Creating Opportunities for Success

Committed to the communities we call home

Travelers believes that strong communities are sustained by educational and economic opportunities – and we are dedicated to assisting our communities in generating those opportunities. We focus our giving and volunteerism to help improve academic and career success, develop thriving neighborhoods and create culturally enriched communities.

“We feel a deep responsibility to support the communities we call home. Over the last decade, we have contributed more than $237 million toward important causes, and our employees have logged hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours to help power their communities.”

Alan Schnitzer, Travelers Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Caring for our communities

Ensuring opportunities that create strong, resilient communities and pathways to success; see how Travelers is making a difference.

Read transcript

(DESCRIPTION)
Text, Ensuring opportunities that create strong, resilient, vibrant communities and pathways to success.

(SPEECH)

[MUSIC PLAYING]

(DESCRIPTION)
Men and women engage in activities. Text, Our community. Involvement. Partnership. Commitment. Support.
People hold up red umbrellas. Text, Stronger together. #TEAM TRAVELERS
Tina Newsome-Lee, Managing Counsel, Corporate Claim, Travelers. Text, so much joy in giving back

(SPEECH)
TINA NEWSOME-LEE: I'm getting so much joy in giving back, seeing myself in the children, and knowing what they could one day become as well. So to me, it just-- I can't even really put into words.

(DESCRIPTION)
Sonia Cruz, Doctoral Candidate and Community Advocate. Text, do it for that difference.

(SPEECH)
SONIA CRUZ: If you're going to do something, do it for that difference, do it for that moment, do it for one child that needs you, do it for that one family that needs you, do it for that area of the community that needs you.

(DESCRIPTION)
Sean Ramalho, SVP, Strategic Execution Office, Travelers. Text, what cultural impact will you have.

(SPEECH)
SEAN RAMALHO: It's not just about profit and dollars. It's about what cultural impact will you have on the community that you're part of.

(DESCRIPTION)
Resilient &Thriving Neighborhoods. Elizabeth Figueroa, Small Business Owner, Los Angeles, Travelers Small Business Risk Education Program. Text, Small business support. Text, Travelers believes in us.

(SPEECH)
ELIZABETH FIGUEROA: It's important for us to know and to have that great comfort level that Travelers believes in us because they do see that we do help the economy.

(DESCRIPTION)
Culturally Enriched Communities. Jaime Grant, Former CEO, Ordway Performing Arts Center. Text, that
they've made an investment in the community.

(SPEECH)
JAMIE GRANT: Companies like Travelers do understand the difference between a philanthropic gift and an investment, and I like to think of our relationship with Travelers as that they've made an investment in the community.

(DESCRIPTION)
Developing Future Leaders. Gilliane Arens, Senior Communications Specialist, HR Communications, Travelers. Text, they can be whatever they want to be.

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GILLIANE ARENS: Early in my career, I didn't see a lot of people that looked like me that reflected what my future career aspirations could be. And so I felt like it's important to show, particularly young girls, that they can be whatever they want to be and that there are companies that support that.

(DESCRIPTION)
Ann Ultring, Program Manager, Travelers EDGE, Augsburg University. Text, a chance to build a professional network.

(SPEECH)
ANN ULRING: Travelers EDGE students have a pathway that's open to them to opportunities. It gives them a chance to build a professional network and their own social capital.

(DESCRIPTION)
Cesar Delgado, Account Executive Officer, Bond & Specialty Insurance, Travelers. Text, it changed my life

(SPEECH)
CÉSAR DELGADO: It changed my life. I mean, I don't think I couldn't have done it without EDGE.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

(DESCRIPTION)
Travelers employees in action. Text, Impact. Excellence. Transformation. Innovation. Leadership commitment. The Travelers Promise. Taking care of customers, communities and each other. The red umbrella logo and text, Travelers

Community impact

Find out the many ways we support communities where we live and work.

See our 2025 report

How we help

Grants and sponsorships are part of our philanthropy; so are the generous contributions of our employees. Learn more.

About funding

About employee involvement

Rebuilding Community

Led by Alan Schnitzer, Travelers Chairman and CEO, our annual service project brings Travelers employees together with one community or cause to create lasting change and a brighter future. For our most recent project, we went to Barnardsville, North Carolina, to help the community rebuild in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

Read transcript

[SOFT MUSIC PLAYING]

TEXT: Travelers logo. Rebuilding Community.

(DESCRIPTION)
Aerial of the North Carolina mountains. A small excavator works along a rural hillside. Shots of Phillip Kuykendall operating the excavator as he prepares the land for building.

