Kim: Welcome, everybody, to the Life at Travelers podcast. Another great episode for you here. Today, we are diving into community. And so, I have a couple of guests here with me today, Rita Ortiz and Lisa Cameron. Here to talk all things community and volunteerism and philanthropy here at Travelers. So, I’ll kick it over to both of you. Do you want to introduce yourself and tell us what you do here?

Rita: Want me to go first, Lisa?

Lisa: Yes, sure.

Rita: Alright. So, I serve as Senior Director in Community Relations for the Travelers Company and Assistant Vice President of the Travelers Foundation. I help to manage the company’s giving portfolio in Minnesota and I’m also responsible for the management of Community Connections employee field office grants, which support volunteerism in the field, matching and volunteer rewards, which we’ll talk about in a little bit, and I also serve as a consultant for our international offices.

Kim: So, you’re bored, really.

Rita: A little bit. Yeah.

Kim: Excellent, Rita. No, that’s amazing. Thank you. And Lisa?

Lisa: Yes, I’m Lisa Cameron. I am the Vice President of Enterprise Billing and Receivables Management, which is a very fancy way of saying I lead the team that collects almost all of the money that runs through Travelers.

Kim: Gotcha. Excellent. Well, thank you both for being here. I’m super excited to get into this today. So, Rita, I’ll start with you. Can you share some insights into the Travelers approach to philanthropy?

Rita: Absolutely. So, Travelers believes that strong communities are sustained by educational and economic opportunities, and we’re dedicated to assisting our communities in actually generating those opportunities. We focus on inclusion, and we target our giving and our volunteerism to help advance academic and career success, develop thriving neighborhoods and create culturally enriched communities.

Kim: That’s great. Okay. And can you tell us a little bit about your team, the Community Relations team here at Travelers and, kind of, some of your strategic tactics that you use?

Rita: Sure. So, we have a great team. We consist of seven members. Marlene Ibsen is our leader. She serves as the CEO and President of the Travelers Foundation, and Vice President of Community Relations. Then, we have our operations team, which is led by Tara Spain and Kelly Fournier and Kim Tallard, and their additional efforts include post-secondary education and attainment, which includes our Travelers EDGE® program, Empowering Dreams for Graduation and Employment, which I’ll talk about a little bit later, our small business support programs and the culturally enriched initiatives such as Art Speaks. And Roxanne Ringuette serves as manager for our national and local employee involvement programs and other efforts. And Erin Haberman leads our Hartford partnerships and our disaster relief, resilience and response efforts, which include a focus on affordable housing, and our Travelers fortified communities initiatives.

We’re driven by our strategic pillars, which include business alignment. We’re always working to align to the business. We have signature programs, which also connect back to the business. We provide thought leadership in different arenas such as attending conferences. We promote inclusion and aligning with ED&I’s [Enterprise Diversity & Inclusion] efforts. And we’re always working to drive impact relating back to the company, maybe tying back to the brand as we have employees going out to volunteer. They have the Travelers branded T-shirts on. So, we’re showing our good efforts there. And lastly, our business integration strategy. Our team serves as liaisons and consultants to all Travelers business lines and the Diversity Networks.

Kim:

Wow. Amazing. And just seven of you are doing all of that.

Rita: Yes.

Kim: It’s wonderful work and thank you for sharing that. And you mentioned matching gifts, volunteer awards program.

Rita: Yes.

Kim: What does that entail?

Rita: Sure. So, we help amplify our employees’ generosity with matching gifts and volunteer rewards. So, from 2014 to 2023, we matched our employees’ gift of time and treasure with $21 million. That is nothing to…

Lisa: Amazing.

Kim: Yeah.

Rita: …laugh at. Our program offers an annual cash match of up to $500 per employee for donations made through our online portal. And employees are also eligible to earn volunteer rewards at a rate of $20 per hour logged, which then they can designate to eligible charities in our system, and employees can earn up to $1,000 annually. So that’s $1,500 that employees have in benefits to support organizations that they care about.

Kim: Yup, I know, I can say, personally, I’ve logged my hours in years past. I know we talked before the podcast episode, I have to do mine for this year.

Rita: Yes, please.

Kim: And yeah, I’ve been able to get those rewards back and give them to charities, I mean, I get to hand select the ones that mean so much to me and it feels really impactful. You know, it feels like the work we do matters. So, I love that we have that.

And, Lisa, I want to talk with you a bit about your volunteering experience. I know that you have a plethora and I know you’re logging your hours, too, right?

