Bath & Body Works Gives Back: Besa Receives 250,000 Grant

COLUMBUS, Ohio, September 7, 2023 /3BL/ - Today Bath & Body Works announces a $250,000 grant to Besa, a Central Ohio-based nonprofit organization that connects people and businesses to community service. From food pantries and community gardens to homeless shelters and senior homes, Besa has provided support to the Central Ohio region for over a decade.

The grant from Bath & Body Works will help fund four key Besa initiatives:

• Mobilizing Community Members to Respond to Crises: Allow Besa to mobilize even more volunteers to help people navigate unforeseen crises, like providing fans to people during a heat wave or checking on senior citizens during an electrical blackout.
• Advancing Equity in Underserved Neighborhoods: Build Besa’s capacity so it can better support nonprofits—and ultimately neighbors in need—by staffing food pantries and distributing diapers in communities like Linden and Franklinton.
• Overcoming Chronic Community Issues: Support Besa’s efforts to expand volunteer shifts with nonprofits addressing chronic issues, like helping outfit women at Dress for Success or preparing care packages for youth at Star House experiencing homelessness.
• Celebrating Heritage Months and Moments: Advancing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion by curating community engagement opportunities during meaningful times like Black History Month, Women’s History Month and Pride Month.

“For years, we have partnered with Besa on initiatives that serve and support underrepresented communities while inspiring volunteerism among our associates and fostering deeper connections to the community,” says Bath & Body Works Associate Vice President of Community Relations Rhoe Fields. “This investment will allow Besa to inspire that same volunteerism and connection with more in our community who are in times of crisis.”

“Bath & Body Works is an exemplary company on so many levels. The way they consistently seek to understand needs and find creative ways to fill gaps is incredible, and this gift is another example,” says Besa CEO Matthew Goldstein. “It will help us build capacity to serve even more nonprofits by mobilizing critical volunteers during the nation’s ongoing volunteer shortage. And it will enable us to deliver help and hope to our community’s most underserved and overwhelmed during emergencies, when they need that help and hope the most.”

Since partnering with Besa in 2018, over 1,800 Bath & Body Works associates have donated nearly 10,000 volunteer hours and facilitated more than $250,000 in community impact. Bath & Body Works was named Besa’s Corporate Partner of the Year in 2022, and today’s grant marks the largest corporate donation in Besa’s history.

For more information on Bath & Body Works’ commitment to community and philanthropy, visit bbwinc.com.

Contact:  
Emmy Beach 
Bath & Body Works 
communications@bbw.com

ABOUT BATH & BODY WORKS 
Home of America's Favorite Fragrances®, Bath & Body Works is a global leader in personal care and home fragrance, including top-selling collections for fine fragrance mist, body lotion and body cream, 3-wick candles, home fragrance diffusers and liquid hand soap. Powered by agility and innovation, the company's predominantly U.S.-based supply chain enables the company to deliver quality, on-trend luxuries at affordable prices. Bath & Body Works serves and delights customers however and wherever they want to shop, from welcoming, in-store experiences at more than 1,820 company-operated Bath & Body Works locations in the U.S. and Canada and more than 440 international franchised locations to an online storefront at bathandbodyworks.com.

ABOUT BESA

Besa is a Columbus-based nonprofit dedicated to powering a wave of civic engagement and supporting those who need it most by connecting people and businesses to community service. Besa makes giving back easy by curating more than 70 volunteer experiences every month that Columbus residents can easily find and register for at www.besa.org. It also helps business partners manage and strengthen their philanthropic efforts through strategic planning, curated volunteer experiences, volunteer management and philanthropy software.