Umpqua Tops New Record for Volunteerism

Last week a new record for community engagement in Oregon by Umpqua Bank. With 46,730 volunteer hours to 1,757 organizations across the Pacific Northwest, Umpqua Bank is setting a new industry standard in company volunteering with 93 percent employee participation in 2013.

These efforts are conducted primarily under the Umpqua  Bank Connect Volunteer Network. Established in 2004, Umpqua Bank’s Connect program has become a nationally-leading volunteer program that provides associates with paid time-off each year (40 hours for full-time and 20 hours for part-time) to serve at youth-focused organizations, schools and community development programs.

Umpqua Bank is climbing national charts through these programs, with recent rankings such number 55 on FORTUNE’s “100 Best Companies to Work For,” this year for the seventh consecutive year as the only Oregon-headquartered company to make the list.

Established in 2004, Umpqua Bank’s Connect program has become a nationally-leading volunteer program that provides associates with paid time-off each year—40 hours for full-time and 20 hours for part-time—to serve at youth-focused organizations, schools and community development programs.

Through the Connect Volunteer Network™, Umpqua associates are given the opportunity to choose the organization where they would like to be involved. Associates participate in a variety of activities such as spending time in schools, engaging in mentoring projects or dedicating their time to local food banks. Umpqua associates continually rank the Connect program as one of the bank’s most-valued employee benefits and nearly one-third of its participants say the program was their initial introduction to volunteerism.

Connect has been cited as a key factor in Umpqua’s inclusion on FORTUNE Magazine’s list of the country’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” the past seven years.

In 2012, Umpqua associates served a wide variety of organizations and schools across the company’s footprint, including Junior Achievement, Dress for Success, Habitat for Humanity,Wounded Warrior Project.

Umpqua Bank, headquartered in Roseburg, Oregon, is a subsidiary of Umpqua Holdings Corporation with locations between San Francisco and Seattle, along the Oregon and Northern California Coast, and in Central Oregon and Northern Nevada.