The ExxonMobil Foundation’s 2015 Educational Matching Gift Program, through contributions from employees and retirees and foundation matching funds, contributed $45.4 million to higher-education institutions across the country last year.
“Quality education is the foundation for individual opportunity and economic prosperity,” ExxonMobil Foundation President Ben Soraci said. “We have a long history of supporting education excellence in the country. It’s a shared priority, year after year, with ExxonMobil employees.”
Since 1962, when ExxonMobil began the Educational Matching Gift Program, the company and its donors have given more than $600 million to higher-education institutions. The program sees the company match donor pledges at a 3:1 ratio, up to $7,500, for qualified institutions and for the American Indian College Fund, the Hispanic Scholarship Fund and the United Negro College Fund.
In 2015, 4,500 company employees, retirees, directors and surviving spouses pledged $13.2 million, which the ExxonMobil Foundation matched with a further $32.2 million.
The grants provided by the foundation to colleges and universities are unrestricted, but ExxonMobil encourages the institutions to divert a portion of the funding toward student engagement in math and science. The company and its foundation undertake additional efforts to encourage female and minority students to take part in science, technology, engineering and math programs.
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