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2022 Corporate Social Responsibility Report
A key part of Fulton’s mission is to serve low- and moderate-income individuals, minorities, and small businesses operating in underbanked and underserved areas. Our efforts go beyond responsible banking to encompass a wholistic social capital strategy centered on helping our communities through volunteerism and donations as well.
of Our Communities Are Low-to-Moderate Income
of Our Communities Are Moderate-to-Middle Income
Begun in 2016 as an umbrella program for Fulton Bank’s community service work, Fulton Forward® has evolved to be the touchstone for all of our efforts to improve our communities through stewardship, volunteering and other endeavors.
Along with our entire Fulton family, we’re proud of the Fulton Forward® program and our contributions toward building vibrant communities with programs, products and services focused on four key areas:
Fulton periodically reviews its products and when appropriate, makes enhancements or introduces new products and programs that will enable us to reach underserved and underbanked communities more effectively across our footprint.
The Fulton Forward® Foundation GRC was formed in September 2022 with a purpose of serving as the initial vetting entity and application review point for all impact grants awarded by the Fulton Forward® Foundation. The GRC provides general oversight and funding recommendations to the Foundation’s Board of Directors, and ensures that the grant recipients exemplify one or more Fulton Forward® pillars.
A healthy community needs a healthy bank. That means putting our communities at the core of how we think, promoting DE&I and using that powerful combination to change lives for the better.
A key pillar of the Fulton Forward® initiative is embracing and advancing the concepts of DE&I in all aspects of our work. We believe that embracing the differences of all individuals makes us stronger. Respect and inclusion are a powerful foundation for all we do. Because when everyone is valued, we thrive as a community.
Lending to Majority-Minority Individuals
Lending to Hispanic Individuals
Lending to Low- and Moderate-Income Individuals
It all starts with our communities. Affordable housing and homeownership are the foundation of our efforts. We help potential homeowners who are faced with challenging economic or personal situations to successfully overcome these issues and realize their dream of owning a home.
Fulton offers several unique mortgage programs especially for first-time homebuyers and regularly hosts homebuying seminars that help explain the process and what customers can expect. This information helps customers avoid surprises and become more confident in their decisions.
The Fulton Bank team also gets hands-on in their support of affordable housing. In 2022, in partnership with Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit that helps families build and improve their homes, Fulton Bank employees helped construct three homes in Richmond, Virginia.
Our Community Reinvestment Act mortgage loan officers and team of Operation HOPE financial wellness coaches teach people of all ages how to manage their finances, enabling future generations to be more economically prepared than previous ones, empowering them with tools for success such as budgeting, understanding credit and saving for the future.
We have secured several long-term strategic partnerships with multiple community colleges and K-12 public schools across the footprint — including Harrisburg Area Community College - Lancaster Campus, York College in Pennsylvania and Hagerstown Community College in Maryland — to deliver ongoing young adult financial literacy programs. Topics offered to the students include how to bank, budget, and save for a home, college or retirement.
Community outreach officers, as well as commercial and consumer business lines, have implemented proactive business development plans focused on fostering additional relationships with community development partners such as affordable housing groups, nonprofit community development corporations and community development financial institutions, credit counseling, and financial literacy organizations.
Fulton works to address CRA compliance through policies, procedures, monitoring and testing of controls to self-identify and self-correct any potential weaknesses. This helps to ensure that we are meeting the credit needs of the communities we serve.
CLOSING COST ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
In partnership with Operation HOPE — a nationally recognized financial dignity and financial coaching organization — our closing cost assistance program makes homeownership more accessible. Eligible borrowers can receive up to $2,500 in grants toward their closing costs. Our cumulative Closing Cost Assistance Program grants from 2016 to 2022 surpassed $8 million.
COMMERICAL COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT LENDING
Affordable housing and economic development depend on investment, and our Commercial Community Development Lending team helps make that happen. We work to help finance construction projects and ventures that support community development.
We invest in the construction of affordable and accessible housing. We also help finance economic development projects that will stabilize or revitalize low- to moderate-income neighborhoods.
