Wainwright Wins GBBC 2004 Leadership Award

Greater Boston Business Council

2004

(excerpt from program book)

We are proud to present the GBBC 2004 Leadership Award to Wainwright Bank & Trust Company.

The bank's unusual business practices also include providing a "community room" for non-profits to use for meetings after business hours. During the day, the area turns into a cyber-café where Wainwright customers can munch on free doughnuts and coffee while they surf the Internet or watch TV. Despite the current economic uncertainties, as of press time Wainwright's stock has experienced record earnings since the beginning of the year. Sometimes nice guys really do finish first.

Their mission statement talks of responsibility and commitment to social justice: "With a sense of inclusion and diversity that extends from the boardroom to the mailroom, Wainwright Bank & Trust Company resolves to be a leading socially responsible bank. The Bank is equally committed to all its stakeholders - employees, customers, communities and shareholders." Their organizational and philanthropic programs, including a commitment to affordable housing, community development, women’s rights and gay and lesbian rights, prove that Wainwright Bank walks that talk.

To be specific, they have extended lines of credit to Boston Community Capital, whose mission is to create and preserve healthy communities and affordable housing to low-income individuals, and the Cambridge YMCA, for rehab of 129 rooms for affordable housing and people living with HIV. They have established relationships with Earthwatch Institute and the Union of Concerned Scientists, to provide funding for projects that will benefit the environment. To addresses women’s rights and domestic violence issues they have formed relationships with the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition and Casa Myrna Vasquez, Inc. And they have addressed issues of gay and lesbian rights through their partnerships with GLAD, HRC and the GBBC. This is just to name a very few of their efforts.

They have been frequently recognized for their leadership in these areas. Again, to name a very few, they have received the following awards: "Top 10 Company Nationwide for Gay and Lesbian Employees" from the Advocate (2000), "15th Annual Corporate Consciousness Award", from The Center for Responsibility in Business (2001), "Corporate Award for Excellence", from the GBBC (2002), "11 Best Lenders to Women in the U.S." from Community Investing Campaign of the Social Investment Forum and Co-op America (2003) and "2004 Civil Rights Corporate Leadership Award" from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights.

This is the kind of leadership we are looking for in our community - an organization whose values are not just stated on paper somewhere in the archives of the company, but one whose values are exactly how they operate and where they put their energies. This is an organization we can partner with in support of our rights to be recognized and included as a valuable part of the greater Boston community. They absolutely demonstrate the standard we hope others will achieve.

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