Sixteen charities and community development groups across the country have benefitted from the First City Monument Bank Plc (FCMB) staff Match4Match initiative.

Match4Match is an FCMB Corporate Social Responsibility scheme which empowers the bank’s staff to carry out community development and charity work by matching each participating staff’s community investment for a particular month thereby doubling the impact on the final beneficiary for the given month.

FCMB’s Head of Corporate Communications, Tunde Shofowora explained that during the last activation of the Match4Match scheme, a total of 16 charities and community development groups across Nigeria which are supported by staff of FCMB on a personal basis benefitted from the scheme.

Amongst the major beneficiaries were the SOSAID Charity Home, Okota, Lagos; Lekki Motherless Babies Home, Sisters’ Concern and All Ventures, Lagos; Joy in Africa Foundation, Asaba; the Justice Development Peace Commission (JDPC), Lagos; Holy Trinity Lovers of the Poor, Port Harcourt; Musade Odugate Community Development Association; and St. Vincent de Paul Society, Okpanam, Delta State. Others include Phillip Evangelism Resources, Abuja; R.C.C.G., Lagos and Ibadan; New Cruse Sanctuary; the Dominican Community, Ibadan; St Louis Nursery & primary School, Kano; St Vincent de Paul of St Michael’s Catholic Church, Okpanam, Delta State; United for Kids Foundation, Lagos; and the Heritage Homes orphanage, Lagos. According to Tunde, “While the bank’s CSR focal areas remain ‘poverty alleviation, economic empowerment through skills acquisition and the environment,” he said, “FCMB encourages and supports its staff to take advantage of existing platforms like Match4Match.

”It will be recalled that members of staff of FCMB and its subsidiaries also took a humanitarian initiative to donate towards alleviating the sufferings of Jos ethno religious crisis and the recent Haiti earthquake victims. “At FCMB, we believe that the communities in which we operate should benefit from our presence, and the bank’s ongoing CSR journey enables us to ensure that these collective actions transcend cultural barriers and address both social and economic challenges,” he stated.