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT INVESTING
Our Community Development Investing team supports economic development activities, with a focus on activities that enhance employment, housing, and service opportunities for low- to moderate-income households and individuals.
Changing lives for the better means helping our neighbors. As part of Fulton Forward®, we contribute to job training and workforce development programs that enable individuals to reach their full potential through partnerships with organizations such as Tec Centro and Humanim.
Tec CentroTec Centro in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, provides bilingual education and vocational skills training to low-income individuals. It provides integrated support services to remove barriers that may inhibit career advancement by offering adult education completion, job readiness workshops, employment services, case management, bilingual training and multiple career pathways. Enabling a family to be self-sufficient helps them rise out of poverty, empowers generations onward and enriches the entire community.
2021-2023 Tec Centro Highlights
2,044 Individuals served | 7,393 Services provided | 315 Job placements
297 Micro-credentials attained | 83% Workforce programs graduation rate |
HumanimHumanim’s mission is to support and empower individuals who face social or economic challenges by building pathways to economic equity, opportunity and independence. They do this through over 35 programs in the areas of human services, youth services, workforce development and social enterprise throughout Maryland. The organization was founded on the belief that every human being has potential, and that work is transformative.
8 Fulton Bank Team Members volunteered for 10+ hours to conduct mock interviews with graduates. |
Teaching people of all ages how to manage their finances enables future generations to be more economically prepared than previous ones, empowering them with tools for success such as budgeting, understanding credit and saving for the future.
Participants Attended Financial Education Initiatives For Unbanked, Underbanked or Underserved Customers From 2021 to 2022
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2022 Mastery Pickett High School/VISA™ Financial Football Through our partnership with VISA™, Fulton Bank helped organize and staff the “VISA™ Financial Literacy Football Event” in Philadelphia. As part of the in-person event, the students answered questions about banking, credit, insurance and money management to play the football game and advance down the field. |
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Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship In 2022, the Fulton Forward® Foundation announced a $125,000 commitment to the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, a global educational nonprofit focused on bringing the power of entrepreneurship to youth in low-income communities. |
We have a long-standing relationship with Operation HOPE, a nationally recognized financial dignity and financial coaching organization. The organization recognized Fulton at its 9th Annual HOPE Global Forums in Atlanta for providing nearly $1 billion in loans to low- and moderate-income homebuyers.
In 2016, Fulton Bank began collaborating with Operation HOPE on financial literacy and economic inclusion initiatives. Fulton Bank participates in the Closing Cost Assistance Program, which provides grants to buyers to help with the up-front costs of purchasing a home. Fulton also sponsors Operation HOPE financial wellness coaches in eight locations throughout its footprint. The coaches provide free education to consumers, focusing on improving their credit and preparing them for the financial aspects of home ownership.
Fulton Bank has helped facilitate more than $968 million in loans to more than 5,700 homebuyers under the Closing Cost Assistance Program, and that cumulative total is on track to hit $1 billion in loans in 2023. In addition to homebuyer loans, the bank has donated more than $8 million in grants to make purchasing a home more affordable for low- and moderate-income buyers.
OPERATION HOPE PARTNERSHIP METRICS:
Clients Served With 8,000 Financial Empowerment Services
Average Services Per Client
Average Annual Household Income
of Total Clients Serviced Considered Low- and Moderate-Income
of Clients Served Increased Their Credit Score by an Average of 36 Points
Volunteering is a key part of how we support our communities. We believe in giving back, and we offer our team members the ability to take paid time off for volunteering. Fulton employees are driven to give back and to fully integrate our company into our communities. We do this because we want to make a positive social impact, which helps us all.
DelawareGeorgetown Team members partnered with First State Community Action Agency (FSCAA) in Georgetown for its backpack drive. FSCAA was the first, and remains the only, Community Action Agency in the state of Delaware. FSCAA offers 20+ programs that target the root causes of poverty and provides families and communities with the knowledge and tools needed to thrive.
