Nate Clark, President of the John Deere Foundation, says the company and its foundation gave $55.5 million to civic initiatives, 30% more than the previous year. Of the $55.5 million, the foundation contributed $22 million.
Employees volunteered more than 174,000 hours and personally gave $5 million. The Deere Foundation matched employee contributions.
Many types of nonprofits benefited from Deere donations such as the United Way and Habitat for Humanity. Clark says alleviating hunger is one of the foundation's highest priorities. Food banks serving all Deere communities received assistance including Des Moines, Waterloo, Dubuque, and the Quad Cities.
Gifts from Deere and Company and its foundation are unrestricted. That gives charities the flexibility they need to spend the money wisely and help the most people.
Clark also says in 2022, a total of $7.7 million from the Deere Foundation and Deere employees directly benefited the Quad Cities.
- The John Deere Foundation gave direct grants totaling over $3 million to QC organizations.
- Deere employees in the QC personally donated more than $2.2 million and logged more than 60,000 volunteer hours.
- John Deere matched local employee donations and rewarded their volunteerism through donations of nearly $2.5 million.
More than 25% of John Deere Foundation’s total investments (of $22.1 million) benefitted the Quad Cities region in some way.
In March 2021, the Deere Foundation announced plans to contribute 200 million dollars over ten years to help children and families, farmers, and employee volunteer efforts. The initiative is called, "We run so life can leap forward."
