Insurance Industry’s Text-to-Give Campaign Supports 4 Charities

A new text-to-give campaign as part of the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF) Week of Giving will generate donations for four well-known national nonprofits. During October, insurance employees can donate $5 by texting INSURANCE to 50555. Donations also can be made online at IICF’s web site, www.IICF.org.

Held October 13-20, IICF Week of Giving includes the organization’s insurance volunteerism program along with the personal giving campaign.

This new fundraising effort widens the positive impact that the insurance industry makes, noted Bill Ross, CEO of IICF. “The leaders of IICF invite every insurance professional to make a personal donation either via text message or online. Together, the insurance industry can make a powerful statement about the industry’s commitment to the community.”

Benefiting nonprofit organizations are:

• Feeding America (formerly America’s Second Harvest – The Nation’s Food Bank Network): Feeding America helps individuals and families facing hunger. As the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity, network members supply food to more than 25 million Americans each year, including nine million children and three million seniors. Serving the entire United States, more than 200 member food banks operate 63,000 agencies that address hunger through emergency food assistance and programs.
• St. Baldrick’s Foundation: This volunteer-driven charity is committed to funding the most promising research to find cures for childhood cancers and give survivors long and healthy lives. The foundation funds more in childhood cancer research grants than any organization except the U.S. government. Funds awarded also enable hundreds of local institutions to participate in national pediatric cancer clinical trials, a child’s best hope for a cure. Since the foundation’s first grants as an independent charity in 2005, St. Baldrick’s has funded more than $101 million in childhood cancer research.
• Starlight Children’s Foundation: Starlight Children’s Foundation is a leading global health and education charity working to embrace, empower and enrich the lives of children from illness to wellness. Since 1983, Starlight has been improving the quality of life for children with serious medical conditions through programming that helps kids cope with the experiences of prolonged illness. Starlight’s hospital-based programs bring needed fun and distraction from medical treatments and have been proven to lessen the need for pain medication. Web-based initiatives help young people better understand and manage their illness. Outside the hospital, Starlight Great Escapes connect families facing similar challenges so they can spend time together, escape their medical worries and return home with a renewed sense of strength, hope and community. Each year Starlight enriches the lives of more than 4.5 million children globally by providing ongoing support to children, parents and siblings in all U.S. states and every province in Canada, and is a leading children’s charity in the United Kingdom and Australia. Information: www.starlight.org
• Wounded Warrior Project: With a mission to honor and empower wounded warriors, the Wounded Warrior Project’s vision is to foster the most successful, well-adjusted generation of wounded service members in the nation’s history. It aims to: raise awareness and enlist the public’s aid for the needs of injured service members; help injured service members aid and assist each other; and provide unique, direct programs and services to meet the needs of injured service members.

The IICF was established in 1994 and is completely directed and funded by the insurance industry. The foundation unites the collective strengths of the industry to provide grants, volunteer service and leadership. Since its inception in 1994, IICF has contributed more than $18 million in grants to charities and 155,000 volunteer hours to hundreds of community nonprofit organizations. IICF is a registered not-for-profit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the IRS code.