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MarylandBaltimore Fulton Bank team members volunteered with Baltimore City YouthWorks at various organizations across Baltimore City including the 29th Street Community Center, We Rise, Banner Neighborhoods, Youth Advocate Program and The Be. Org’s Be. Virtual Program to provide financial literacy and workplace education to hundreds of students. |
New JerseyAtlantic City Fulton Bank awarded $1 million in grants as part of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs Neighborhood Revitalization Tax Credit Program. This funding will support two critical revitalization efforts in Atlantic County to establish regular neighborhood cleanups and attract new businesses and create new job opportunities, and to help diversify the local economy.
Trenton We committed $100,000 over a five-year period to the African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey. The funds will be used to support existing programs and initiatives, such as The Village Program, an initiative that provides financial literacy training for low- and moderate-income families in underserved communities; and the Technical Assistance for Small Businesses initiative to help entrepreneurs and minority businesses in need of micro loan funding for COVID-19/pandemic relief, recovery and business expansion. |
PennsylvaniaChester County We supported the YMCA of Greater Brandywine’s 13th Annual Chester County Corporate Golf Championship with a $10,000 champion level sponsorship. The donation will benefit the YMCA’s Seventh Grade Initiative and engagement program designed to cultivate and connect with youth during a crucial time in their development. Through this initiative, the YMCA offers complimentary one-year memberships to more than 1,500 seventh grade students throughout Chester County each year.
Lehigh Valley Our long-standing support of the Greater Valley YMCA saw us commit $25,000 over five years toward the organization in support of its Nazareth Capital Campaign to improve its Nazareth, Pennsylvania, facility. Planned renovations include Americans with Disabilities Act improvements to ensure accessibility to all people and construction of new classrooms and a commercial kitchen to provide care and meals for up to 100 preschool-aged children.
Statewide As part of the Pennsylvania Educational Improvement Tax Credit program, Fulton Bank donated more than $725,000 to educational organizations across the state in December 2022. |
VirginiaRichmond In November 2022, we partnered with the law firm Williams Mullen to provide rehabilitation work on three single-family homes through Habitat for Humanity.
Fulton partnered with Fahrenheit Advisors to celebrate Juneteenth with a historical program that honored Dr. Ronald A. Crutcher, the first African American president at the University of Richmond and a distinguished classical musician. The celebration also featured the art of Dr. Eugene Vango, a retired educator, who has participated in over 30 one-person art shows and over 60 group shows. A musical perspective highlighting the journey of Black music was presented by Dr. Karen Savage, Dr. Betty Neal Crutcher, Dr. Eugene Vango and Retired Sergeant Major William Carter. Fulton made a donation to the endowment held by the Crutcher family at the University of Richmond. |
Across MarketsNearly $400,000 in housing grants from the Fulton Forward® initiative were split between 71 organizations throughout the Philadelphia, Lancaster, Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Virginia markets in December 2022 to support sustainable housing and affordable homeownership efforts moving forward. |
Employee Volunteer Hours (2021 to 2022)
The William & Lanaea C. Featherstone Foundation of Maryland is an award-winning nonprofit that advances the economic outcomes of immigrant families. In our partnership, we assist with intake interviews for program participants and have previously provided permanent employment opportunities for foundation mentees. Over the past four years, the Featherstone Foundation and Fulton Bank have collaborated on several initiatives to provide access to outreach opportunities to multilingual communities. As part of our Diversity Scholarship Program, which offers financial support to those looking to continue their education and gain employment experience at Fulton Bank, the foundation matches Fulton Bank’s $1,500 scholarship across the Baltimore market. Our strong partnership with the Featherstone Foundation enabled the nonprofit to provide 30 Baltimore-area students with a scholarship in the amount of $3,000 each through a $90,000 fund in 2022.
Cristo Rey’s work-study program provides motivated and talented students from Philadelphia the opportunity to gain a quality education and invaluable work experience in preparation for college. Team members from various Fulton lines of business worked with students to provide them with hands-on work experience and career skills.
In connection with the acquisition of Prudential Bancorp, Inc. and its subsidiary, Prudential Bank, Fulton Bank made a $2 million contribution to the Fulton Forward® Foundation designated to provide impact grant gifts in support of nonprofit community organizations in Philadelphia that are focused on advancing economic empowerment, particularly in underserved communities.
