GPCVC Member and Civic 50 Honoree PECO:

Describe the main initiative(s) of your CSR program:

PECO considers it our responsibility to improve the quality of life for people in the communities where we live, work, and serve. We do this through a variety of corporate giving and employee engagement initiatives under the “Powering Communities” initiative.

We focus our corporate giving in four areas – building Exelon’s future workforce, energy empowerment in our communities, enrichment through local vitality, and equal access to arts and culture. We support and value diversity, equity & inclusion; we try to reflect the communities in which we operate. PECO is proud to support nonprofit organizations and students in our local communities.

Dollars for Doers, Matching Gifts, and the Employee Giving Campaign allow PECO to support our employees’ volunteer service and charitable giving with matching donations on behalf of the company. Our employee volunteers have served over 18,000 hours since that start of the pandemic in March 2020. Some key annual volunteer initiatives are the Big Give with Cradles to Crayons, our Big Brothers Big Sisters chapter, the Summer Fan Distributions, Achieve Now Reading Coaches, Love Your Park Day, and MLK Day of Service at Girard College.

Our 15-year long Employee Volunteer Awards program has recognized more than 275 volunteers and contributed over $2 million to nonprofit organizations across Exelon’s operating companies. We also empower a group of volunteer leaders called “Community Connectors” to organize volunteer events in their department each year.

PECO’s CSR program meets employees where they are and invests in the causes near and dear to their hearts.

What are some of the key learning you gained, through participation in the Civic 50 Greater Philadelphia?

Participation in the Civic 50 Greater Philadelphia has allowed PECO to gain a broader understanding of CSR initiatives across the city. As the needs of our customers and the region evolve, so do our efforts to better serve them and power the places where they live, work and play. We continue to be more than a utility provider. We are one of the Greater Philadelphia’s biggest champions, continuing to power the economic growth and resiliency of our region.

Specifically, PECO has formed the Workforce Development team to enhance the employability of those who reside in the communities that PECO serves, with a particular emphasis on the underserved. Our team focused on implementing efforts inside and outside of the company that includes strategies for economic empowerment, education advancement and career development; successful partnerships with community organizations, regional workforce development partners, and other regional stakeholders; and virtual programs that have already garnered results despite an ongoing pandemic.

From an employee engagement perspective, our participation in Civic 50 Greater Philadelphia has helped us to stay up to date on our peers’ volunteer and fundraising initiatives during the pandemic. As a group, we work together collaboratively to assess our companies’ strategies for volunteering virtually and in-person while keeping employee safety as the highest priority.

What would you share with a company that is debating whether to take the Civic 50 Greater Philadelphia next year?

As one of the largest corporations in the Philadelphia region, PECO considers it our responsibility to improve the quality of life for people in the communities where we live, work, and serve. PECO is proud to be a member of the Civic 50 Greater Philadelphia and values the collaboration we experience as a part of this group. We have received invaluable insight into what other companies in our city do to keep employees engaged. One of our biggest takeaways from the Civic 50 is how important it is to the region’s workforce to work for a company committed to giving back and supporting causes that matter to employees.

As a corporate citizen, PECO has helped grow healthier communities by investing more than $6 million annually to approximately 500 local and regional programs, organizations and institutions that nurture our region’s thirst for arts & culture, quality education, the environment and green spaces, and community development. We encourage our corporate peers to maintain a similar perspective and take the Civic 50 next year for the betterment of our region.