As 2022 concludes, the business world is facing challenges yet opportunities to shine a light on the positive abound. Continued challenges from the pandemic, inflation and supply chain, talent shortages and catastrophic weather events have impacted businesses and people across the country. Despite these challenges, the insurance industry continues to stand tall as a dependable leader for our communities and a catalyst of resilience and hope. Through the challenges of the past few years, our industry has continued to demonstrate a strong commitment to charitable giving and philanthropy. Just look at our numbers at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. U.S. insurers and charitable foundations donated roughly $280 million during the pandemic's early days, with the larger international insurance community contributing another $150 million, according to data from the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF) and the Insurance Information Institute (III). While it's too early to estimate this year's annual total giving numbers for the insurance industry, that commitment to giving has certainly persisted in 2022. In fact, in June 2023, IICF will publish its first Insurance Industry Philanthropic Index, a new resource that will provide a measurement of industrywide volunteerism and paint a detailed picture of the year in giving. This will include total volunteer hours of service by insurance professionals, the number of volunteers, total funds invested and granted into the community and the total number of nonprofit partners supported in the community. This measurement tool will not only be valuable in demonstrating the good we've done as an industry, but also in recruiting the next generation, who have voiced a desire to work within industries and for businesses that give back and encourage and enable their employees to do the same. As we celebrate the holidays, let us take this opportunity to reflect on our industry's spirit of giving and discuss what to expect in the year to come. At IICF, as the industry's charitable foundation serving to unite the collective strength of the industry, we are fortunate to see first-hand the impact we make when we work together.

Addressing food insecurity

The threat of food insecurity isn't going away, but the industry's cooperative dedication to this area of critical need has made a real difference. Even as both economic challenges and the pandemic continue to exacerbate the issue, industry professionals have worked to develop creative solutions, from new fundraising to virtual and on-the-ground volunteering. Together, these initiatives have raised funds and collected significant food and meal donations which have helped to address hunger across the U.S. and U.K. According to Feeding America, more than 9 million children faced hunger in 2021, which equates to one in every eight children in the country. More than 34 million people in total are food insecure in the U.S., and the need continues to grow as many families are still struggling in the post-pandemic economy. Through the IICF Children's Relief Fund and with the support of the industry, we have been able to provide nearly three million meals in the U.S. and U.K. since mid-2020. The Children's Relief Fund continues to grow and serve more of those in need, as companies continue to donate particularly throughout the holiday season. Just recently, IICF received an additional $10,000 contribution from Swiss Re to help combat food insecurity, which can be even more pronounced in the cold winter months. This year, after months of limited in-person volunteer events, we've also seen a renewed commitment to on-the-ground support. During the 2022 IICF Week of Giving, a week-long celebration of the industry's philanthropic work through a series of international service initiatives, thousands of professionals from across the U.S. and U.K. came together for volunteer projects dedicated to serving our communities. For example, in New York City and in the U.K., volunteers partnered with the nonprofit Rise Against Hunger, an organization dedicated to providing hunger relief, to prepare meals for individuals suffering from food insecurity. Additionally, through IICF's Fill the Truck campaign, an initiative dedicated to providing meals to families, children and seniors in need, industry members were able to collect and pack food to address local food insecurity. To date, with the enormous help of our industry's generous professionals, IICF has provided well over 700,000 meals this year, through Fill the Truck and other IICF grants and volunteer service dedicated to the fight against hunger.

Getting in the holiday spirit

Our industry has made a tremendous impact in targeting a variety of critical community needs across the U.S. and U.K. in 2022. More recently, we have seen a number of initiatives focused on making the holidays brighter for children and families in need including fundraising events for:

• Rise School of Houston: Insurance professionals partnered with the Rise School of Houston, an inclusive school providing education, therapy and intervention to students with and without disabilities, to provide books and craft kits to their 92 students. With these tools, the Rise School will be able to provide an even stronger curriculum for its students.

• ChildCareGroup: Members of IICF's Southeast Division and Associate Boards partnered with ChildCareGroup, a nonprofit serving kids ages zero to five living below the poverty line in Dallas with early childhood education, to provide 72 students with gifts, including warm jackets, toys and teddy bears and gift cards for teachers. Presents were delivered at a holiday party, hosted by IICF volunteers, that included holiday games and crafts with the students.

• Thriving Families Motherwise Colorado: Insurance volunteers from IICF's Colorado Chapter partnered with 2022 grantee Thriving Families' Motherwise program in preparing and sorting toy donations for their Winter Wonderland Holiday event, where more than 550 families enjoyed a festive meal together, connecting with community partners and secretly selecting gifts for their children in the surprise Toy Shoppe. Thriving Families offers programs that support women, children and their families during pregnancy and just after a baby is born — a critical period of development for children's futures.

• Oak Park River Forest Infant Welfare Society Children's Clinic: In the Midwest, insurance volunteers collaborated with the Oak Park River Forest Instant Welfare Society Children's Clinic to raise funds and purchase gifts for struggling families who may otherwise not receive gifts this holiday season. In total, 60 donors contributed presents for 19 families in the community.

• Enchanted Backpack: Volunteers in the Midwest from several major insurance companies gathered to fight winter weather, collecting coats for Enchanted Backpack, a nonprofit providing school supplies and essential items to students in under-resourced schools. The initiative collected 150 coats for students in pre-K through 8th grade.

• Hoboken Community Center: In New Jersey, volunteers from the Northeast Associate Board met at the Hoboken Community Center, a community resource providing food and hygiene supplies in Hoboken, NJ and its neighboring communities, to help restock their pantries ahead of the holidays.

What the next year will look like

In the past few years, we have seen that no matter the challenges, the insurance industry will find a way to give back and support those in need. Whether it's food insecurity, homelessness, children at risk or other critical community needs, our industry steps up to respond quickly and comprehensively support community needs. [caption id="attachment_231917" align="alignright" width="150"] Alisa Breese of the IICF. (Credit: Courtesy photo)[/caption] At IICF, we remain confident that the generosity and strength of commitment of our industry to further charitable giving and volunteerism will continue growing through 2023 and far beyond. We expect to see even more creative approaches to giving centered on making a lasting and significant impact. We anticipate that local and regional volunteer projects, community clean ups, food drives, donation drives and more will continue to be commonplace across the country, supported by even greater numbers of insurance professionals. This all leads to our industry making an even larger impact on social good as we move forward together. Insurance is a business rooted in being there in times of need. Our industry's dedication to giving back is also apparent in the continued commitment to our communities. As we continue to face challenges, the hardships of the last few years have demonstrated that the insurance industry will not waver in its commitment to respond swiftly, generously and compassionately to those in need.  Alisa Breese is vice president of communications at the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF). She can be reached at (949) 412-2143 or [email protected]. Opinions expressed here are the author's own.  Related:

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