BANKNEWPORT
WINNER, LARGE CATEGORY:
LOCATION:
250+ EMPLOYEES
NEWPORT, banknewport.com
Founded in 1819, BankNewport has seventeen branches and is one of the oldest community banks in the country.
B
ankNewport marked its 200th anniversary helped strangers in the grocery store, some aided those
in 2019 and celebrated this milestone with experiencing illness, and others partnered with fellow
community events, programming, random employees to give larger monetary gifts to local nonprofits.
acts of kindness and pay-it-forward gestures This type of creative philanthropy that allows employees to
by employees. choose their own charitable giving attracted kudos from the
Through the bank’s financial education program, employees
panel. As one judge noted, “I was impressed and enjoyed the
took their expertise to classrooms and communities to help diverse organizations that BankNewport supports. I like
young people and families strengthen their skills in managing when I see companies doing capacity-building work. They
money and planning for the future. Through the Kind Hearts, encourage employees’ latitude.”
Warm Soles sock drive, bank staff collected adults’ and kids’
socks and delivered them to homeless shelters around
the state.
And as a special mark of the bank’s two-century anniversary,
employees participated in a special “Pay It Forward”
opportunity. Each person received $200, half to keep and half
to use in their own random acts of kindness. Some employees
66 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l
JANUARY 2020
DID YOU know?
Employees from BankNewport and OceanPoint Insurance
bowled for a cause, raising $5,600 for the Edgewood
Pawtuxet Ecumenical Food Closet in a “Bowl-a-Thon.”
The bank holds $1.6 billion in assets.