Goldman Sachs Launches Community TeamWorks, Its Signature Volunteer Program

Community TeamWorks, the firm’s flagship volunteering initiative, is launched in 1997. The program gives employees a day off from work to participate in team-based projects with nonprofit organizations in the community.

In 1997, senior partner Jon S. Corzine  authorized the creation of Community TeamWorks, which encourages Goldman Sachs people to take a day off from work and volunteer in team-based projects with local nonprofit organizations to help them achieve their mission, promoting commitment, initiative, teamwork and service. Since the program’s launch, Community TeamWorks has become a prized part of the Goldman Sachs experience, with thousands of employees volunteering alongside their friends and families each year to benefit hundreds of nonprofit organizations around the world.

The firm brings its same focus on forging strong, long-standing relationships with these organizations as it does in client relationships. Many of the organizations in the program’s 1997 launch — including Habitat for Humanity and Junior Achievement — would remain key partners in Community TeamWorks for decades; other important nonprofits with a global scope, such as International Rescue Committee (whose chairman emeritus and longest-serving board member was senior partner John C. Whitehead), would also become part of the initiative.

By revitalizing public spaces, mentoring future leaders, nurturing small businesses and more, Community TeamWorks strengthens and supports communities around the world while providing Goldman Sachs employees with access to new and innovative ways to engage.

From 1997 to 2018, more than 426,342 employees, family members and friends volunteered through Community TeamWorks, impacting 4,744 community partners. In 2018, 20,700 employees of 49 offices in 24 countries participated in the initiative, helping more than 700 organizations, and completing 1,300 projects worldwide.

 

This article was originally published as part of a series commemorating the 150th anniversary of Goldman Sachs’ founding in 1869.