TEXT: Phillip Kuykendall – Barnardsville Resident

(SPEECH)
PHILLIP KUYKENDALL: We picked this area just because of the view. We got a good view of the mountains. The kitchen will be in that corner, the living room, and then the bedrooms and everything from there back. Sort of hard to imagine it right now, but I mean, it'll come together, and it'll be beautiful, I'm sure. We are excited. I mean, we've got a home we're living in. We're living with my daughter and, but we're ready to get our lives back and have our own home.

[TENSE MUSIC PLAYING]

(DESCRIPTION)
Shots of Hurricane Helene flooding in Barnardsville.

TEXT: Gina Elrod – Barnardsville Area Resilience Network

(SPEECH)
GINA ELROD: Hurricane Helene, when it came through on September 27th, it devastated this community.

TEXT: David Crowder – Pastor, Carson Chapel Missionary Baptist Church

(SPEECH)
DAVID CROWDER: The devastation of it was really overwhelming.

(SPEECH)
PHILLIP KUYKENDALL: It was demolished. I mean, roads gone, homes gone, bridges gone. I mean, it’s just like a bomb landed.

(DESCRIPTION)
Shots of Hurricane Helene flooding in Barnardsville.

TEXT: Denny Dillingham – Barnardsville Resident

(SPEECH)
DENNY DILLINGHAM: A lot of people lost everything. Once that happened and everybody got destroyed or washed away, it brought people together and, "Hey, we've got to help each other."

(DESCRIPTION)
Aerials and shots of Barnardsville today. Shots of the firehouse and local firefighters.

(SPEECH)
GINA ELROD: Barnardsville is one of those idyllic, old-fashioned kind of communities where everybody knows each other. It's not a municipality. There's no mayor or anything like that. So the fire department is really our primary municipal building, and those men and women are just so embedded in the community. After the storm, Phillip Kuykendall, one of our captains, a public servant his entire life, stayed on. I think he did 30 days straight, you know, just helping his neighbors.

(DESCRIPTION)
Shots of Phillip Kuykendall on his old property.

(SPEECH)
PHILLIP KUYKENDALL: You can see the water level that was on my block building. That's how high the water was. And the house set up a little bit lower than that. So I mean, we had like three and a half feet of water inside the house. It was a horrible sight. Just shut the door and walked away and cried.

(DESCRIPTION)
Shots of Phillip Kuykendall on his old property.

(SPEECH)
GINA ELROD: We didn't even realize till later on that his home was completely destroyed, and that's what his wife and his teenage son were living through while he was selflessly helping his neighbors. So really, it was his whole family that sacrificed.

(DESCRIPTION)
Aerials and shots of Barnardsville today.

(SPEECH)
DAVID CROWDER: 12 months after the flood, there's still so much to be done in our community.

(SPEECH)
DENNY DILLINGHAM: Thank goodness our community did step up. Without outside help, it'd be many, many more years before we could even see daylight.

(DESCRIPTION)
Aerials of Barnardsville and Travelers employees gathering at a church in town.

TEXT: Pam Lunsford – Barnardsville Resident

(SPEECH)
PAM LUNSFORD: People get worried because, okay, we know we had all the help, you know, and of course the people that were helping have gone home. So when Travelers came in, it's bringing more hope that we're not forgotten.

[EMOTIONAL MUSIC PLAYING]

(DESCRIPTION)
Travelers employees gathering at the Big Ivy Historical Park.

(SPEECH)
TRAVELERS EMPLOYEE: Travelers, are we ready to go?

(DESCRIPTION)
Travelers employees cheering and clapping.

(DESCRIPTION)
Travelers employees restoring the Big Ivy Historical Park, including cleanup, repairs and landscaping.

(SPEECH)
DAVID CROWDER: The Big Ivy Historical Park is something that we're really proud of as a community. We're truly grateful for Travelers coming in to help and the projects that they're undertaking.

(DESCRIPTION)
Travelers employees restoring the Big Ivy Historical Park, including cleanup, repairs and landscaping.

(SPEECH)
DENNY DILLINGHAM: The historical park was pretty much destroyed, and to get it revitalized, it's a tremendous effect on the community. And I think that's what it is, is having a sense of belonging to something and somebody, and showing the youth that, "Hey, something is worth saving." I'd like to see that for my kids and grandkids. I've got great-grandkids. (laughs)

(DESCRIPTION)
Shots of Gina and Travelers employees surveying homes under construction.

(SPEECH)
GINA ELROD: Well, what we're finding now is that many of the situations that we have left are just multi-layered and very complex.

