Santander Bank, N.A. (“Santander Bank” or “the Bank”) today announced that it has awarded a second and final round of community grantees for 2024, bringing its full-year investment to over $13.3 million supporting 367 community partners through grants and sponsorships.

Santander Bank has longstanding and robust partnerships with many of these grantees and is building on these relationships with several significant investments in 2024 that align with Santander’s global focus on Education, Entrepreneurship, and Employability:

• $2 million to non-profit organizations that partner with Santander US on its Cultivate Small Business program, which helps early-stage entrepreneurs build and sustain businesses in the food industry, with a focus on supporting woman-, immigrant-, and BIPOC-owned businesses in low-to-moderate income neighborhoods.
• $1 million to support of the expansion of the Community First Fund Federal Credit Union (CFFFU) into a largely Latino and Black community in Philadelphia. The Bank’s 5-year investment builds on its initial $500,000 seed capital grant supporting the first CFFFCU branch in Lancaster, PA.
• $500,000 to Mid-Atlantic Housing Development Corporation for the conversion of a former industrial building into 46 affordable homes for individuals over the age of 62 in Reading, PA. This marks the Bank’s largest grant to support new affordable housing, reinforcing its leadership in community development lending.
• $455,000 total to support solar job training programs for youth and adults in Boston, New York City and Philadelphia, providing program participants with hands-on training, industry-accepted credentials and career support. Funding includes $240,000 to Community Workshops in Boston over two years, $140,000 to Opportunities Industrialization Center Inc. in Philadelphia over two years, and $75,000 to Green City Force in New York City over three years.
• $450,000 to The Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership at The City College of New York through 2028 for the Santander Finance Fellowship program, designed to prepare a diverse student body for careers in banking and finance by providing them with the tools they need to apply for analyst and internship experiences in their junior years.
• $300,000 to 13 Community Development Financial Institutions over three years, totaling nearly $4 million, as part of the Bank’s commitment to strengthening prosperous and sustainable communities through first-time and first-generation homeownership; green construction and rehabilitation of affordable housing; training, mentorship and capital for low-and-moderate income entrepreneurs; and clean energy loans and technical assistance for small businesses and nonprofits.

The Bank’s investments are part of the larger Santander US Community Plan, and this latest round of funding advances Santander’s commitment to the communities it serves.

About the Santander US Community Plan

The Santander US Community Plan is a three-year commitment of $4.6 billion in community reinvestment and $9 billion in sustainable finance, on behalf of Santander’s businesses across the United States. The Community Plan is an extension of the company’s ongoing commitment to sustainable solutions and helping people and businesses prosper for generations to come. From 2023 through the end of 2025, Santander US is committing:

• $1.5 billion in small business lending
• $3 billion in community development lending and investments, with more than $2.5 billion in affordable housing
• $9 billion in sustainable finance investment, with a focus on renewable energy
• 100% increase in direct supplier diversity spending
• $100 million in charitable giving to nonprofit organizations
• 100,000 employee volunteer hours in underserved communities