Lisa: Yes. Although, I am a little behind this year, so I will get it done before the end of the year.

Kim: We have to-do’s, Rita. Lisa and I have takeaways.

Rita: You have to do this. Our goal this year is 120,000 volunteer hours and we’re almost there.

Kim: Amazing.

Rita: So, please, ladies.

Kim: You got it.

Lisa: I have it on my calendar to do it before the end of the year, I promise.

Kim: So, Lisa, tell me about your volunteering experience.

Lisa: Sure. So, I am a lifelong volunteer. I started out young in life doing service projects and it carried into my adult life. And I try to do things that are meaningful to me, personally, and also can tie into my own life. So, some of the things that I’m focused on right now, I’m on the board of my daughter’s Montessori school because she’s important to me and I want to give back in that way…

Kim: Definitely.

Lisa:  …but I also focus in the greater Hartford area, primarily on food and shelter stability. And so, I’ve been on the board of one charity in particular, Hands on Hartford, which that is their core mission. They help individuals that are experiencing homelessness either find housing or give them supported services. They also help feed families through their food pantry and other services and also help feed the community in a dignified way through their “pay what you can” contribution-based restaurant. So, I’ve been on their board for nine years and that definitely helps fill my cup as well.

Kim: Oh, thank you for sharing that. And I’m curious through your experiences and Rita you as well, you know, any interesting volunteering stories, you know, experiences of giving back that have touched you, touched the people you’ve served? I’m curious.

Lisa: So, I would say, you know, as I do my work with Hands on Hartford, sometimes I get to come face-to-face with the clients that we’re serving, and sometimes it’s conceptual. And so, one evening I was at a fundraiser at Hands on Hartford’s office over in Parkville area, and coming out of there, I saw someone on a street corner who appeared to be experiencing homelessness. It may have been temporary, I’m not sure. Very young man. And he had a sign up that he was hungry. And while I don’t personally feel good handing money out of my car window, I did realize that I had not eaten my lunch that day and so, I had an apple and a protein bar and some other snacks in the car. So, I rolled down the window and I went to hand them to the young man, and before he even had his hand out of the window, the apple was already in his mouth. And it was so impactful to me to see firsthand someone experiencing that, and also know that I could do something very small to help them. But then, I also educated him about Hands on Hartford, which was less than a half a mile away, and let him know that that was there as a resource for him and that he should potentially connect with them and see what they could do to support him. So, it just really reinforced “the why” for me and put it in a very real and tangible way for me.

Kim: Of course. That apple for him will probably translate into a much bigger thing. So, thank you for sharing. Rita?

Rita: Yeah. I can think of many examples but the one that comes to mind is through our Empowering Dreams for Graduation and Employment program, EDGE, that I mentioned earlier. It’s our education signature program where we’re supporting students in a variety of ways – introducing them to insurance and financial services, especially at Travelers, and supporting them with scholarships and, hopefully, internships. And we’ve had a number, hundreds of students go through the program and some come to work at Travelers, ultimately. We’ve had some of those students that have, in turn, now become mentors for the next generation of Travelers EDGE scholars coming through the program. And I think that just says a lot.

Kim: Yeah, it’s a continuous loop, almost.

Rita: Giving back.

Kim: And now I know we are talking a lot about employees volunteering, right? And so, when folks are potentially interested in coming to work for a company, apply for a position, you know, with Travelers, for example, right? They want to volunteer, but they’re wondering, am I using sick time for that? Am I using, you know, PTO or… How does that work where folks want to volunteer, they want to take some time off of work to go do that. What is the Travelers policy?

Rita: Yeah. So, we definitely believe that volunteering, or even serving in a civic capacity, offers opportunities for professional growth. And we believe that it can also provide opportunities for team building. Right, Lisa? Like, we’ve had a lot of teams come together and do things, even internally, at Travelers. A great way to build teamworking and networking and some bonding. So, our policy suggests that employees must seek approval from management, from their managers in advance, if they require time off from work to participate in activities, for both volunteering and civic service. And it’s primarily for company-designated opportunities. So, it’s pretty flexible, I would say.

Lisa: Yes, for sure.

Kim: That’s great. Yeah, I know on my team, we do, we try to do multiple times a year, we all get together, right? Because we’re all in different states. And, oftentimes, you know, my leadership will say… I’ve worked with you, Rita, oftentimes about, you know, we want to do something all together. We want to go out in the community while we’re all together and do something outside, get out of the office. And it’s true, the team building aspect is huge. We have some of our best memories from those times together. Times of laughing, right? And times of being very touched and impacted. It’s so important and I can say, you know, as an employee at Travelers, I so appreciate that flexibility. It’s so important.

