Discover Cares

Our employees make the greatest difference of all to brighter futures. Their contribution to our communities allows us to engage with our nonprofit partners on a personal level and to magnify our impact beyond our charitable investments.

Discover Cares is a year-round program that provides employees with multiple volunteer opportunities on company time with manager approval. Volunteering builds camaraderie and engagement among employee teams and connects them to the company’s sense of purpose, while giving employees new experiences and relationships, bringing them closer to the communities they serve through their jobs at Discover. Our You Care, We Share program supports our value of Volunteerism and encourages employees to give back to causes that are important to them. Employees may log their volunteer hours as part of the program and earn grants they can award to their charities. We also match employee donations they make to their charities.

70,000+
total volunteer hours in 2019.

Volunteer Partnerships

(Discover location specific partnerships, not nationwide)

Big Brothers Big Sisters

Locations:
Riverwoods, IL;
Lake Park, UT

Impact: Nearly 2,000 volunteer hours to mentor local students; 71 youth served and 56 mentor-protegee matches

Boys & Girls Clubs

Location:
Riverwoods, IL

Impact: Quarterly volunteer events; Power Hour funding, a homework assistance and tutoring program; funding for leadership programs

Feed 6

Location:
Riverwoods, IL

Impact:
Approximately 400 volunteer hours in 2018 and 2019 and 475,000 meals packed since 2015

Chicago Cares

Locations served:
Chicago, IL

Impact: Over 1,750 volunteers provided roughly 9,200 hours to enhance Chicago’s south, west, and northwest side communities

Habitat for Humanity

Locations served:
Ohio, Arizona

Impact: 3,267 volunteer hours in 2019 and construction of 20 houses since 1999

KaBOOM! Playgrounds

Locations served:
Company footprint

Impact: 8,000 volunteers from Discover have built 32 playgrounds, serving 65,500 children annually over the past 25 years

Even after five years of leading volunteers and Midtown students in the Summer Law Apprenticeship, I am still amazed by the creativity and brilliance of the students. That being said, I think the biggest impact is upon the hearts of the volunteers. In the end, the students teach us the greatest lessons about virtue, life, and character. Midtown has a very special way of bringing the best out of students and volunteers alike.

Michael Gray, Director and Senior Counsel—Privacy

Midtown Educational Foundation

For the past five years, Michael Gray, Director and Senior Counsel—Privacy at Discover, has led an annual “Discover Law Day” during Midtown Educational Foundation’s Summer Law Apprenticeship. In 2018 and 2019, Discover sent 10 and eight representatives, respectively, from our legal organization to the Chicago-based nonprofit, which guides low-income urban youth in Chicago along pathways of success. The program gives boys enrolled in Midtown’s Law Apprenticeship hands-on experience, guidance, and insights into the legal profession. For example, the Discover team has hosted mock U.S. Supreme Court Oral Arguments based on the real Supreme Court. Each year, 15 high schoolers from Midtown’s program took part.

Over
2,400
Pro Bono hours
in 2018-19.

95
volunteer hours donated to Midtown Educational Foundation 2018-19.

In addition, Gray and five colleagues organized two weekend financial literacy programs for the parents of students at Midtown’s Metro Achievement Center for Girls, as well as two leadership career talks, addressing virtuous leadership and executive presence, for the organization’s staff and volunteers.

Midtown’s programs start working with youth in the fourth grade and continue until they graduate from high school and even beyond. Nearly 1,100 boys and girls and their families participate in Midtown’s programs every year. For nearly 20 years, all of the seniors who participated in Midtown’s programs have gone to college. A recent survey of more than 900 alumni of the program revealed that 91 percent had either graduated from college or were still enrolled.

Midtown students beamed while reflecting on the experiences of the day, with one student remarking: “This was by far the best day of the program. I wish every day of school was this exciting and engaging.” Many students commented how the real-world experience in the classroom further inspired them to pursue a career in law.