Community Partnerships Report highlights local support in a year of COVID disruption

(Baton Rouge, LA) – Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana has released its annual Community Partnerships Report, detailing the impact of nonprofits and volunteers supported by the company, its employees and the Blue Cross Foundation. Among the work highlighted in 2020:

  • $10 million in grants awarded by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana Foundation to nonprofits supporting Louisianians affected by COVID-19 shutdowns and disasters like Hurricane Laura. Those nonprofits provided food, shelter, direct economic support, health services and mental health resources to more than 6.4 million individuals.
  • More than 20,000 sponsored health screenings, including mammograms, metabolic screenings, dental screenings, health risk assessments and mental/behavioral health screenings.
  • 46,000+ employee-reported volunteer hours, with 30% of those hours completed through the company’s “Team Blue” program, which gives full-time employees 12 paid hours of volunteer time off. After COVID-19 shutdowns in March 2020, employees continued to serve their communities through individual and virtual volunteering opportunities.
  • $3.5 million in grants by the Foundation to Louisiana nonprofits tackling health challenges for Louisiana’s children and their families.
  • A partnership with the Taproot Foundation to make the state’s first publicly available online platform for nonprofits to connect with volunteers who can provide business strategy, marketing, IT, Human Resources and other pro bono services.

“This past year challenged all of us in ways none of us could have expected. But we saw volunteers stepping up to meet the needs of neighbors and friends, and our nonprofit community went above and beyond to address the needs of communities who were hit hard by COVID-19 and natural disasters,” said Michael Tipton, head of Community Relations and president of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana Foundation. 

“Louisiana has such inspiring resiliency, and we are privileged to play even a small role supporting the work of our state’s people, who showed up for each other when it counted the most,” he added.

In 2020, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana was again chosen as a member of The Civic 50 by the Points of Light Foundation, a list of the 50 most community-companies in America, ranking among significantly larger brands with national footprints. The company and its Foundation will continue to provide ongoing support as the state continues recovery efforts from the challenges of 2020.

The full report is available online at www.bcbslafoundation.org/2020report

 

About Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana is committed to our mission to improve the health and lives of Louisianians. Founded in New Orleans in 1934, we are a tax-paying nonprofit health insurer with offices in every major region to serve our customers. We were recognized in 2019 and 2020 as an honoree of The Civic 50, named by Points of Light as one of the 50 most community-minded companies in the United States.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. We are a private mutual company, owned by our policyholders, with an independent Louisiana Board of Directors and no shareholders. We invite all Louisianians to visit our website at www.bcbsla.com or talk to us on social media.

About the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana Foundation

The Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana Foundation works each day to improve the health and lives of Louisianians by empowering everyday people to do extraordinary good. By building and funding coalitions of friends, families and neighbors, the Foundation hopes to build a healthier Louisiana, particularly for its children. The foundation is funded solely by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana, but is a separate 501(c)(3) nonprofit entity. In 2020, Blue Cross and the Blue Cross Foundation invested more than $14 million in Louisiana’s communities and nonprofits with programs and services reaching 6.4 million Louisianians.

# # #