Managing Experian’s community investment
Experian takes an active role in community activities, supporting charities and working directly with local projects:
- Taking part in these activities is popular with employees – they feel that they are contributing to their communities and that the company is supporting them in this. They are also able to learn new skills when working together.
- Developing stronger communities, either locally or nationally, has knock-on benefits for the business: It can make customers feel more predisposed towards Experian, it can create a better environment for commerce and trade and it can increase awareness of the company, attracting a wider pool of high quality recruits.
- The resources of the Experian Group can have a profound impact on charitable and community projects, through both direct giving and also through an in-kind contribution.
Experian International has a Community Involvement team that manages most of its local community engagement projects. Funding decisions are taken by a Community and Charity Committee, comprising staff representatives from across the business.
Experian International’s Community Involvement focus is “Changing Lives, Improving Futures”. By working with partners from the business, public statutory and voluntary sector, Experian is able to develop programmes and influence the direction of change, which creates opportunities for people to improve their education, skills and knowledge and to broaden their employment prospects. The programme encourages employee involvement in projects, providing motivational and developmental benefits for Experian’s people, and leading to high-impact, high-profile projects in the community.
Experian also has a strong consumer affairs / consumer education team. The focus of this work is on informing consumers, helping people make better financial decisions and control their finances more effectively. Experian is involved in a number of financial services industry initiatives, which are described more fully in the section on marketplace issues.
In Experian America the community involvement programme has a strong identity of its own and is known as ‘The Heart of Experian’. The programme is designed to engage employees, encouraging them to feel proud of Experian and working there, and helps bring Experian’s internal brand values to life.
‘The Heart of Experian’ focuses on helping people help themselves through education and community assistance. It comprises a number of elements:
- Volunteer Matching: An employee may request that Experian make a $200 donation to an organisation where the employee has completed at least 50 hours of volunteer service in a 12-month period.
- Organisation/Community Funding: Local area non-profit organisations are eligible for donations with decisions made by the Heart of Experian Committee based on written applications.
- Employee Participation Donation: Experian employees (not family members) may request that Experian make a donation in support of a particular event (walk/run, bake sale, etc.) designed to raise money for a qualified organisation.
- College Matching: Experian will match employee contributions to accredited non-profit higher education institutions up to $100 per college/university.
- Junior Elite: Junior Elite is a yearly programme that awards employee's children for exceptional scholastic achievement. The top 50 students (based on Grade Point Average) selected from received applications will be awarded a $100 US Savings Bond.
- Scholarship Awards: Experian awards 20 $1,000 scholarships each fiscal year to qualified graduating high school students of employees.