Corporate philanthropy programs can help a firm attract and keep talented young professionals, according to experts in the field.
Anne Black, President of Goldman Sachs Gives; Sandra Liu Huang, the head of product at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative; and Kim Rubey, the head of social impact and philanthropy at Airbnb, discussed how their organizations were accomplishing their philanthropic goals at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Next Gen Summit Tuesday in Laguna Niguel, California.
Both Black and Rubey said the presence of a strong philanthropy program increases of the appeal of the company for both current and prospective employees, particularly among younger millennial workers. Black highlighted the benefits of Goldman Sachs’ “Analyst Impact Fund” — which gives young employees an opportunity to compete for a grant for a non-profit of their choice — noting that she sees a correlation between employee’s participation rates in the competition and tenures at the bank.
Rubey described how Airbnb’s philanthropic goal is tied into the company’s overall mission of making people feel at home wherever they go — in the case of philanthropy, it’s about providing homes to those in need during emergencies. The tool, she said, has been used in situations ranging from the hurricanes that struck the United States this fall to the global refugee crisis.
“The power of what one person does to help someone is amazing,” she said. “When you can do that at scale it is a very powerful thing.”
