eva, and Jim. But I think what was really important from the start was this was not going to be a program where we wrote a check and came back to our nonprofit partner and asked them to tell us about all the great things we did.
But really helping parents and caregivers with awesome resources to prepare their children for school and life and most importantly for the first day of kindergarten. And those resources are all bilingual, which is really important. And actually I think one of the early things we missed is that the first ones out of the gate were not bilingual. And we quickly realized that we needed them to be bilingual and went back to Sesame Workshop who really educated us so deeply about the need for the resources to be not translated, but trans-created, which they've done [inaudible 00:25:31] to make them culturally relevant.
So we have an awareness campaign and we do talk about the program and the importance everywhere we talk about our bank products. We have a large advocacy campaign. And so that is incredibly important because we know... Even though the program has grown to a $500 million program, we know that is absolutely just a drop in the bucket when you think about what is needed in this country in terms of investment in high quality early childhood education.
And now all of our regional presidents are really steeped in the issue and can talk about it as an economic development, a workforce development issue. We speak out, we rate op-eds when there are opportunities for increased investment at the local, state, or federal level, and really talk about why PNC is invested in this and why it makes sense for public dollars to be more readily invested in the issue. And we've had some really awesome wins and we'd like to think that because of our work, to your point of the emerging issue, it really isn't an emerging issue anymore 20 years later.
Carol Cone:
And again, it's the under understanding of PNC that to be consistent, to look the long-term because you always look to the long-term as a bank. And I love the fact of how your regional presidents, I remember way back when it was totally separation of church and state. I'm curious about recruiting. How is this showing up in recruiting and as you bring in younger generations? 60,000 employees is a lot. How is PNC Grow Up Great part of that?
Sally McCrady:
I think it's a really important part as are all of our initiatives in the communities and being able to talk to our corporate responsibility as a whole to new recruits, students coming out of college or graduate school. We know having this very purpose-driven approach really resonates with them. And again, back to the 40 hours of paid time off, I don't think they're looking at many companies that offer that. We really try to highlight all of these opportunities to get engaged, to get engaged in your community throughout the recruiting process. And we've definitely had so many people tell me, even our regional president in Boston, that one of the really important factors to him coming to PNC was this commitment to early childhood education because both he and his family have been long-time supporters of early childhood education. He was completely blown away by our commitment to the issue.
Carol Cone:
I love that. I would love to say what's next for Grow Up Great as you continue to evolve it and to make it even more impactful?
Sally McCrady:
So some very wise people that set up the architecture of the program from the beginning very much taught us the importance of always thinking about what's next. I'll tell you a funny story, Carol. You may remember, we were in Chicago and we were launching a grant. Again, it was back to during the National City integration in Chicago. Huge important market. We were announcing a large grant with four organizations. It was science-based, so it was the Field Museum, the Adler Planetarium, the Shedd Aquarium, and the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. And it was a great event. We were so excited. The mayor came, we had wonderful turnout. It was very well received in the community and we were coming back from the event and Jim turned to me and he was like, "That was great. What's next?" And I was so exhausted from the event, [inaudible 00:36:26] state my name and again, didn't have a good answer. So we're really trying to think about that.
One of the things that was new for us this year that we'll be working on for the next couple of years, we announced a $5.2 million grant pool for outdoor learning spaces and are working with a nonprofit partner in every one of our communities maybe... In almost every case, it was a long-term Grow Up Great partner to really help them develop an outdoor learning space, not just develop and create the space, but professional development for the teachers on how to integrate the space into their existing curriculum. Family engagement activities so the parents and caregivers can get engaged too. And so those were two-year grants and we'll actually be working on that initiative both this year and next year. And really excited to be able to show at the end of that. I think we'll have close to 60 new outdoor play spaces-
Carol Cone:
[inaudible 00:37:33].
Sally McCrady:
Yeah, I'm really excited about it. And importantly, we came to that decision based on research that we funded through Steve Barnett's organization [inaudible 00:37:44] time advisory council member, one of the ones that's been with us since the beginning. But he is at the National Institute of Early Education Research at NIEER, and he's been doing... We've been funding research for near to do over the last couple of years since the pandemic that really looks at the long-term impacts of the pandemic on young children and their families. And one of the things that highlighted is that close to 50% of children were not playing outside each day was a huge issue when it was talked about with our advisory council. So we really wanted to think about how we could provide support to communities to have those safe outdoor spaces. And so that's how we came to the idea for our 20th anniversary.
Carol Cone:
Oh, super. That's wonderful. We could talk for hours and we can do that in the next iteration, but I would love you... You've begun to say these are core tenants to make a commitment that is built to last for the long term. So I would love you to just try and synthesize a bit. For those individuals listening who they're developing a signature program, they're putting good infrastructure together, but how do you make sure that it's going to be there in the long term? What sort of advice do you have?
Sally McCrady:
The best advice I can give, and it's just something we've been so lucky to have here at PNC, but you absolutely have to have the support from the top of the house. So we talked a lot about Jim Rohr, our prior CEO, and when he retired, Bill Demchak, our current CEO stepped into the shoes. And Bill has been an amazing supporter throughout his whole tenure of being CEO of PNC Grow Up Great. He said from the very beginning... Before he even took on his role when it was announced, he said from the very beginning, "I have seen how impactful this program has been in our communities. I have seen how impactful this program has been for our employees in our company and I'm not going to change it."
And if it were not for that support, you can't sustain something as large as this. You have to have the C-suites, not just support, but [inaudible 00:40:14]. He's deeply interested, as is our entire executive committee. They want to know about the program, they want to know how they can help, they want to know how we can continue to support it and make a greater impact in our community. You can't exist without that.
