Employee Community Involvement: Purchase

Employees at MasterCard’s global corporate headquarters in Purchase, New York, help make a difference in area communities through volunteer and fund-raising activities coordinated through the S.P.A.R.C. (Sharing, Participating and Reaching the Community) team.

• Hundreds of employee volunteers participate in activities ranging from renovating the Westchester Exceptional Children’s School (founded in 1969 as a special education day program focusing on the educational, social, and emotional needs of young people aged 5–21 with disabilities) through AmeriCares Homefront, to clothing 80 children through “Back to School Clothes for Kids,” a program through which underprivileged children receive new outfits, backpacks and school supplies from volunteer sponsors.
• Working with elementary school partners, MasterCard volunteers spend lunch hours reading to third and fourth graders at JFK School in Port Chester, New York, through Everybody Wins!, a national organization that encourages mentors to read weekly with the same child, developing reading skills and confidence.
• S.P.A.R.C. honors the accomplishments of exceptional employee volunteers, designating them “Community Champions,” and awarding $5,000 to the nonprofits for whom they volunteer.

Employee Community Involvement: St. Louis

In the past year, more than 1,300 volunteers have joined Team MasterCard for charitable projects in the St. Louis metropolitan area. Examples include:

• Through an innovative mentoring program, employees are seeking to improve the lives of children, one kid at a time. To help create a model for business-education collaboration, more than 150 MasterCard Mentors have served more than 225 students since 2001. Projects center on online communications, with mentors typically spending six minutes a day to help their students and keep up on project status. We partner with International Telementor Program and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Missouri on these programs.
• Team MasterCard volunteers have significantly extended the reach of Junior Achievement of Mississippi Valley. More than 100 employees have taught immersion-style classes on financial literacy to underserved classrooms. Each semester, nearly 50 volunteers teach JA curricula for four to eight weeks at area schools.
• Team MasterCard volunteers also participate in one-time mentoring opportunities, such as career day speakers and career awareness fairs.

Employee Programs

Volunteerism is one way our employees give of themselves. MasterCard recognizes the personal contribution of our employees’ time, as well as their dedication. MasterCard employees read to schoolchildren, mentor students, plan projects to help their local communities, and serve as volunteer board members for many organizations. In recognition of these efforts, the MasterCard Volunteer Incentive Program provides the organizations where MasterCard employees volunteer with a monetary donation.

MasterCard also offers the Matching Gift Program to encourage and support the generosity and community involvement of employees, contributing matching funds to the eligible charitable organizations employees personally support.

In addition, in support of the company’s philanthropic focus, the MasterCard Scholarship Program is designed to recognize and encourage academic excellence and to assist the worldwide employees of MasterCard Worldwide in meeting the cost of their children’s undergraduate college education.