U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company's Employees Contribute $130,000 in Grants for Illinois Nonprofits

CHICAGO, IL. (September 18, 2015) – Altria Companies Employee Community Fund (ACECF), including employees from U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company, donated $130,000 to 16 nonprofits in Illinois with many located in the Chicagoland area. In Illinois, ACECF has donated more than $500,000 since 2011 to support organizations that focus on hunger relief, youth and senior services, homelessness, domestic violence, and emergency services.

“Our ACECF committee spent weeks reading the applications of nonprofits in our communities. We’ve worked hard to choose the organizations that address the issues that matter most,” said Judy Fonorow, Associate Manager at USSTC and ACECF volunteer. “By bringing our donations together, we use our collective impact to make a difference.”

ACECF is an employee-funded charitable giving program managed and supported by Altria companies employees. Altria Group makes an annual contribution to the fund and pays for its administrative costs enabling every dollar that employees give to ACECF to go directly to non-profit groups within Illinois. It is the only employee-managed giving program that is publicly reported among U.S. companies, according to Changing Our World.

ACECF awarded grants to the following Illinois organizations for 2015:

· Bethany Place

· By The Hand for Kids Club

· Comfort Zone Camp

· Cornerstone Service

· Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Cook County

· Family Rescue

· Family Shelter Service

· Garden Center Services

· Greater Chicago Food Depository

· Life Span

· Maryville Academy

· The Night Ministry

· Northern Illinois Food Bank

· People’s Resource Center

· United Methodist Village Retirement Communities

· West Suburban Pads

Employees founded ACECF in 20001. They had a long history of charitable giving but wanted to be more involved in choosing the causes that have significant impact in their community. This year, the fund awarded 147 grants totaling $3.2 million to nonprofits in Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Virginia and Pennsylvania. Throughout its history, ACECF has awarded 1,741 grants totaling more than $46.3 million to non-profit organizations.

To learn more about ACECF, please visit altria.com.

1. This program began at PM USA as the Philip Morris Employee Community Fund or PMECF.