(DESCRIPTION)
Shots of food delivery trucks and Travelers volunteers packing and delivering food.

TEXT: Graham DuVall – Owner & Operations Manager, Mother Earth Food

(SPEECH)
GRAHAM DUVALL: People are still really cut off. A lot of people don't have work. And so continuing to support this area with food is one of the foundations for rebuilding. And so disaster relief organizations funded a program to bring local farm food directly to the Barnardsville community, but that program on the state level was not continued. So it was really amazing grace for us because this Travelers grant picked up from where that left off, keeping healthy, fresh food coming to people that really need it the most.

(DESCRIPTION)
Shots of Gina and Travelers employees delivering food to Barnardsville residents.

(SPEECH)
BARNARDSVILLE RESIDENT: That they were like so willing to just deliver it to us was like, honestly, a game changer for us.

(SPEECH)
BARNARDSVILLE RESIDENT: Appreciate you guys.

(SPEECH)
BARNARDSVILLE RESIDENT: It's just been so beautiful.

(SPEECH)
BARNARDSVILLE RESIDENT: Thank you.

(SPEECH)
TRAVELERS EMPLOYEE: Happy Thanksgiving to you.

(SPEECH)
BARNARDSVILLE RESIDENT: It's a huge blessing that is like really unheard of.

(SPEECH)
BARNARDSVILLE RESIDENT: God bless y'all.

(DESCRIPTION)
Shots of Gina, Pam and Travelers employees delivering food to Barnardsville residents and talking with them.

(SPEECH)
PAM LUNSFORD: Getting the boxes is wonderful, but it's way more than food. It's just the knowledge of somebody's coming to see you. You get to talk to someone, joke with them, love them, hug them. It's comfort for the people. They feel the joy, they feel happiness, they feel hope.

(SPEECH)
BARNARDSVILLE RESIDENT: It means everything.

(DESCRIPTION)
Shots of Phillip’s new home under construction. Travelers CEO and employees examining blueprints with Phillip.

(SPEECH)
GINA ELROD: We were all just praying, praying that something would happen for Phillip. I got a call about this opportunity with Travelers Insurance.

(DESCRIPTION)
Shots of Phillip’s new home under construction.

(SPEECH)
PHILLIP KUYKENDALL: It means everything. It's the beginning of starting your life over. Just don't rest unless you're at home, and my wife's excited about the home.

[UPLIFTING MUSIC PLAYING]

(DESCRIPTION)
Aerials and shots of Phillip’s new home under construction. Travelers volunteers working inside.

(SPEECH)
DAVID CROWDER: We are greatly encouraged that Travelers is rebuilding Phillip's home. It's very satisfying when you look at a family and they're provided for.

(DESCRIPTION)
Aerial shot of Travelers volunteers in the shape of a heart.

TEXT: Myles Gibbons – EVP & President, Middle Market and National Property

(SPEECH)
MYLES GIBBONS: We promise to take care of people at their most difficult and challenging times. And to be able to just have a very small hand in helping people reclaim their lives is pretty special.

(DESCRIPTION)
Group shot of Travelers volunteers.

(SPEECH)
GINA ELROD: The investment that Travelers has made in this community is already paying off, and I think it'll pay off even more in the future.

(DESCRIPTION)
Shots of firefighters at the firehouse and town members and volunteers hugging.

TEXT: Tony Clinton – Barnardsville Resident

(SPEECH)
TONY CLINTON: This place is amazing. It's a wonderful place just to live life. It's amazing the strength when we can all bond together.

(DESCRIPTION)
Shots of food delivery trucks, children with red umbrellas, Travelers volunteers finishing work on Phillip’s house and cheering as the doors open.

(SPEECH)
GRAHAM DUVALL: I see a community that has rallied, and Travelers has continued to help rebuild, making sure that everyone's needs are met. So it's really an incredible example of what humanity can do in the face of disaster.

(DESCRIPTION)
Aerial of downtown Barnardsville.

(SPEECH)
PHILLIP KUYKENDALL: I believe in this community. I believe we can get back to normal.

TEXT: Travelers logo. Rebuilding Community. Travelers dot com backslash community.

Academic & career success

Because today’s student will be tomorrow’s co-worker, education is a priority in our giving. We support college and career readiness programs for students primarily in our communities of Hartford, Connecticut and St. Paul, Minnesota.

Learn more about academic & career success

Thriving neighborhoods

Creating safe, resilient communities where people have access to opportunity is a priority for us. We fund initiatives ranging from the creation of affordable housing to small business development and disaster preparedness.