Stamford, Conn. – Pitney Bowes Inc., a global technology company that provides commerce solutions in the areas of ecommerce, shipping, mailing and financial services, today announced a series of programs and efforts to help small businesses and communities impacted by COVID-19. These projects include the new content hub The Way Forward for Small Business; partnership with GoDaddy’s Open We Stand project and the provision of fulfilment and delivery services for $1m worth of denim donated to healthcare workers by Good American. The Pitney Bowes Foundation has also announced their support of numerous non-profit organizations which are addressing essential and critical community needs, including efforts to supply PPE to hospitals, programs to address food insecurity, and literacy and education.

For 100 years, Pitney Bowes has supported small businesses and communities guided by its core value of ‘doing the right thing, the right way.’ With more than 750,000 small business clients around the world, the business has developed a deep understanding of the challenges these organizations face. The Way Forward for Small Business is a new program to support small businesses on their paths to recovery. The program delivers a diversity of helpful, informative content including videos, articles and fact sheets, on topics which are front-of-mind for the millions of small businesses impacted by COVID-19. Themes, which change every week, include government assistance, workplace operations and safety, and information on how to effectively market, sell and stay productive in a remote working environment.

To provide additional help for small businesses, Pitney Bowes is partnering with GoDaddy, supporting its Open We Stand campaign. New clients who sign up to shipping platform SendPro Online through Open We Stand receive a 30-day free trial, a $25 postage credit and 10lb scale, enabling them to effectively manage their shipping and mailing remotely.

Existing clients have also benefited from Pitney Bowes support. Good American, Khloé Kardashian and Emma Grede’s inclusive clothing brand, uses Pitney Bowes’ Fulfilment and Delivery services. Pitney Bowes is supporting the brand’s generous donation of $1m worth of denim to healthcare workers by facilitating their shipments, picking, packing and shipping the clothing.

“Pitney Bowes’ enduring culture is built on the core value of doing the right thing, the right way. Our passion for giving back runs deep, and this extends to our clients, employees, suppliers and communities. This spirit and resilience have never been as strong in our business,” said Marc Lautenbach, President and Chief Executive at Pitney Bowes. “Giving back is not only the right thing to do, it’s intrinsic to our organization, and I’m immensely proud of the steps we are taking to help shoulder the burden for our clients and communities during this challenging time.”

Reinforcing Pitney Bowes’ dedication to education

Reinforcing its longstanding commitment to the communities in which it operates and its dedication to education, Pitney Bowes has supported a series of efforts at a local level. With classrooms shut down, Jefferson County Public Schools Group in Kentucky needed a way to ship 20,000 Chromebooks to its students, quickly and efficiently to minimize the impact of school closures on students’ education. In just three days from the initial conversations, processes were accelerated, a SendPro Enterprise account was set up, 20,000 shipping labels were printed and the Chromebooks were on their way to the students.

Norwalk Community College, which serves students in Pitney Bowes’ home office community in Fairfield County, Connecticut, called on Pitney Bowes to help it continue to educate students during their necessary shift to online learning. As many students have limited technology resources at home, the Pitney Bowes’ IT Depot Team quickly readied 100 used and reimaged laptops and power cords for donation to help those in need complete their course work online.

In Brown Deer, WI, the Pitney Bowes Presort Services Milwaukee team was contacted by its local United Way for help donating paper to the Milwaukee Public School system. The administration needed paper to create educational packets for all the students working from home during COVID-19. Pitney Bowes delivered the boxes of paper needed, supporting the community and reaffirming the company’s commitment to education.

Pitney Bowes is supporting Read to Grow’s effort to donate books to students in need in Bridgeport, CT. Beginning in May, on a weekly basis, students will be able to choose books to take home at school meal locations across the city.

Charitable contributions

Pitney Bowes is making contributions to the following: The United Way Worldwide COVID-19 Community Response and Recovery Fund, the United Way of Western Connecticut for the Connecticut United Ways COVID-19 Response Funds and ALICE Relief Fund, the Valley United Way for the Valley COVID-19 Fund, and Fairfield County’s Community Foundation COVID Fund, the Stamford Hospital, as well as to Project Hope, which is working to source Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) from global vendors in partnership with other members of the Business Roundtable. The company has also converted the event sponsorships for its nonprofit partners to unrestricted operating support.

The Pitney Bowes Foundation is making special donations to the local food banks in more than 45 U.S. communities where it has operations. In addition, the Foundation is accelerating grants to many of its literacy and education grantees who are providing critical support to at this time. These efforts include national and local education non-profit partners providing essential services such as onsite care for hospital staff and first responders as well as programs to support students from underserved communities with books, enrichment programs and online math curriculum. The Pitney Bowes Foundation will be giving a special team volunteer grant to the United Way Worldwide COVID-19 Relief Fund in recognition of employees’ wide array of community efforts, which include contributing to food banks, helping local hospitals, delivering meals to first responders and showing appreciation for delivery people.

100 Years at Pitney Bowes

On April 23, 1920, Arthur Pitney, the inventor, and Walter Bowes, the promoter, founded The Pitney Bowes Postage Meter Company. Over the next 100 years, the combination of creativity with business acumen enabled Pitney Bowes to pioneer innovations for over one million clients through several decades – beginning with the postage meter to pushing the boundaries of global ecommerce. The Pitney Bowes centennial commitment continues to put the client first with sustainable innovation created by exceptional people who have deep ties to our communities and driven by a culture of doing the right thing the right way. For additional information visit: www.pitneybowes.com/100.