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As a leading distributor of contact lenses and major provider of prescription laboratory services and business solutions for eyecare professionals, ABB Optical Group has a broad impact on the North American optical industry. It follows, then, that the Florida-based company also takes an expansive approach to social purpose giving. Its ABB Cares program combines strategic relationships with local and national nonprofits, volunteer activities and other community investments, with the goal of contributing to solutions that help strengthen the communities in which ABB employees live and work.





Originally established as a community grant program, ABB relaunched and reorganized it as the ABB Cares Employee Giving Program, a year-round initiative that helps employees achieve their charitable giving goals by facilitating employees’ financial contributions to eligible charitable organizations. ABB employees contribute to eligible company-sponsored 501c3 charitable organizations via automatic payroll deduction, in-kind donations, a one-time payroll deduction for company-sponsored fundraisers, volunteer hours or by donating employee recognition points earned through ABB’s recognition award platform.

Employees’ contributions to ABB Cares company-sponsored organizations are eligible for a dollar-to-dollar match. Employees can designate their contributions to ABB Cares company-sponsored 501c3 charitable organizations. Company-sponsored organizations include two organizations sponsored at the national level: The American Red Cross (U.S.) and Optometry Giving Sight, plus 11 organizations at the location level: The Children’s Harbor, Feeding America, The Don Bosco Community Center, Blythedale Children’s Hospital, Court Appointed Special Advocates, Building Future, Easterseals, The United Way (Canada) and local chapters of the Red Cross in Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Kansas City, Mo.

The program also offers employees a way to increase their contributions to their favorite charitable organizations. ABB Optical Group provides a 50 percent match up to $1,000 per employee in a calendar year.

Additionally, ABB Optical Group provides each employee four hours of paid time off to volunteer their time during a scheduled workday. Employees can sign up for a company-organized event or choose a 501c3 organization to volunteer their Give Back PTO.

To date in 2022, ABB employees have given over $22,000 in donations to qualifying non-profits, the company said. With the ABB Cares matching program, this has resulted in approximately $40,000 in total charitable donations. These funds have been raised by organizing events across ABB locations, participating in national campaigns such as the recent campaign to raise funds for Hurricane Ian relief as well as earlier initiatives to support relief funds for Ukraine. (https://www.visionmonday.com/people/optical-community/article/abb-optical-group-organizes-fundraiser-to-support-humanitarian-efforts-for-ukraine/)

Most recently, ABB employees raised $5,000 for recovery efforts for Hurricane Ian and with ABB’s match will be making a donation of $10,000 to the American Red Cross. This donation will be used to provide food, shelter and other necessities for first responders and victims of Hurricane Ian.

ABB’s biggest contributions came in January for the victims affected by tornados in the Mid-west. ABB employees collected $11,000 and with the ABB match donated a total of $22,000 to the American Red Cross.

The ABB Labs Erlanger team donated spring-themed baskets and then raffled off tickets to win them which resulted in over $1,000 raised for local charities. In addition, the ABB Canada office held a Q2 Raffle for the Red Cross.

As an ABB spokesperson explained, the company’s charitable giving is driven by a shared sense of purpose among management and employees. “We help improve the sight of 70,000 people and make a difference in how they experience the world,” the spokesperson noted. “It is serving this higher purpose that drives ABB to do its best, not only for our customers but for our employees and the communities they serve. The ABB Cares program was created because of this sense of purpose and is fueled by our core values of passion, accountability, customer focus and one team. We are all in this together as one team—together we succeed.”