OilVoice - ExxonMobil Foundation and Employees Donation to Three Alabama Universities

ExxonMobil Foundation and Employees Donation to Three Alabama Universities

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

• More than $1.9 million donated to Auburn University, Tuskegee University and the University of Alabama over the last ten years
• Institutions encouraged to direct portion to science and math programs

ExxonMobil and its employees donated more than $429,000 to three Alabama universities through the ExxonMobil Foundation's 2009 Educational Matching Gift Program.

ExxonMobil employees and retirees contributed more than $109,000 to the three institutions of higher education in 2009. The ExxonMobil Foundation matched those donations with more than $320,000 in unrestricted educational grants.

The ExxonMobil Educational Matching Gift Program is one of the most generous of its kind in the United States. The program matches donations made to affiliated higher education institutions by employees and retirees on a 3-to-1 basis.

"These generous donations demonstrate the commitment of ExxonMobil Foundation, ExxonMobil employees and retirees to institutions of higher education,' said Russ Spahr, ExxonMobil Mobile Bay Operations Superintendent. 'These much needed dollars will enable the three universities to enhance their educational programs for the benefit of the students, the state and the country.'

In the last ten years, the three Alabama universities have received more than $1.9 million through ExxonMobil Foundation's Educational Matching Gift Program.

ExxonMobil and the ExxonMobil Foundation fund math and science programs to respond to the nation's growing need to produce more engineers and scientists and to develop more highly qualified math and science teachers. To aid this effort, the Foundation encourages college and university presidents to direct a portion of the matching funds to programs that provide math and science teachers with professional development, attract more young people to teach math and science and support science and engineering programs aimed at women and minorities.

In addition to the Educational Matching Gift Program, ExxonMobil develops and supports other math and science programs aimed at students and teachers including the National Math and Science Initiative, ExxonMobil Bernard Harris Summer Science Camps, Mickelson ExxonMobil Teachers Academy and Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day, among others. Significant emphasis is also placed on increasing student involvement in the welfare of their communities through the Community Summer Jobs Program and the Green Team.

ExxonMobil has operated in Mobile, Alabama for over 20 years, producing natural gas from deep beneath Mobile Bay. About 200 employees and contractors work at these facilities that help meet the energy needs in Alabama and other states along the eastern section of the United States.

Since its inception in 1962, the program has provided $423 million to higher education institutions in the United States. Each calendar year, eligible donors may pledge up to $7,500 per year to colleges or universities with which they are affiliated, the American Indian College Foundation, the Hispanic Scholarship Foundation and the United Negro College Fund.

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