Wachovia Foundation
Reinventing a Corporate Community Involvement Program To Reflect a Merger, New Vision and Core Values
When the Wachovia Corporation and First Union merged in 2001, forming the fourth largest bank holding company in the U.S., Wachovia's highly respected corporate contributions program had to be refocused to reflect the company's new vision, core values and rebranding efforts in a way that effectively met the new Wachovia's business and community needs. The merger presented an unrivaled opportunity to create a world-class program and to measure its impact, particularly in the area of education.
TCC Group undertook a strategic assessment of the Foundation, devising a strategy that would set the newly merged company apart from its competition, enhancing its competitive advantage both locally and nationally as it reached out to new customers, and introducing a process that ensured its grantmaking would be managed with the same scrutiny and rigor as all other areas of Wachovia business.
A New Strategy for Optimizing Performance
TCC Group conducted a document review, internal interviews with key stakeholders, a benchmarking study of peer companies, research on key issues in education, and meetings with a Wachovia steering committee. The information enabled TCC consultants to gauge how best to align the Foundation with the new corporate vision, brand and culture, while maximizing impact in Wachovia communities and capitalizing on all corporate resources to benefit the company and its communities, employees and shareholders.
TCC Group recommended a strategy-driven business model for the Foundation, using a three-category grant portfolio: employee-driven grants, including volunteer programs and time away for community service; market-driven grants, including those that meet community needs; and outcome-driven grants, based on narrowly defined goals and focus areas. Outcome grants could focus on improving student achievement by targeting the biggest factor that contributes to it: teachers and teaching.
Stronger Guidelines, Greater Impact
TCC Group also recommended that the Foundation increase regional autonomy by allocating contributions programs directly to regions, initiate a new review process for grantmaking, track progress on a corporate level, conduct formal evaluations of grants, capture community impact and Return on Investment by implementing rigorous evaluation systems, and improve communications efficiencies by leveraging the Foundation's website.
The changes reshaped the Foundation's contributions program, providing clear and unambiguous strategic direction, targeting priorities, increasing its focus on fiscal responsibility, resulting in the implementation of a uniform formula for budget distribution, and even elevating employee buy-in and volunteerism.
"TCC helped Wachovia create an effective strategic plan that aligned our corporate community involvement program with our newly merged company," commented Steve Bentley of Wachovia. "They understood how to respond to the various interests from stakeholders in our markets and within our company, while also helping us leverage our resources fully. Their experience, knowledge of the field, ability to work at all levels of Wachovia, and flexible, results-oriented approach added clear value. We look forward to continuing the relationship with TCC."
