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Citizens & Northern Bank, Wellsboro, PA

Entry Year: 2017
Entry Category: Community & Economic Development
Asset Size: Small
Program Name: Giving Back, Giving Together

Program Summary:

Citizens & Northern Bank started our “Giving Back, Giving Together” (GBGT) program in 2015, as a way to give back to our communities. Each year, our employees nominate and vote for the cause they would like to support in the upcoming year. Our 300+ employees are broken into 33 teams, which are divided up into four brackets based on size and pitted against each other for some fun and friendly competition to see who could raise the most money. Our teams then partner with a local organization(s) related to the cause they would like to support.

Teams raise money for their organizations in a variety of ways. The most common way is through “Jeans Days,” where employees are allowed to wear jeans on the last Friday of the month in exchange for a donation. Teams also host fundraisers during our four quarterly event weeks, which range from raffle baskets and bake sales to “cow pie” bingo and 5ks. Our teams never lack in new, creative and fun ways to raise money for our causes. During these event weeks, donation items are also collected that are needed by our partnering organizations. Employees are given points for each item donated. Teams also earn points for volunteering for cause-related organizations. At a corporate level, C&N donates all proceeds from our annual C&N Charity Classic Golf Tournament to our GBGT program and $1 for every "like" or "share" for Facebook posts with the hashtag #givingbackgivingtogether.

In the last two years, we’ve raised over $120,000 and our employees have donated their time on 283 different occasions. The tremendous success of this initiative is driven by our employee’s commitment to these causes.