Silicon Valley Bank donated over $73 million to the "BLM Movement & Related Causes" in the years before going insolvent, while failed Signature Bank gave $850,000 to similiar organizations, a database from The Claremont Institute shows.
In the database, the conservative think tank indicated that SVB donated $73,450,000 to social justice groups prior to its downfall in order to bolster its environmental, social, and governance (ESG) rating. As outlined in prior Newsmax reports, ESG is a de facto social credit score for businesses.
Meanwhile, the Daily Mail reported that the New York-based Signature Bank donated $850,000 over the years prior to its Sunday downfall.
While it's unclear how the social justice groups spent the donations, the think tank claims that the Global Network, a BLM private organization, used the money to fund Black Lives Matter demonstrations as well as for contributions to BLM political action committees, which were focused on electing progressive leaders.
Notwithstanding the two failed banks' donations, the database also includes contributions given by some of the biggest banks in the United States. These included Wells Fargo, which donated $210 million; U.S. Bancorp, which donated $503 million; PNC Financial Services, which donated more than $1 billion; CitiGroup, which donated $1.1 billion; Goldman Sachs, which donated over $10.1 billion; Bank of America, which donated over $18.2 billion; and JPMorgan Chase & Co., which donated over $30 billion over the years to BLM causes.
In an op-ed for Newsweek, The Claremont Institute claimed that the Global Network used its money "to support future operations, purchasing luxury real estate, engaging in nepotism, disbursing grants to dozens of BLM chapters and revolutionary organizations, and operating a PAC to 'elect progressive community leaders, activists, and working-class candidates fighting for black liberation.'"
In the summer of 2020 following the death of George Floyd, SVB pledged, according to its 2021 proxy statement to investors, to increase commitment to "diversity, equity, and inclusion." The company's CEO, Greg Becker, announced that SVB had an employee matching program for donations that focused on "pandemic-response; social justice; sustainability; and supporting women, Black, and Latinx emerging talent and other underrepresented groups."
Signature Bank executives similarly emphasized their commitment to social caueses. According to the bank's 2021 Social Impact Report, a number of the bank's employees were suggested to have contributed "throughout 2021, 431 individual grants totaling $1.86 million" that "were directed by our Private Client Groups to nonprofit organizations focused on health, education, community service, economic development, affordable housing, the arts, and a wide variety of other causes. This total surpassed 2020 grant giving by approximately 43%."
"Corporate giving is an essential component of Signature Bank's corporate citizenship," the report continued, "and the bank's commitment to supporting universal social causes will only grow along with the bank's size, strength, and position within the corporate community, national economy, and global society.
"Each year, Signature makes unrestricted grants to numerous not-for-profit organizations and funds specific activities and initiatives for many others.
"With our increased focus on social impact, including practices related to human capital, diversity, equity, and inclusion, along with strategies to support and cultivate community engagement, and our approach to sustainability efforts as individuals and as an institution, the bank continues to strengthen its governance in these areas."
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