$915,000: contributed by team members and corporate giving to the United Way
$127,000: Jack Parker Scholarship dollars awarded through 126 scholarships
30,000: volunteer hours supporting Here Matters community projects
4,300: Here Matters community projects completed
Here Matters
The best way to ensure the long-term health of our bank is to help ensure the health of the communities we serve. That means more than taking deposits, providing loans, or earning the right to do the next transaction. It also means serving with our time, talent, and resources.
At Synovus, we express our commitment to communities through Here Matters, our community outreach program. Here Matters builds on a century-plus legacy of service to local communities as the bank of here, focusing Synovus’ volunteer and financial contributions in three areas: education, needs-based opportunities, and health and wellness.
Meeting simple needs, honoring our heroes
Synovus team members demonstrate that Here Matters through pre-planned, footprint-wide projects — and through our rapid response to event-driven needs.
In the spring of 2019, team members collected more than 15,600 bottles of water, three tons of peanut butter and jelly, 1,170 books, and volunteered for more than 50 projects across our footprint during our spring Here Matters Outreach. Some of the community organizations we supported during the spring project included more than 28 local food pantries in Atlanta, City of Lights in Jasper, AL, Manna Food Bank in Pensacola, and Harvest Hope Food Bank in Columbia.
In Columbus, students from Truth Spring Academy, Fox Elementary and residents of the North Highland neighborhood joined us for a block party, celebrating our month-long Here Matters partnership with Truth Spring Academy. Synovus team members served breakfast to all students three days a week and helped procure supplies for students and teachers.
In Montgomery, team members joined the scholars at Valiant Cross Academy to learn about financial responsibility and operating a small business for the school’s community garden.
In Sumter, SC, team members helped the local Habitat for Humanity chapter build a home for the Davis family.
In the fall of 2018, team members collected nearly 28,000 diapers and more than 4,500 10-item toiletry kits (including shampoo, soap, deodorant, shaving cream, razors, etc.) for Synovus’ first ever Simple Needs Project. Boxes of diapers, baby wipes, toothpaste, mouthwash — 73,000 items in all! — were assembled into kits and packed for delivery to more than 80 community service agencies across our footprint, including Nashville Rescue Mission, Tuscaloosa One Place, St. Pete Free Clinic, and Transitions Homeless Center.
Team members also collected nearly 5,000 children’s books for distribution to more than a dozen community, education, and literacy organizations including Books for Keeps in Athens, Georgia; United Way of Nashville; and the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Chattahoochee Valley.
Columbus market executive Heath Schondelmayer reads with Boys and Girls Club members.
In the fall, we celebrate military, public safety officers, and first responders as part of an “Honoring Our Heroes” outreach. Picnic lunches and meal deliveries to fire stations and precincts are provided to on-duty first responders throughout the footprint.
Fire, police and EMS from Columbus/Muscogee County, GA, and Russell and Lee Counties, AL, gathered for a picnic at Synovus headquarters.
Not every initiative is planned in advance. After Hurricanes Irma and Michael ripped through Florida and South Georgia in 2017 and 2018, respectively, team members in Columbus dispatched relief convoys. Using branches in impacted markets as staging areas, the team distributed hundreds of cases of water, gas generators, lumber, carpentry tools, and other supplies, and provided assistance with clean-up efforts. Around the footprint, team members raised more than $26,000 and the company contributed an additional $16,000 for distribution to team members with immediate needs and for community relief efforts.
Synovus team members clear trees in Lee County and Collier County, Florida.
As part of Here Matters, Synovus provides financial and volunteer contributions to local agencies such as United Way, which we support in many of the communities in our footprint, and Feeding America food banks. We also have long-standing relationships with many elementary, middle, and high schools as part of Here Matters’ focus on education. And Synovus’ team member-funded Jack Parker Scholarship fund has helped hundreds of team members’ children attend college.
Honoring our Team Matters
“The fight against human trafficking has been an important part of my life for nearly a decade, and I can’t imagine an employer more supportive of my efforts than Synovus. The company strengthens communities through locally-driven Here Matters projects, and I’ve enjoyed participating in those and seeing the difference they make in my Middle Georgia community. As important, though, I appreciate that the company empowers team members to make a difference where here matters in their own hearts.”
Christine Watson, 2017 William B. Turner Community Impact Award Winner
As part of Here Matters, Synovus provides financial and volunteer contributions to local agencies such as United Way, which we support in many of the communities in our footprint, and Feeding America food banks. We also have long-standing relationships with many elementary, middle, and high schools as part of Here Matters’ focus on education. And Synovus’ team member-funded Jack Parker Scholarship fund has helped hundreds of team members’ children attend college.