Carol Cone:
You're absolutely right. And it is very, very special for PNC. How about some of the more structural elements? What other advice might you have to practitioners to make sure that they're going to survive for the long term and indeed thrive?
Sally McCrady:
So I think staying true to your mission. You said it, we lead with the issue, we don't lead with PNC. And one of the things we always think about with every decision that we make, is this going to help children and is this going to help them be more prepared for school? Always, always, always going back to why you have this program. Who are you trying to impact? How can you have the greatest impact? And if you stay true for that, you'll make the right decisions that can sustain you for the long haul.
Carol Cone:
And I do remember many, many times where in Jim Roar's office and when we come up with a new idea, and he would always say, this is his lens, "Is this going to help the children?" It was like a broken record. And we got frustrated at times because we had ideas that he just, "Nope, [inaudible 00:41:42]. It's not going to help the children." I think that's such a good point. And to our listeners, you need to lead with find the authentic issue that... What does your community need, what society need, what do you have core competencies for? What is your ambition? And then lead with the issue, not with pounding your chest. Especially today where there's so much greenwashing and pinkwashing and whatever.
I have to give you some more kudos about DonorsChoose because you had your original partners. You had Head Start. Made sense. You had Sesame. You got to love them. You had Fred Rogers, the beloved local NGO. But you added DonorsChoose into it and that's been very, very successful for you.
Sally McCrady:
Yeah, that's been amazing for us. DonorsChoose, if you're not familiar with them, go out and check out their website, what they do for public education in this country. It's unbelievable in terms of getting citizen donors to donate to public and charter schools across the country. But we do very few national partnerships and we are so lucky to have Fred Rogers. It's been amazing to see how they've grown over the 20 years in terms of Daniel Tiger, Donkey Hodie, all those ways. What they're doing at Children's television is unbelievable. Sesame Workshop, Head Start, [inaudible 00:43:32].
But DonorsChoose was a super fit for us because it is a national organization that can be hyper local. One of my favorite things we do with DonorsChoose is around the holidays we send to all of our employees gift codes, typically 25, in some cases $50, where they get this gift code and they can go onto DonorsChoose' site and choose a pre-K or Head Start project and they get to place the money themselves. So they're basically helping to decide where PNC's philanthropic dollars go and we can fund a national organization but then have something that is open to all of our employees. If you can't find a project that speaks to you on their site, you're not looking very hard.
Carol Cone:
Good point. And I also love the flash funding. That is so cool. Can you explain that? Because it's like it puts chills down my back.
Sally McCrady:
Yeah, it is the absolute best. So we have the opportunity with DonorsChoose to do what they call a flash fund, which means... So for example, this year we flash funded every open outdoor learning project at pre-K and Head Start programs, I think on April 4th. So that meant teachers woke up that morning and if they had a project that fit that criteria, they got an email that said, "Your project's been fully funded by PNC Grow Up Great and [inaudible 00:46:21]." What an awesome way to wake up.
Carol Cone:
Oh my God, I love that. That just gave me another chill. That's great. So unfortunately we have to wind down, but oh God. Listeners please, consistency and values-driven and authentic. And I love the fact from the top to the bottom and a cross. You really have found over 20 years, and you're constantly keeping it fresh, ways to keep everyone engaged and you're seeing greater and greater and greater individual impacts and business impacts. That's great. Before I give you the last word, I just want to ask you, it's a question we're asking all of our guests on Purpose 360 and it's what is the role... This is a personal answer, what is the role of AI of purpose? So the humanity of purpose in an AI-driven world that we're all leaning into.
Sally McCrady:
I think it becomes all the more important to be grounded in your purpose as we become more AI-driven. I think the opportunities in early education around how AI could be used is really exciting. Improvements in data analysis, insights, efficiencies, [inaudible 00:47:36] but without the human element driving it and being maintained in its purpose, it's not going to be effective. So I can't underscore how important purpose remains and becomes even more so as we move more towards an AI-driven world.
Carol Cone:
Thank you. So in closing, what would you like to share with our listeners? I've loved this conversation. I am so proud of you. The initiative is just... It has such great impact in so many ways, but what are the last one or two things you'd like to leave with our listeners?
Sally McCrady:
I think we talked a lot about the importance of support from the top of the house, engaging your employees, but I just want to make sure we emphasize the importance of partners because without that, I don't think this program could have lasted 20 years. And I don't know, that's from our regional presidents, our client community relations teams, community development banking, our advisory council, all of our local partners, national partners. But Carol, you said it and we say it all the time, we are bankers, we are not really educators. And without their help and support, we wouldn't have made so many wise choices and been able to sustain the program and have the type of impact we have. So partners, partners, partners, they're the best.
Carol Cone:
That's great. That's a great way to end. Again, I want to say congratulations on your 20th anniversary of PNC Grow Up Great. It's great that you have been so involved and now that you are leading as chair and president of the foundation, your wisdom and your authenticity shines through the initiative. So congratulations and I can't wait to see Grow Up Great at 25.
Sally McCrady:
Thanks Carol so much, those are very, very kind words. I just have to say right back at you because this initiative wouldn't have been what it is without having your knowledge and skillset. And my gosh, you were our biggest cheerleader from the very beginning and we couldn't have done this without you. So we're incredibly grateful and I hope we talk way before the 25th anniversary.
Carol Cone:
So super. So congratulations. Thanks Sally.
Sally McCrady:
Thanks, Carol.
Carol Cone:
This podcast was brought to you by some amazing people and I'd love to thank them. Anne Hundertmark and Kristin Kenney at Carol Cone on Purpose. Pete Wright and Andy Nelson, our [inaudible 00:52:34] production team at True Story FM. And you, our listener, please rate and rank us because we really want to be as high as possible as one of the top business podcasts available so that we can continue exploring together the importance and the activation of authentic purpose. Thanks so much for listening.
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