Rita: It’s been great working with you and creating some of those opportunities with your team.

Kim: Yeah. No, it’s been really fun and I look forward to the years to come, you know.

So, thinking about candidates, right? Thinking about Travelers as a potential employer, still keeping that lens, what would you tell somebody who might be interested in working at Travelers? It’s a question I always ask my guests because I’m so curious, from your different perspectives, what would you tell somebody? Either one of you.

Lisa: So, I’m a newbie here. I’ve been here just over four years. A newbie in the terms of Travelers tenure. And I will say, it was very refreshing to come into a company that was similar-minded to me as far as my approach to philanthropy and giving back to the community. It was just so refreshing to know that I did have that ability to serve on boards or take my team out and do an activity. So here, I would say, it’s a place that values that and creates those opportunities throughout the year and it’s just a wonderful thing to experience.

Rita: Yeah, it’s so cool to share that, last year, Travelers, teams hosted more than 300 events and fundraisers out of Travelers’ Community Connections platform, it’s our internal platform, and that’s compared to 156 in 2022, which is a 96% year-over-year increase. That’s quite an accomplishment. And I know that this year we topped that number even more. So, we haven’t finalized those numbers, but there’s no doubt in my mind. And again, last year, we logged 103,000 hours and we’re approaching 120,000 hours.

Kim: Wow.

Lisa: Amazing.

Rita: I’m just blown away. You know, before COVID, and we always talk about COVID, in conversation COVID always comes up.

Kim: I know.

Rita: We were well above approaching 150. So, the fact that we’re back to 120, I think, says a lot about our culture.

Kim: Yeah. Excellent. Thank you for doing that. And yeah, it’s embedded in the culture. You can feel it. You know, it’s not just, oh I, you know, I go home in my normal life and I do my volunteering as an individual. No, I’m in Diversity Networks and we’re volunteering together. I’m in my own business unit and we’re volunteering together. I’m a Leadership Development Program participant and we’re doing it. You know, it’s embedded in the culture. You can feel it. And so, I’m not shocked we’re bouncing back. It’s great to hear as far as the number of hours.

We’ve talked about a lot today, but I’m wondering if there’s anything we haven’t touched on that’s important to, that either of you would want to circle back to.

Lisa: So, I would just say, if you’re someone that maybe hasn’t made the time to volunteer yet or you’ve been thinking about volunteering, you should absolutely do it. Find something that is meaningful to you that hits close to home or warms your heart and do it. Because, even though it feels like you’re giving as part of that volunteer process, you’re actually going to receive far more than you give and it is the most rewarding thing that you could possibly do.

Rita: Yeah, Lisa, I couldn’t agree more. I think, volunteering also helps to build some skill sets that you might be looking maybe to, that next job promotion within Travelers. Go out and find a nonprofit that could help you build that skill set.

Lisa: I would agree with that 100%, because early in my career, I had a significant fear of public speaking, I didn’t have an opportunity to manage people right away, and I didn’t really work on projects that often. And through my volunteer work, I was able to get some of those skills and work towards overcoming my fear of public speaking. Although, it’s always a little bit of a work in progress, I feel a lot more comfortable now than I did back then.

Kim: Yeah. No, you seem like a natural in front of the mic.

Rita: Absolutely.

Kim: I would say, too, thinking about it while we’re talking, and it’s growing your network and connections, too, right? I, and right, here comes the pandemic again. But during the pandemic, I had signed up for delivering groceries to an elderly couple and, I think we were months into this going on, and I ended up finding out that the woman was a Travelers retiree. And it was this really, you know, spur of the moment, you know, spontaneous thing that I got connected with them. They ended up being in my Travelers community and now I get Christmas cards, birthday cards from them, you know, it created a real friendship. And, yeah, like you said, Lisa, you get back what you give and more. So, I would echo both what you’re saying. It brings a lot. It brings a lot, too.

Well, thank you both so much for being here. This was really fun.

Lisa: Yes. Thank you for having us.

Rita: Thank you so much.

Kim: It’s such an important topic. And, like Rita said, if you want to learn more about our community involvement, you can check out our website and thank you for listening, as always, and we’ll be back, very soon, with another episode. Take care.