During the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation’s (IICF) Week of Giving, 5,312 insurance industry volunteers from 87 cities across 21 states joined together to provide more than 14,500 hours of service to community nonprofits across the United States.

IICF Week of Giving is an annual, industrywide volunteer event designed to provide insurance professionals the opportunity to give back to their communities. Since 2001, industry volunteers have contributed nearly 200,000 volunteer hours to local nonprofits through the IICF’s Week of Giving program.

A total of 354 projects were supported throughout this year’s Week of Giving, which ran from October 11 to 18. Volunteer projects covered a broad range of service areas including youth and children services, health and disease issues, women’s issues, elderly care, food service and donation, and disaster preparedness.

In addition to hosting volunteer events, the Week of Giving also raised funds to benefit Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street. Through their Early Literacy Initiative, IICF partnered with Sesame Workshop to develop the free, bilingual early literacy program, Every Day is a Reading and Writing Day.

“The Week of Giving is a cornerstone of the insurance industry’s commitment to community, and we were thrilled to be joined by record-breaking numbers of organizations and volunteers this year,” said Bill Ross, CEO of the IICF. “The insurance industry works hard to help those in need year-round, and the annual growth and success of the Week of Giving is a testament to that aim.”

The IICF (www.iicf.org ) was established in 1994 and is completely directed and funded by the insurance industry. The foundation helps communities and enriches lives by uniting the collective strengths of the industry to provide grants, volunteer service and leadership.

Since its inception in 1994, IICF has contributed more than $23.5 million in grants to charities and nearly 200,000 volunteer hours to hundreds of community nonprofit organizations.

Source: The Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation