Earlier this year, we partnered with Visionworks to support their employee’s financial wellness and launched the Visionworks Cares Grant Circle. The Visionworks hardship relief solution gives their 7,200 employees at more than 650 optical retail stores across the United States quick, dignified access to emergency grant money when they need it most. This includes employees currently dealing with the genuine crisis and recovery post-Hurricane Ian. But it’s also there for Midwestern employees fearing the fall-out of annual tornado season, and more broadly it’s there for workers across the country grappling with the challenges that inflation and increasing cost of living pose to their ability to cope with emergencies.
Visionworks associates and doctors care for patients every day and when a crisis hits someone at Visionworks, we know how important it is to give them support because we care for them as they care for their patients.
Visionworks knows their employees are the heart of what they do, central to helping vision-impaired Americans access the eye care they need and deserve. So it’s crucial that they offer year-round resources to support their employees’ well-being. Thankfully this commitment includes tools to lend financial help in the face of immense hardship with 20 employees (and counting) qualifying for emergency grants after Hurricane Ian.
Making meaningful hardship relief attainable for all employees
Canary was founded with the belief that “small, strategic cash infusions can make a large impact on someone’s life”. The Visionworks employee relief fund is a great example of this big idea in practice. Together, we launched their program in May 2022 and to date, our internal grant management team has approved and distributed 39 grants (20 of these went directly to individuals impacted by Hurricane Ian) for a total just over $23,000*. If you’re doing the math with us, that means the average grant size is just over $600. This number might seem small but look at the top reasons applicants needed financial assistance: putting food on the table, paying mortgage or rent, and paying utility bills. When access to relatively small amounts of money can have such a human impact, it becomes relatively easy to see the benefit of emergency relief funds.
The average grant size will obviously differ (some bigger, some smaller) from company to company, but Visionworks Cares Grant Circle nicely illustrates how the help people most need call can be well in reach, both for the companies who sponsor a fund and the coworkers who consider donating.
Colleagues can be certain their donations will help resolve real issues for people in their immediate community. They can also be assured that even small, regular payroll or credit card donations add up and make a difference. Through recurring donations, current Visionworks employees have donated nearly $5,000 to the fund to help their fellow coworkers. At an average grant size of just over $600 these donations can provide relief for nearly eight colleagues facing financial hardship. Aside from significant initial seed funds provided by Visionworks, these regular team contributions help sustain a thriving community of giving at work.
The real-world impact of employee relief funds
Visionworks has embraced the understanding that an employee’s ability to cope with financial hardship can (and will) change anytime based on unique circumstances (case in point, we’ve seen several requests related to Hurricane Ian recovery). Canary’s grant management team is there to quickly review requests for help with mortgage or rent, food, utilities, transportation, car repairs, medical costs, home repairs, and more in the event of a natural disaster, eviction, death in the family, or domestic issues. To be ready to support the people that are the backbone of their business, they are committed to proactively providing a financial safety net to complement standard salary, insurance, and paid time off.
We know the impact on people (people with very real, very urgent needs) is larger than the dollar amounts behind the fund. Just listen to what one grant recipient had to say after they received their money:
In addition to providing the technology and grant management to facilitate their workplace giving, we also collect and provide impact data. So far, the data from this fund shows us that the people requesting help are 1) not financially healthy (75% of grantees identified as “financially vulnerable” in our Financial Health survey) and 2) incredibly stressed (86% of grantees reported “high stress” when applying). Together, we’re providing an essential financial wellness offering that supports a clear and obvious need in their workforce. Visionworks is leading the way, showing other employers that it’s possible to help their employees tackle stressful financial emergencies, setting them up to bring their best selves to work.
If you would like to donate to help Visionworks employees, including those recovering from Hurricane Ian, you can donate via their Grant Circle today.
*As of November 1, 2022, these numbers reflect the current grant volume, the amount given, and the average grant size. After publication, these numbers will change and will be updated when possible.
Read more about the need for employer-sponsored emergency relief funds to support employees in the face of recovering from a natural disaster:
- Rachel Schneider for TroopHR: Keeping the Human(ity) in HR by Helping Employees with Emergencies
- Employee Disaster Relief Funds: A Financial Lifeline
- Preparing for the future: how and why climate change impacts Canary’s product roadmap
You can learn more about Grant Circle here. And if you’d like to talk about partnering with Canary to build a giving platform for your employees, we invite you to talk to our team and get started.
