By James Lynch
Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) committed over $73 million to Black Lives Matter (BLM) and other social justice causes before it collapsed, online records show.
A database maintained by the Claremont Institute, a conservative think tank, shows SVB pledged $73,450,000 to BLM and related causes. The database aggregated public announcements by SVB from 2020 to 2022 showing its financial commitments to progressive organizations. (RELATED: Chuck Schumer, Maxine Waters Return Political Donations Linked To Silicon Valley Bank)
JUST IN: Silicon Valley Bank $SIVB donated $73,450,000 to “Black Lives Matter Movement & Related Causes.” pic.twitter.com/dKQN8mwRbT
— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) March 15, 2023
In June 2020, the bank created a 2:1 employee charitable gift matching program for donations to groups supporting “equity and justice for Black Americans,” which raised close to $400K. The SVB Foundation spent a further $250K on grants for social justice organizations.
An SVB report from August 2020 celebrated its workplace diversity and highlighted how 67% of the bank’s total workforce fell under the “diverse” criteria. “We are on a journey committed to increasing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in our workplace, with our partners and across the innovation economy,” the report says. The SVB report touted its $1.2 million contribution to causes supporting gender parity in innovation and $1.2 million contribution to opportunities for diverse talent in innovation.
The bank pledged to invest $50 million in programs and partnerships “to increase representation and funding, with a focus on women, Black and Latinx individuals” in a 2021 corporate responsibility report.
Regulators shut down Silicon Valley Bank on Friday after a run on the bank caused it to collapse. SVB’s failure was the largest financial meltdown since 2008 and prompted regulators to bail out the bank’s depositors on Sunday.
