Supporting The Community
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Bank of Hawaii CEO Al Landon (center) and
(from left) Donna tanoue, Peter Ho, Mary Sellers
and Alton Kuioka serve breakfast at kapiolani
Park for employees who participated in the
HeartWalk
Bank of Hawaii has been a supporter of community activities for many years. This support is formally recognized in the bank’s Vision Statement, “Exceptional people building exceptional value for our customers, our island communities, our shareholders and each other.”
Bank of Hawaii takes a multi-faceted approach to building value for the community. Each of the approaches is inter-related. The most important is maintaining a strong stock value. Generally a strong stock value comes from growth and profitability. At first blush, it may appear self-indulgent to place priority on share price. Some may ask, “What about the customers? What about the employees? What about the community?”
We all agree that each of those constituencies is important. However, our emphasis on a strong stock value does not ignore our other constituencies. In fact, it recognizes that in order to be of value to our shareholders, we must be of value to our customers, employees and the communities in which we do business. In the end, a public company that disappoints its shareholders winds up disappointing others as well. It takes a healthy company - public or private - to muster the resources to take care of all of its stake-holders. A strong, healthy company reinvests in its people, facilities and the community. Everyone benefits.
We encourage employees to be involved in community activities. The involvement takes many forms, from serving as leaders of civic, professional, educational, cultural and health organizations, to supporting fund-raising activities, such as the recent Heart Walk to benefit the American Heart Association. Bank of Hawaii assumed a leadership role in this annual event and contributed $20,000. More importantly, more than 1,300 bank employees and family members joined in the walk and contributed more than $140,000.
The bank has a small unit of employees who provide organizational, promotional and motivational support to charitable and other events. In addition, there is a small group of employees who support and aid “non-profit” organizations. These individuals coach organizations on management, governance, funding and operations.
As one of the largest contributors to community organizations, our Charitable Foundation provided more than $3.3 million in direct financial support in 2004. This support included about $750,000 as part of the bank’s commitment to the “2nd Century Scholars Program.” Created in 1997 to recognize the bank’s 100th anniversary, this program identified 100 deserving high school students who were provided mentoring, financial and other aid to help them through the college of their choice.
This summer, the program celebrated the success of more than 70 of those students who used the program to complete their college studies.
Aloha United Way, which begins its 2005 annual campaign this month, is another important community organization we support, along with many capital campaigns for schools and cultural organizations.
This financial aid is dispensed after a thorough evaluation and “scoring” of requests based on the bank’s internally developed criteria. The scoring focuses on identifying causes that are organized, have broad support and provide a clear benefit to residents of island communities served by Bank of Hawaii.
In the last couple of years, the number and amount of requests for support have grown rapidly, faster than our economy or population. Our ability to maintain or increase the support depends on growth of the bank’s resources - both financial and human. Bank of Hawaii looks forward to continuing to support community causes, as a part of its vision of building value.
Next week: Joe Kindrich, Hick’s Homes
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