JPMorgan Chase, the largest bank in the U.S., announced on August 21 that it will give $1 million to be split between two nonprofits that expose and fight extremists.
The two beneficiaries of the bank’s donation are the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). It will help the nonprofits further their work in tracking, exposing, and fighting hate groups and other extremist organizations in the U.S.
“The events in Charlottesville have increased the urgency to confront hate, intolerance, and discrimination wherever it exists,” JPMorgan Chase Head of Corporate Responsibility Peter Scher wrote in a memo to employees. “While there are no simple answers, it is vital that we recommit ourselves to the principles of equality, respect, and acceptance.”
The bank is also donating $50,000 to the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation to support its immediate and long-term efforts at reconciliation after an August 18 “Unite the Right” rally that brought a variety of extremists from right-wing militias to white supremacist groups to Nazi skinheads to the city.
In addition to making its own donation to ADL and SPLC, JPMorgan Chase will start a two-for-one matching campaign—two dollars from JPMorgan for every dollar from employees—for donations to a wide range of human and civil rights organizations. The bank will give up to an additional $1 million.
“As Elie Weisel said, ‘The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference.’ We won’t be indifferent to the forces that would tear our country apart. The ties that bind us are too strong,” the JPMorgan memo read.
Scher’s memo comes on the heels of a similar proclamation by JPorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who blasted President Trump for placing blame on “both sides” for the violence that resulted in the death of one counter-protestor and injured at least 14 more. “There is no room for equivocation here: the evil on display by these perpetrators of hate should be condemned and has no place in a country that draws its strength from our diversity and humanity,” Dimon said.
JPMorgan Chase isn’t alone among large corporations in making large donations to anti-hate organization. Apple CEO Tim Cook announced plans to donate $1 million each to SPLC and ADL. James Murdoch, son of Rupert Murdoch and CEO of 21st Century Fox, also pledged $1 million to the ADL.
Photo: JPMorgan Chase headquarters in New York City. Credit: Katherine Welles / Shutterstock.com
