MILL VALLEY, Calif., Aug. 3, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) --AngelPoints, a leading provider of Web-based volunteer management software, today announced that Bank of America is extending its current AngelPoints contract to encompass all Bank of America Associates, including newer markets in the Northeast; and that AAA has selected AngelPoints to manage its corporate community affairs programs in Northern California, Utah and Nevada. AngelPoints' flagship product, the Enterprise Volunteer Solutions (EVS) suite, is a corporate community relations solution designed to help corporations meet their community relations goals. The EVS suite is comprised of a personalized Community Portal, Volunteer Matching, Communication Tools, Tracking and Reporting, Volunteer Grant Management, Program Accounting and Administrative Control.
Bank of America, which currently uses the AngelPoints Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) module to track services for government reporting, is rolling out EVS throughout the new Bank of America organization. Recently implemented by the AAA, AngelPoints EVS manages all aspects of AAA's volunteer programs in Northern California, Utah and Nevada, including ongoing initiatives and team and individual volunteer projects.
"With their dedication to community involvement, Bank of America and AAA serve as models for the types of socially responsible companies that become AngelPoints customers," said Andrew Mercy, CEO, AngelPoints.
According to a 2002 Cone-Roper study, "almost eight in 10 Americans believe that companies have a responsibility to support causes, and nearly 81% say they are more likely to switch brands to support a cause." Cone-Roper also reports that, "87% of employees feel a strong sense of loyalty to their companies when they're active in the community," thus, decreasing costly employee turnover. Companies like AAA of Northern California and Bank of America have realized that taking proactive measures to meet corporate responsibility goals positively affects the company and its brand, and that these strategies must be implemented as an integral part of a company's corporate culture.
As a result of its AngelPoints implementation, Bank of America has seen an increase in both CRA-qualified and overall employee community service reporting. Prior to implementing AngelPoints, it was difficult for Bank of America employees to identify CRA-qualified activities because the system was manual, paper-based and, often, activities were not reported at all. AngelPoints' EVS system enables Bank of America employees to filter community service activities in order to determine their CRA eligibility before they are forwarded to any government agency. AngelPoints has delivered an intuitive online reporting system that enables complete management of Bank of America volunteer efforts.
"Since implementing AngelPoints, we have seen both increased efficiency and employee participation, further enabling Bank of America to meet our CRA requirements and goals," said Bob Mandala, SVP -- Team Bank of America Executive, Bank of America "With the upcoming Company-wide roll-out, the possibilities are endless in terms of our abilities to quantify and identify gaps. We will be able to understand our program even better than we do now," added Mandala.
"Bank of America has demonstrated its community and social commitment through its Community Development Banking group, and continues its dedication to service and corporate responsibility with the company-wide rollout," said Andrew Mercy. "In the case of AAA, we were able to get a new volunteer system up and running in no time, which has resulted in significantly increased volunteerism and cost-savings at AAA," added Mercy.
The standard AngelPoints EVS application perfectly suited AAA's volunteer management needs. AAA is now able to track multiple activities via the AngelPoints system, including team volunteer projects, ongoing initiatives, released time, AAA's "Dollars for Doers" and multiple other independent volunteer activities.
"In the short time since it has been implemented, the AngelPoints system has been a huge success for AAA and our community affairs efforts," said Roger Hancock, manager of community services for California, Utah and Nevada. "The Web-based application makes it easy for our employees to log in from work or home to track their volunteer projects, no matter how large or small," added Hancock.
About AngelPoints
AngelPoints is the leading provider of web-based community relations software. Its products and services are designed specifically to drive brand loyalty, achieve competitive edge and improve financial performance by establishing a business process around a corporation's social impact and volunteerism efforts. AngelPoints enables corporations to realize the business and social value of effective community relations by making corporate responsibility and volunteerism a core part of a company's culture and identity.
The company's Enterprise Volunteer Solution (EVS) is a web-based application that enables Fortune 500 companies, such as Bank of America, CitiGroup, McKesson, Land O'Lakes and Deloitte, to efficiently manage volunteer activities, communicate effectively to employees about volunteer programs and events, increase employee participation and excitement in community programs, and track and report on all outcomes and results. Companies utilizing EVS can cost-effectively drive greater value to their surrounding communities and to their businesses through volunteer initiatives. A privately held company, AngelPoints is headquartered in the Bay Area, in Mill Valley, CA, and can be found on the Web at www.angelpoints.com.
About Bank of America
Bank of America is one of the world's largest financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk-management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving 33 million consumer relationships with 5,700 retail banking offices, more than 16,000 ATMs and award-winning online banking with more than ten million active users. Bank of America is the #1 Small Business Administration lender in the United States. The company serves clients in 150 countries and has relationships with 96 percent of the U.S. Fortune 500 companies and 82 percent of the Global Fortune 500. Bank of America Corporation stock (ticker: BAC) is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
About AAA
Established over 100 years ago, AAA of Northern California, Utah and Nevada offers a wide array of automotive, travel, insurance and financial services to more than 4 million members. AAA of Northern California has been a leader and advocate for the safety and security of all travelers since it was founded in 1900.