When it comes to service and volunteerism, giving can often come full circle, ultimately to the benefit of the larger community. Learn how Zions Bank and its employees have realized the reward of donating their time and resources to those in need.
Jacqueline Davies: Zions Bank has made a name for itself by supporting community organizations throughout the Bank’s footprint. Rob Brough, Executive Vice President of Marketing for Zions Bank, has noted that every business has an obligation and a responsibility to give. I’m Jacqueline Davies and I am here today with Rob to talk about this sentiment. Thanks so much for joining us today, Rob.
Rob Brough: You’re welcome, Jacqueline. Good to be here.
Jacqueline Davies: Why do you think it’s important for businesses to be involved in the community?
Rob Brough: Well, I think the first reason is it’s just the right thing to do. As you noted, I think we all have an obligation to give back, and so businesses getting involved in the community – there’s a lot of need out there, and it’s the right thing to do. And the second reason, though, really there are business benefits, I believe, to getting involved in the community. I think about my own personal involvement and many of the real close contacts that I have come as a result of my involvement in the community, so it’s important.
Jacqueline Davies: How do you think that Zions Bank benefits from being involved?
Rob Brough: Well, Zions Bank views itself as the community bank, and so because of that, we have an obligation to give back to the community. And, really, as the community grows and the community is lifted and the community is stronger and better, that comes back to us. You know, we’ll be healthier, we’ll be stronger if the community is stronger.
Jacqueline Davies: One thing that I know about Zions is all of the employees tend to get involved in some of these projects and things that Zions does. Tell us a little bit about that.
Rob Brough: Yeah, I think it’s critical that it’s not just money that the bank is giving, but it’s the involvement of our employees, and I think that helps obviously the organizations who are recipients of that help, but also there’s a unity that’s created among employees as they have the opportunity to join hands together and go out and serve the community.
Jacqueline Davies: What are some of the projects that Zions is involved in?
Rob Brough: I think probably the signature project is our Paint-A-Thon that we do annually, where we identify low- to moderate-income seniors who have a need for their home to be painted, so the bank provides the supplies and the paint and the employees provide the work to go out and paint homes during that week. We’ve done it for over 20 years and painted over 1,000 homes.
Jacqueline Davies: Now, I know that a lot of people want Zions to be involved in their projects. How does the Bank decide what projects to be involved in and maybe ones that they would pass up?
Rob Brough: Yeah, I mean it’s always a difficult decision. Obviously we get a lot of requests, but we look at the impact that it will have on the community, the number of people that will ultimately be impacted by the support that we’re providing. We also take a look at our employee involvement. If we have employees who are involved either on the board or serving on committees in certain organizations, we’ll take a closer look at whether the bank can be involved from a monetary standpoint as well.
Jacqueline Davies: Thank you so much for joining us today, Rob. It’s been a pleasure.
Rob Brough: Thank you, Jacqueline.
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IMPORTANT NOTES: Views expressed in this program are those of the participants and not necessarily those of Zions Direct or Zions Bank. Investment products and services offered through Zions Direct, member of FINRA/SIPC, a non-bank subsidiary of Zions Bank.
