As a company, we are always mindful of our impact on our team members, our industry and the community. As Forefront has grown, we’ve made strides toward formalizing our firm’s commitment to causes that matter. At the start of 2023, Forefront adopted an official Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) plan. This milestone ensured that our team would use its collective platform to try and make a difference outside of work.
With our small, tight-knit team, individual participation in our CSR program isn’t just an option, but integral to its success. Our employees took an active role in getting the program off the ground, providing suggestions for social causes, monthly observances and charitable organizations to support. Ultimately, we decided on what we would support based on a majority vote among our team members. We’re pleased to say that the inaugural year of our CSR program was marked by initiatives that align with a wide variety of our employees’ personal passions.
Let’s recap some of the highlights.
Women’s History Month
In March, we observed Women’s History Month by collecting gently used women’s professional attire which we donated to Dress for Success Worldwide, an organization that seeks to empower women’s economic independence through a support network, professional garments and development tools. We also supported local woman-owned restaurants through our weekly company lunch orders and gathered insights from our clients and industry friends for a blog post to inspire the next generation of women in fintech.
In addition to highlighting the women who propel our clients forward, we wanted to celebrate our own employees. We accomplished this via our Instagram account, where we compiled words of wisdom and lessons learned among the ladies of #TeamForefront for amplification to our followers.
Mental Health Awareness
In May, we celebrated Mental Health Awareness Month with an in-office wellness day for our team. The program focused on physical and mental wellbeing – the afternoon consisted of goal-setting exercises, personal reflections and self-care to help us be our best selves for our team and our clients. Throughout the month, we also used our social channels to promote content on the intersection of mental health and financial services to encourage important conversations in the industry.
Back-to-School Drive
In July, we held a Back-to-School supply drive benefiting The New York Foundling, a nonprofit that seeks to open doors for struggling youth and families in New York City. With donations from our employees, clients and industry friends, we delivered backpacks full of supplies. The strong support from our network and the wider industry enabled us to provide many students with everything they needed to succeed for the 2023-24 school year.
Holiday Food Drive
In December, we held a holiday food drive benefiting City Harvest, a local nonprofit organization dedicated to putting food on every New Yorker’s table. Our contribution to their annual Daily News Food Drive was delivered to food pantries and other community programs across the five boroughs of New York. We were grateful to play a small part in bringing some comfort to families during what should always be a jolly and bright season.
2024 and Beyond: A Commitment to Giving Back
As we look around our community, it’s abundantly clear that there is more work to be done. While there are countless worthwhile causes to support, we’re proud of how far Forefront’s CSR program has come in just one short year. Contributions from a small agency like ours may be just one drop in the bucket, but we believe that continued collective action can lead to big, cumulative changes down the road.
We’re proud that we can provide our employees with opportunities to give back to the causes that speak to them most. If meaningfully contributing to worthwhile organizations is important to you in your next role, let’s get in touch.
Stay tuned and follow us on socials (LinkedIn, X and Instagram) for more exciting Forefront CSR initiatives to come throughout 2024.
