Editor’s Note: BankBeat intern Rhea Krumpelman highlighted the community work of seven banks throughout our coverage area for our October magazine. This is the final in the seven-part series running throughout this month on BankBeat.biz.
First Interstate Bank’s “Believe in Local” team could be considered the Publishers Clearing House Prize Patrol for nonprofits within its 14-state footprint. Since 2022, the Billings, Mont., bank and the First Interstate Bancsystem Foundation have awarded $25,000 to 40 nonprofits every year.
In 2022, to celebrate the acquisition of Great Western Bank in South Dakota, First Interstate donated $21.5 million to the Foundation in honor of First Interstate’s founders, the Scott family. This allowed for the allocation of $1 million for the inaugural “Believe in Local” grants. The employee-driven program took shape after a brainstorming session between Amberly Pahut, director of community responsibility and executive director of the Foundation, and Sara Becker, director of marketing and communications.
First Interstate’s employee volunteerism is assisted by the annual donation of 2 percent of the bank’s pre-tax net income to the Foundation for philanthropic purposes; Believe in Local is just one outlet. With 300 branches spanning 14 states, local committees keep decisions grounded in the true needs of each community. Pahut, when asked if the bank’s large reach posed a challenge, replied, “One of the hardest things is, there are so many worthy causes, we wish we could support everything.”
The Foster Network, in Sioux Falls, S.D., was chosen as a grant recipient this summer. The nonprofit began in 2011 when several foster parents recognized a great need for support and education throughout the foster care journey. The Foster Network operates a donations closet to meet material needs, and organizes events and support groups for families with children placed through a licensing agency.
“We have been growing like crazy and serving more and more kids every year, which is awesome, but definitely difficult keeping up with the kids,” said Holly Christensen, executive director. “The money that we got from this program is amazing because it can help us with filling that gap.”
To choose Believe in Local recipients, each bank employee is encouraged to nominate a nonprofit that they care about — last year, more than 560 nominations flooded in to the vetting committee.
“On average the normal person donates about $1,500 a year to charity,” noted Pahut, who has spent her career in philanthropy. “Giving our employees that opportunity to present a check of $25,000 to some organization that they love and care about — it really is a difference maker.”
This was true for Haley Thompson, the nominator of 2023 Believe in Local recipient Katie’s Roar, a nonprofit organization created by the Bjorndahl family following the loss of their daughter and sister, Katie Bjorndahl. Katie’s Roar promotes mental health awareness and fundraises for related causes; at heart, it is a way for light and love to be seen in the face of tragedy, for her friends and family to remain close to Katie. For the five-year anniversary, the Bjorndahls were meeting the members and coach of Katie’s college softball team for dinner. Thompson, a softball player and close friend of Katie, asked the Bjorndahls to pick her up from her work at First Interstate on their way — where the bank and softball team were waiting to surprise them with the grant.
“We did not have any idea,” shared Lisa Bjorndahl, Katie’s mother. “We go in and there’s all these people, matching T-shirts, a bunch of softball players and coaches standing there. On the way home, we actually had to pull over and go to a Starbucks … have a cup of coffee and shake our heads a little bit, like what just happened?”
Immediately, the family knew the funds would go toward the local Ronald McDonald House, which began accepting families of psychiatric patients a few years ago. For Katie’s Roar, Believe in Local was “definitely a catalyst,” stated Bjorndahl. “This sparked us to get involved [with the RMH], and we have gotten involved very heavily. Katie was one of the most giving people, loved kids. It just seemed very, very fitting.”
The next morning, when Bjorndahl called about sponsoring a room, “the line got real silent for a while.” Lifetime sponsorship of a room at the Ronald McDonald House was exactly $25,000.