Leah Paley remembers the first time M&T Bank employees selected the Anne Arundel County Food Bank (AACFB) as its volunteer opportunity. She witnessed 15 M&T team members work tirelessly to check food expiration dates and possible damage, organize cans, boxes, and bags of shelf-stable food, and pack boxes. It was the beginning of a wonderful partnership. 

“Their commitment to our work just continued to grow from there,” said Leah, AACFB CEO and nominator. “Not long after this first of many volunteer days, M&T Bank began providing financial support to the Food Bank, starting first with donations to our Baby Pantry Program and then, most recently, making a $100,000 five-year pledge to support our new Mobile Pantry Program.” 

Last fall M&T Bank representatives orchestrated the first-ever M&T Bank Anne Arundel County-wide bank branch food drive, contributing 2,434 pounds of food, which represented 66% of all food donations made that day through that larger drive.

The YWCA of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County has similar stories to share. The relationship between the YWCA and M&T Bank began over three decades ago as M&T Bank was the first corporate supporter of the YWCA’s Annual Tribute to Women and Industry (TWIN) program, which M&T continued to sponsor every year for the next 25 years. M&T team members became engaged with the YWCA, filling roles such as board treasurer, director, capital campaign chair, and more. M&T has provided more than $100K to the YWCA in less than 10 years through event sponsorship, capital campaign commitments, and individual giving. In addition, they continue to support YWCA auctions and other fundraising activities. 

The Food Bank and the YWCA are not the only organizations that M&T Bank supports in Anne Arundel County. M&T Bank employees sit on more than 16 nonprofit boards in the county and provide thousands of hours of volunteer service annually to over a dozen area nonprofits. In 2022 alone, M&T supported 105 nonprofit organizations through corporate giving, awarded $627,000 in grants and sponsorships, and provided 4,600 hours of employee volunteerism in the county and Chesapeake region.

Additionally, M&T has generously invested in the Baltimore Washington Medical Center Foundation’s (BWMC) programs, projects, and initiatives through board participation, employee volunteerism, and financial contributions to capital projects such as building the Tate Cancer Center, the expansion of BWMC’s Emergency Department, and the addition of its Patient Tower. 

M&T also makes a personal investment to Leadership Anne Arundel (LAA) with participants in each LAA flagship class and a representative on its board. They are an annual LAA top Leadership Partner. Hospice of the Chesapeake (HOC) is yet another grateful nonprofit that benefits from M&T Bank’s generosity; M&T sponsors HOC events, employees serve on its board as well as volunteer hours of service. 

“I have been able to witness first-hand how M&T’s steadfastness to their community extends beyond just one organization,” said Michael Brady, HOC CEO. “M&T has a true sense of what it means to ‘give back’ to the local community.”

M&T Bank was nominated by the Anne Arundel County Food Bank and the YWCA of Annapolis & Anne Arundel County.

The Corporate Philanthropist of the Year Award is presented to a local business or corporation that has a proven record of exceptional generosity and demonstrates outstanding civic and philanthropic responsibility through direct financial support to nonprofits located in Anne Arundel County. The local business or corporation encourages and motivates its employees to take leadership roles toward philanthropy and community involvement with local nonprofits.