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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowPittsburgh-based PNC Financial Services Group Inc., which acquired Cleveland-based National City Corp. on Dec. 31 for $5.6 billion, has committed to be the presenting sponsor of the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis’ Haunted House for the next decade.
Financial terms of the sponsorship were not disclosed.
As part of the bank merger, PNC publicly pledged to donate $28 million this year to the various communities where National City did business – $5 million more than National City did.
PNC’s signature charitable program is an early childhood education initiative called “Grow Up Great.” About half of the bank’s gifts are associated with the initiative.
“Early childhood education is something we find very, very important,” PNC CEO Jim Rohr said in an interview with IBJ.
“If you look at [economics professor] Jim Heckman’s study from the University of Chicago, for every dollar of early childhood education that we spend, we reduce or save the society somewhere between $18 and $27 in incarceration, rehabilitation and welfare,” Rohr said.
He said PNC gives money to early childhood education centers where its employees volunteer. He said PNC has about 28,000 employees and 6,500 volunteers.
Rohr said PNC allows local bank presidents to determine charitable priorities for their own communities. National City Indiana President Steve Stitle, who PNC retained, has had a long affiliation with the Children’s Museum as a board member and volunteer. Stitle spearheaded PNC’s Children’s Museum sponsorship.
“It’s just a wonderful support for children’s education, and we couldn’t have gotten that done before,” Stitle said. “Everybody’s been very supportive. It’s just a perfect example of supporting youth in this community.”
PNC previously did not have a central Indiana banking presence. Buying National City gave it about 170 Indiana branches, including 75 in the Indianapolis area. The banks has about 1,200 local employees and $4 billion in local deposits. It’s the second-biggest bank in the Indianapolis area, behind Chase.
PNC plans to build on that base, but hasn’t yet announced details of its expansion plans.
The Children’s Museum has a $22.3 million annual budget, according to its 2007 annual report. About 10 percent of its income is from donations.
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