Booz Allen's Powerful Year of Giving Capped Off with Washington Business Journal Recognition for Corporate Philanthropy Efforts

Booz Allen Hamilton founders Edwin Booz and Jim Allen believed that the values of corporate and individual citizenship make our communities better for all. Today, the firm is building on that vision by investing in social innovation and partnering with organizations that share Booz Allen’s values.

Whether championing STEM education, deepening the firm’s commitment to racial and social equity, or stepping up in times of crisis, Booz Allen and its Community Impact and Philanthropy team are focused on strengthening the communities where employees live and work.

Highlights follow of Booz Allen’s community impact and philanthropy for 2020—a year like none other—within the Washington, D.C. metro area and around the world.

Recognizing employee volunteer hours and firm financial giving

Rounding out 2020 is recognition from The Washington Business Journal, which ranked Booz Allen at No. 3 on its Corporate Philanthropy list for volunteer hours recorded in 2019 by the firm's employees. With a total of 59,976 volunteer hours in the Washington, D.C. metro region—nearly seven years’ worth of time—Booz Allen increased its employee-submitted service hours by nearly 8,000 hours from the previous year.

But time was just one part of the philanthropic picture for Booz Allen. The firm’s FY20 monetary donations also received recognition, with the firm making the list for philanthropic giving both within the D.C. metro region and worldwide.

“Strengthening the communities where we live and work, particularly during such a challenging year, is core to Booz Allen’s purpose and values,” said Christine Hoisington, head of Booz Allen’s Community Impact and Philanthropy Team and Executive Director of the Booz Allen Foundation. “We’re proud of this recognition and of realizing the vision of Booz Allen’s founding partners: using individual and corporate citizenship to make our communities better for all.”

(Virtual) holiday traditions and giving

On Giving Tuesday (December 1), Booz Allen launched its end-of-year giving campaign, which amplifies the firm’s collective impact toward causes employees are most passionate about. Throughout the campaign, the firm is matching 100% of employee donations made to approved nonprofit organizations through the firm’s internal giving platform, Booz Allen Cares.

Continuing to pivot amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Booz Allen launched its first-ever virtual toy drive in November, continuing a 29-year partnership with Marine Toys for Tots to support families and children in need. To date, the campaign has collected more than 3,000 toys, surpassing the initial goal of 2,500 donations.

A coordinated philanthropic response to a global pandemic

Through a multifaceted COVID-19 response, Booz Allen invested in the health and financial security of its people, their loved ones, and at-risk communities. Those actions included:

• Working with the CDC Foundation to assist frontline healthcare workers and vulnerable communities
• Supporting veterans and military families through the COVID-19 Military Support Initiative
• Addressing the immediate needs of vulnerable local populations through the Feeding America network of food banks and community-based agencies

The Booz Allen Foundation united innovators and experts in the COVID-19 fight with the Booz Allen Foundation Innovation Fund. Receiving nearly 3,000 applicants from all 50 states, the Booz Allen Foundation awarded nearly $1 million in grants to 21 nonprofits, university teams, entrepreneurs, and startups to solve critical issues caused by COVID-19 and address the pandemic’s wide-ranging impacts.

Finally, the firm’s COVID-19 response guided the volunteer efforts of Booz Allen’s employees, who directed their time and attention to support vulnerable populations, frontline workers, and military families and veterans. Employees set a goal of 10,000 virtual volunteer hours at the outset of the pandemic and ultimately logged more than 15,000 hours by year’s end.

Advancing race and social equity through employee giving

Through firm-wide listening sessions and cross-collaboration with Booz Allen’s African American Network and Multicultural Business Resource Group, Booz Allen gathered feedback from more than 900 employees to help inform its employee giving campaign in support of the Race and Social Equity Agenda, which includes a commitment to make race and social equity a major element of the firm’s corporate philanthropy.

Booz Allen launched the Race and Social Equity Employee Giving Campaign tied to Giving Black Day, which promotes financial giving for Black-led and Black-benefiting nonprofits. From August 28—a critical date in the U.S. civil rights movement and for the Black community—through September 31, Booz Allen and firm leaders matched employee donations 2-for-1 to the Equal Justice Initiative, the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, Year Up, and Black Girls CODE. Over this time period, the campaign raised more than half a million dollars. As a result of these initial investments:

• More than 50,000 Year Up students have gained access to technology for one year, putting career readiness in a virtual environment within reach.
• The Equal Justice Initiative received funding to continue efforts to eliminate excessive punishments, racial bias and discrimination in the criminal justice system; to provide free legal services to the poor, incarcerated, and condemned; and to produce a host of public education resources that address the legacy of slavery, lynching, racial segregation, and mass incarceration.
• More than 150 Black girls ages 7–17 have been provided with unlimited access to Black Girls CODE programming for the next year, including in-person and virtual workshops and enrichment activities.
• The Thurgood Marshall College Fund received additional investment to continue the critical mission of steadfast support to a number of HBCUs, more than 50 percent of which are educating first-generation college students.

Building change and creating impact—year-round

Booz Allen, its employees and its community partners worked hard in 2020 to meet critical community needs, foster the next generation of STEM talent, support employees and solve tough problems.

• Pre-COVID, Booz Allen volunteers and their families, led by the firm’s African American Network—and in partnership with City Year DC—gathered on Martin Luther King Day at Stuart Hobson Middle School in Washington D.C.’s Capitol Hill neighborhood to re-paint areas of the school to create a cheerier environment for students and teachers.
• As part of February’s National Engineering Week, Staff Scientist Blake Fernandez and Lead Scientist Shawn Lester from Booz Allen’s Huntsville, Alabama office engaged with local elementary students on careers in STEM, what engineers actually do, and where you can see STEM in everyday life.
• Members of the firm’s San Diego office completed a pro-bono effort with Support the Enlisted Project (STEP) to help enlisted military and veteran families build financial health and self-sufficiency through counseling, education, and grants.
• Booz Allen played a large role in this year’s first-ever virtual Girl Up Summit, serving as event partner, sponsoring data hot spots for girls with limited access to technology, and leading breakout sessions on getting girls into STEM earlier.
• In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Booz Allen provided support and powerful partnerships to foster remote learning opportunities, address immediate technology needs and foster tech talent—including giving to the District of Columbia Public Schools’ Empowered Learners Initiative that resulted in 400 hotspots to help students learn from home; supporting National Children’s Museum in D.C. by sponsoring a daily digital #STEAMWork series for children and their caregivers; and by donation to Huntsville, Alabama’s A Smart Place initiative that provides daily online learning tools to middle schoolers.
• Booz Allen’s Honolulu, Hawai'i office continued its support of Hawai'i FIRST Robotics (HFR) with three $2,000 grants to teams working to make robotics and STEM more inclusive.
• Booz Allen has been a proud sponsor of the Special Olympics of Virginia (SOVA) for more than a decade, and for the past several years has joined teams across the region at the organization’s annual Dulles Plane Pull. This year, the annual activity went virtual, with Booz Allen volunteers exercising at home to raise funds for the Special Olympics cause.
• Continuing a year-long partnership with Girls Who Code and Booz Allen’s Warner Robins, Georgia office, employees visited LK Moss Elementary for a day of innovation and exploration—building robots, creating animations and discussing possibilities in STEM careers.
• For more than a decade, Booz Allen has engaged with Girl Scout councils around the U.S. and provided volunteers and mentors with a focus on introducing STEM pathways—including a recent workshop in San Diego where employees supported 70 Girl Scouts in learning about cyber careers and internet safety.

Learn more about community impact and philanthropy and Booz Allen's commitment to race and social equity at Booz Allen.