Eight years ago, Old National Bank, headquartered in Evansville at 1 Main St., set out to offer more charitable help to the communities it serves.
Already a philanthropic-minded corporation, its new CEO, Bob Jones, wanted to see its contributions expanded, its focus broadened, so he launched the ONB Foundation in the spring of 2006.
Today, its footprint extends across four states, pumping more than $3 million annually into not-for-profit organizations.
“We just didn’t want to keep writing checks,” says Janet Baas, who Jones named to lead the organization. “We wanted to look at it as a true partnership. We didn’t want to just throw money at a particular cause. We wanted to understand their initiative. We wanted to be a part of creating a partnership where, in the short-term, we helped financially but also made sure, in the long-term, that it grew legs of its own and was able to sustain itself.”
Baas, still the Foundation’s president today, worked to combine it with an existing program, her own ONB Corporate Volunteerism Program, to help not-for-profit organizations with more than just raising money.
Not-for-profit organizations can today apply for either sponsorships — such as a golf outing — or larger financial grants aimed at making more sustainable impacts, Baas says.
Its 17-member board of directors — consisting of ONB employees in upper level positions from all over its Midwestern footprint — meets at least twice a year, and the money it distributes is provided solely by ONB’s holding company, Old National Bancorp.
The ONB Foundation has supported local organizations like Big Brothers Big Sisters, Junior Achievement, Habitat for Humanity, and United Way, to name very few.
For more information or to apply for an ONB Foundation sponsorship, visit its website at oldnational.com/giving.
