Social Responsibility

What Social Responsibility Means to Us

AB employees helping students with school work at a volunteer event

Serving Our Communities

Responsibility to something bigger than ourselves: it’s the very meaning of community. Our firm and our people are striving to make a positive social impact through action.

Three AB employees smiling at a volunteer event

Engaging Our Employees

An engaged and well workforce drives us forward. To strengthen the fabric of our firm, we encourage employees to celebrate what brings them together and what makes them unique.

Three AB employees sitting around a table looking at a laptop screen

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

We’re striving to cultivate a more diverse, inclusive workplace for everyone. All of our people should feel challenged, empowered and excited about building a career at AB.

Serving Our Communities

In many ways, 2020 demonstrated just how expansive the concept of community is. From the COVID-19 pandemic to natural disasters and race and gender inequities, the call for service is stronger than ever. In 2019, we launched AB Gives Back, a holistic platform for all volunteerism, gift-matching and grant-giving activities. We want AB employees to have more time for community and charitable outreach. That’s why we organize coordinated service opportunities and offer paid time off allowances through our Day of Service program.

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AB in the Community: Service as a Calling

Advancing Racial Equity

The civil injustice and unrest that erupted in the US and elsewhere during 2020 reinforced the need for progress. To do our part in advancing the cause, AB added a Black man and woman to our Board of Directors to enhance diversity. In July, we named three new members to the Operating Committee—including our Head of Diversity & Inclusion—to bring talent, experience and distinct perspectives.

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Making a Difference: Spotlight on Charitable Giving

At AB, we focus our charitable giving on organizations working every day to make a positive social impact in the communities that create the fabric of our society.

Teacher and young student working at a computer

Bringing Internet Connections to Students’ Homes

In August 2020, Google Fiber and AB teamed up, each donating $50,000 to the Nashville Public Education Foundation. Donations will fund critical items such as individual hot spots, charging cables and other tech devices. The foundation estimates that 7,000 families in Nashville are without broadband access.

Martha O’Bryan Center’s Remote Learning Lab

With Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) in a virtual learning environment, the challenges of learning at home remain for students and families. AB provided emergency funding to create a solution for MNPS students looking for academic space and support during the pandemic.

As a result, the gymnasium at the nonprofit Martha O’Bryan Center looks much different today than it did before the pandemic. What used to be a space for basketball games and community gatherings is now partitioned into 10-x-10-foot workstations, each with a desk and computer.

Teachers and students working in a gym, socially distanced with masks on

Friendly, young employee assisting school kids during an e-learning class at elementary school.

YMCA

AB is a sponsor of the Davidson County Y-CAP Black and Latino programs to help at-risk and underserved youth achieve their brightest possible future by closing the opportunity gap.

Y-CAP provides mentoring and coaching, literacy tutoring, intervention and prevention programs, and college access and readiness resources. Our donation helps it serve more than 1,200 students from 10 middle schools, 12 high schools and 42 elementary schools in the Metro Nashville Public School district.

Promoting Civic Engagement

AB is a proud member of the Civic Alliance, a nonpartisan coalition of businesses committed to promoting civic engagement with their employees. To support civic involvement, we’re offering paid time off to our US employees to vote in—and in some cases serve as poll workers for—upcoming elections. Beyond 2020, we’ll look to offer similar benefits to our colleagues in regions outside of North America.

Engaging Our Employees

To help our workforce thrive, we need to do more than develop talent and careers. By encouraging employees to celebrate their commonalities and shared interests, we’re creating a diverse, inclusive and connected firm.

Putting Employee Wellness First

Staff wellness is always top of mind at AB. We’ve assembled a comprehensive program focused on the whole person: offering competitive benefits, learning and career development and promoting financial, physical and mental wellness. Our goal is to make AB a better and more fulfilling place to work—and a firm that better reflects the society we live in.

We’ve put the health and safety of our employees and their loved ones first, enhancing our wellness programs to include a robust catalog of offerings and tools such as physician podcasts, mindfulness and meditation apps, parenting resources, and virtual therapy programs, while emphasizing transparency in senior leadership decision-making.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Promoting Gender and Racial Equity

The civil injustice and unrest that erupted in the US and elsewhere has reinforced the need for progress. At AB, we recognize the value of diverse perspectives, ideas and backgrounds, and we’re committed to being a force for change. We’re taking—and evaluating—many actions to fight racial injustice and inequity.

These efforts include advancing the recruiting, development and retention of diverse talent, and ensuring that more diverse leaders are on a path to senior decision-making roles. We’re revisiting corporate philanthropy and promoting diversity and adherence to ethical and human rights standards among our suppliers. As investors, we’re working to influence positive change that also leads to better financial outcomes for our clients.

Leading by Example: Driving Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

AB has received a score of 100% on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's Corporate Equality Index for the seventh consecutive year.
CEO Seth Bernstein is a member of CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion, the largest CEO-driven business commitment to advance diversity and inclusion within the workplace.
AB collaborates with nonprofits including Girls Who Invest, Year Up, Cristo Rey Network, INROADS, and Investment 20/20, and we’ve developed AB’s Sophomore Summer Leadership Program to help recruit young, underrepresented talent.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Efforts Beyond AB

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