Salem Five Bank is ringing in its 150th anniversary by introducing a new grant program.
Instead of using balloons and confetti to celebrate, Salem Five Bank is introducing a grant program to ring in its 150th anniversary. Meanwhile, in western Massachusetts, PeoplesBank is hanging new signs and building new branches to celebrate its 120th anniversary and recent asset milestone.
Salem Five Bank, a $1.8 billion institution, launched the new grant program to celebrate its 150 years on the North Shore. The program will award $150,000 in charitable grants to nonprofit organizations that benefit the well-being of families, youths and senior citizens throughout the bank’s service areas. The program will award 15 grants in the amount of $10,000. Grants will be awarded in three cycles during the year, with five grants awarded during each cycle. The Salem Five Charitable Foundation will administer the grants.
Kim Meader, executive vice president of business lines at Salem Five, said the bank decided to supplement the ongoing charitable giving program as a way to thank its customers.
“The community is very important to us,” Meader said. “[The bank has] always been an organization that felt you had to give back to the community in order to grow and prosper.”
He added that the sesquicentennial anniversary was a good opportunity to increase the level of giving. The bank already provides funding to nonprofits on an annual basis and bank employees are encouraged to participate in charitable organizations.
“As a financial services leader on Boston’s North Shore, one of Salem Five’s priorities, both as a community banker and a good neighbor, is to invest in the communities it serves,” said Joseph M. Gibbons, president and chief executive officer of Salem Five. “Thousands of organizations that support the vitality and well-being of our cities and towns have long been recipients of our charitable giving. The 150th anniversary grant program goes above and beyond those ongoing initiatives to emphasize our commitment to the community.”
Nonprofits interested in applying can visit the bank’s Web site or any of its branches to obtain an application. The three deadlines are March 15, June 1 and Sept. 1.
Last year, the bank expanded its geographic footprint and opened branches in Malden, Marblehead and North Andover. Meader said the bank now has a broader audience to serve and the grant program will give nonprofits in those communities a chance to benefit.
By announcing the program, Meader said he hopes the bank can uncover new organizations in need of assistance.
A ‘Tumultuous’ Environment
On the eve of its 120th anniversary in early February, Joseph D. LoBello, president of Holyoke-based PeoplesBank, announced that the institution had passed the $1 billion mark in assets and would be opening a new branch in Westfield. The new location will be the bank’s 12th branch and LoBello said there are plans to open between six to eight more in the next five years, in order to “fill out the geographic area in Hamden and Hampshire counties.”
LoBello said there are approximately 20 locations in western Massachusetts where the bank needs to have a presence in order to position itself against its larger competitors.
LoBello said the institution is one of the few community banks that covers both Hampden and Hampshire counties. Most community banks, he said, serve small niches within a specific town.
“We bridge both counties,” LoBello said.
At one point, LoBello said, there were nine banks based in Holyoke. Currently, PeoplesBank is the only bank based there.
In addition to the bank’s expansion, new signage has been placed at its headquarters in Holyoke. LoBello said the new signage can be seen from Interstate 91 and he expects that will help business.
“Our name recognition will dramatically increase,” LoBello said.
Part of the bank’s strategy is to have a distribution of branches equal to those of the larger banks.
In an age when bank mergers occur frequently, executives at both PeoplesBank and Salem Five say being a mutual bank has been a competitive advantage. That advantage, they say, has allowed the institutions to survive for more than a century.
“In a time when there are fewer and fewer banks operating in this manner, we feel the mutual bank model works for us,” LoBello said. “It allows us to focus on our customers, our employees and the community. For 120 years, it has been a winning strategy for us and one that we plan to continue.”
He added that being a mutual bank provides stability in the marketplace.
“In what has been a rather tumultuous banking environment for consumers in recent years, we believe that our mutually chartered, locally headquartered bank plays a more significant role in Hampden and Hampshire counties than ever,” he said.
Gibbons said mutual banking has been a major contributor to the bank’s success because of stability and independence. He recalled the late 1980s and early 1990s, during the real estate crisis, and said the bank was able to survive because of its financial strength.
Meader said because the bank is not dependent on stockholders, bank executives can make decisions over a slightly longer period of time. Gibbons said being able to measure situations and make sound decisions has been the bank’s strength for the entire 150 years.
While there is no celebratory grant program in place similar to Salem Five, LoBello said PeoplesBank is one of the largest philanthropic banks in the Hampden County region. During the 2004 United Way campaign, the bank and its employees pledged more than $100,000. In addition, the bank contributed $550,000 to community charities over the past year.
