Arbella Celebrates 2018 Philanthropic Initiatives

The Arbella Insurance Foundation (“Foundation”) is proud to announce the donation of more than $2.4 million in 2018 to support 667 different charitable organizations throughout New England and in support of local disaster relief. Arbella Insurance Group (“Arbella”) employees also contributed 1,307 hours to volunteering for 13 different nonprofit organizations throughout New England. The Foundation finds great value in working with and supporting Arbella employees and agents who provide in-depth insight into the needs of the local community allowing the funds to have a direct impact on those in need.

“At our core, Arbella is a community-centered organization,” said John Donohue, chairman, president and CEO of the Arbella Insurance Group and chairman and president of the Arbella Insurance Foundation. “I continue to see our employees and our independent agents band together around local causes, creating a strong presence for charity events. I am grateful to see that energy and that ethos thrive within our organization as it truly makes a lasting impact in our communities and beyond.”

The Arbella Insurance Foundation supports a wide range of charitable organizations spanning causes including youth and families, health and wellness, homelessness and hunger, veterans, safe driving, arts and culture, climate change, cybersecurity, immigration and disaster relief.

Highlights among the Foundation’s 2018 charitable giving initiatives include:

Arbella Employees Participate in Charitable Giving: The Foundation and the employees of the Arbella Insurance Group gave more than $286,000 in support of a range of causes that were meaningful to Arbella’s employees. The Foundation matched $81,194 in donations made by employees to various nonprofit organizations. Additionally, employees came together as robust teams to take part in 61 charity walks and other events with the Foundation’s support of $51,400 including: 

• Stop the Stigma – Interfaith Social Services, Team Arbella
• Kate’s Run – Kate Phalon McCarthy Memorial Fund, Team Arbella
• Out of Darkness Walk – American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Team Bearingstar
• Cake Walk – Birthday Wishes, Team Bearingstar

Arbella Employees Engage in Volunteerism: Arbella’s Foundation organized 47 volunteer events to support 13 different organizations in which 308 Arbella employees participated during the work day. Employees enjoyed carving pumpkins for New England Wildlife Center, packaging birthday party “goody bags” for Birthday Wishes, making bag lunches to serve at homeless and veterans shelters and composing well wish notes to accompany back packs supplied to Cradles to Crayons, among other activities.

 

Partnership with Arbella’s Independent Agents: Arbella’s independent agents and the Foundation together donated more than $604,090 in support of a variety of local causes. Arbella’s independent agents are actively involved in their communities and help the Foundation identify local institutions in need such as schools, YMCAs, food pantries, social service agencies, arts and culture organizations and health research organizations.

 

Special Matching Gift Programs: In 2018, the Arbella Insurance Foundation instituted special matching gift programs for Arbella employees and independent agents to support:

• Special Olympics Massachusetts 50th Anniversary: Through the matching gift program, the Foundation donated a total of more than $40,000.
• Merrimack Valley Disaster: In response to the tragedy, the Foundation sent more than $50,000 through the matching gift program to victims of the disaster.

Health & Wellness: In 2018, the Arbella Insurance Foundation supported: 

• Journey Forward 10th Anniversary: The Foundation continued its long-standing partnership with Journey Forward, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping patients overcome paralysis, by donating $50,000.
• Boston MedFlight Capital Campaign: The Foundation supported Boston MedFlight’s capital campaign to build a new critical care transport operations facility and corporate headquarters. The nonprofit organization provides lifesaving services through critical care transport by air and ground.
• Pink Day 10th Anniversary: October 16 marked the tenth annual Pink Day in which Arbella employees joined forces with the Foundation to raise a record-breaking amount exceeding $50,000 to donate to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to support cancer screenings and education for medically underserved populations.

Hunger Relief: The “Let’s Drive Out Hunger” fundraising campaign surpassed $1 million over 10 years. The initiative centers on a matching gift program in which the Foundation matches donations made by independent agents, on a two-to-one basis, up to $1,000 per agency. From November 1, 2017 through February 28, 2018, a total of $129,670 was raised through the program for local food pantries, soup kitchens and food programs in nearly 100 communities across New England.

 

Safe Driving: The Foundation built upon its long-standing commitment to keeping drivers safer on the roads by supporting:

• Distractology, a key program of the Foundation, has educated more than 17,300 new drivers in New England on the dangers of distracted driving since 2010.
• The Norfolk County District Attorney’s Team Rival Peer Leadership Challenge by sponsoring a distracted driving safety competition for 889 students at 19 different high schools.
• The Live Nation Designated Driver initiative through the volunteerism of Arbella employees who serve as a crucial component to the success of this program.

Bearingstar Insurance Charitable Fund: In 2018, the Bearingstar Insurance Charitable Fund, a part of the Arbella Insurance Foundation donated $103,350 to 51 organizations throughout Massachusetts and Connecticut. 

About the Arbella Insurance Group and the Arbella Insurance Foundation

Established in 1988, the Arbella Insurance Group (www.arbella.com) is a company with more than $800M in revenue with approximately $1.5B in assets, headquartered in Quincy, Massachusetts. Arbella is a customer-focused regional property and casualty insurance company, providing personal and business insurance in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and business insurance in Rhode Island and New Hampshire. The Arbella Insurance Group founded the Arbella Insurance Foundation in 2004. Recognized as one of the Boston Business Journal’s “Top Charitable Contributors” for eleven consecutive years, the mission of Arbella’s Foundation is to engage in activities and to support not-for-profit organizations that have a significant positive impact on the people and communities served by Arbella.