Bank of America and its customers support forest conservation programs with pledge of up to $500,000 to The Nature Conservancy
Bank of America encouraging customers to “go paperless” and view statements online instead; Bank donates $1 for each checking or savings statement customers stop getting by mail
CHARLOTTE, N.C.—April 6, 2006—Bank of America will donate $1 per account to The Nature Conservancy’s “Save A Tree, Conserve a Forest” program when customers elect to stop receiving paper versions of checking or savings account statements and decide to view them online instead. The total donation will be up to $500,000.
“We’re giving customers two ways to help the environment,” said Sanjay Gupta, e-Commerce executive. “Customers will save paper when they use online statements, and we’ll also donate up to $500,000 to help The Nature Conservancy with its important work.”
The funding helps support the Conservancy’s “Save A Tree, Conserve a Forest” campaign, a global effort to protect forests, which are home to more species of plants and animals than any other habitat on earth.
“Nearly half of the world’s original forest cover is gone, and each year, we lose an additional 40 million acres,” said Bill Ginn, director of The Nature Conservancy’s Global Forest Initiative. “From California to the Amazon, it is critical that we protect these forests, which are a vital resource for people and an important way to keep Earth’s fragile atmosphere in balance.”
Customers who “go paperless” will get an e-mail notification that their statement is available online. They’ll see the same information as they do in the paper version, and have direct access to 18 past monthly statements online to print or file. Customers can ask for free copies of statements as far back as seven years.
In addition to e-statements, Online Banking customers can save paper by viewing online images of their checks instead of receiving cancelled checks in the mail. They also can sign up for e-bills from many companies and eliminate paper versions of their bills.
The Conservancy is proud to partner with organizations like Bank of America in the effort to reduce waste and lower costs while contributing to America's legacy of healthy forests. The preservation of these forests is vital to the well-being of countless human and natural communities — from Maine's Northern Woods to California's Redwood forests.
The “Save A Tree, Conserve A Forest” campaign is especially significant because it doesn’t just reduce the amount of paper that is used for bank statements. It also raises support and awareness of the risks facing forests around the globe and the ways in which the Conservancy is working to protect them.
About The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy is a leading international, nonprofit organization that preserves plants, animals and natural communities representing the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit us on the Web at nature.org.
About The Nature Conservancy
Bank of America is a leading provider of online financial services, and its online site, www.bankofamerica.com, has received widespread recognition. Bank of America has the most online bankers in the world, according to Financial Insights. The site is among the top 50 of all U.S.-based Internet properties in terms of unique visitors monthly, and No. 1 among business and finance sites, according to comScore Media Metrix. Bank of America ranked No.1 in Javelin Strategy & Research’s Identity Fraud Safety Scorecard in 2004 and 2005. BusinessWeek called the SiteKey™ security service one of the best products of 2005. Global Finance magazine named bankofamerica.com the best consumer online banking site and the best information security initiatives in North America. In the spring of 2005, the site was ranked among the Forbes Best of the Web. In the summer of 2004, The Customer Respect Group ranked Bank of America No. 1 among commercial banks for the way it treats customers online and Vividence ranked bankofamerica.com among the leaders in experience for customers and prospective customers. The Gomez Scorecard ranked the Small Business Web site No. 1 in the Single-Owner Home-Operated (SOHO)/Micro category. comScore Networks, Inc. called Bank of America "the clear leader" in the rate of adoption of online bill payment and the leader of the industry based on overall number of active online customers.
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