NEW YORK, Feb. 07, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Apollo (NYSE: APO) today announced the Apollo Opportunity Foundation (the “Foundation”) has awarded nearly $3 million in grants to 11 nonprofit organizations working to advance economic prosperity. These are the first grant recipients since the Foundation launched in February 2022 with more than $100 million committed to invest over a decade to organizations working to expand opportunity for underrepresented individuals.
The Foundation is employee driven and builds on Apollo’s commitment to expand opportunity in the workplace, the marketplace and the communities where we work and live. Nonprofit organizations are nominated by employees from across Apollo, including Athene, and are evaluated and selected by the Grants Council, which is co-chaired by partners Christine Hommes and Earl Hunt and made up of employees representing Apollo’s different geographies and businesses. Over the last year, employees nominated organizations to receive funding from the Foundation. Following a rigorous review process by the Grants Council, these 11 organizations were selected based on the impact they’ve made to date and the alignment of their mission with the Foundation’s key pillars - (1) Career Education, (2) Workforce Development and (3) Economic Empowerment.
The inaugural grant recipients and their respective missions are:
- Braven: build cutting-edge career education into the undergraduate experience for underrepresented college students to land strong first jobs
- Echoing Green: discover emerging social entrepreneurs around the globe and grow their ideas to solve the world’s biggest problems
- Futures and Options: offer career development and internships for New York City public school students
- GAIN - Girls Are Investors UK: develop a pipeline of entry-level women and non-binary candidates for careers in investment management
- Girls Who Invest: propel more women into portfolio management and executive leadership roles in the asset management industry
- The Marcy Lab School: train students in a software engineering fellowship as an alternative to college
- National Education Equity Lab: deliver online college credit-bearing courses into teacher-led high school classrooms in underserved communities
- Per Scholas: provide no-cost rigorous technical training and access to employer networks to close the tech skills divide
- Project Iowa: offer support and training services to Iowans seeking better careers
- The TEAK Fellowship: unlock transformative education and experiences for NYC students to achieve college and career success
- Vedica Scholars: prepare professional women to achieve fulfilling careers through post-graduate programs
“The Apollo Opportunity Foundation builds on Apollo’s legacy of engaging our employees across the firm to take tangible action,” said Marc Rowan, Chief Executive Officer of Apollo Global Management and Chairman of the Foundation Board. “This first round of grants awarded to nonprofits leading the charge for positive change in their communities sets the tone for what we as a firm can accomplish to expand opportunity over the next decade and beyond.”
“We are incredibly proud of the progress the Apollo Opportunity Foundation has made in its first year. Apollo employees from across the firm have been deeply involved, and the Foundation has helped to further ignite their passion for community engagement, helping us to select 11 phenomenal organizations,” said Lauren Coape-Arnold, Global Head of Citizenship and Executive Director of the Foundation.
In addition to financial contributions, over the next year Apollo employees will also support each organization through ongoing engagement, including volunteering, strategic advisory work, and providing broader exposure to the Apollo platform. The Grants Council will continue to review and evaluate organizations nominated by their Apollo colleagues, and the Foundation will issue new grants on an ongoing basis.
Earl Hunt, Apollo partner and Co-Chair of the Grants Council, remarked: “Our approach to the Foundation is guided by a diverse group of Apollo teammates who represent what we do best: rigorous analysis and deep due diligence, but with a commitment to community.”
The Foundation is a continuation of the work Apollo has underway to expand opportunity for underrepresented individuals across its workplace, marketplace and communities through targeted initiatives. In 2021, Apollo co-launched AltFinance, a $90 million, 10-year initiative designed to build pathways for more Historically Black Colleges and Universities’ (HBCUs) students to pursue careers in alternative investment management. Through its Citizenship program, Apollo employees engage in a variety of programs that reach more than 1,500 non-profit organizations on an annual basis, with more than 90% of the firm participating.
For more information on the Apollo Opportunity Foundation, click here.
About Apollo
Apollo is a global, high-growth alternative asset manager. In the asset management business, Apollo seeks to provide its clients excess return at every point along the risk-reward spectrum from investment grade to private equity with a focus on three business strategies: yield, hybrid, and equity. For more than three decades, Apollo’s investing expertise across its fully integrated platform has served the financial return needs of its clients and provided businesses with innovative capital solutions for growth. Through Athene, Apollo’s retirement services business, it specializes in helping clients achieve financial security by providing a suite of retirement savings products and acting as a solutions provider to institutions. Apollo’s patient, creative, and knowledgeable approach to investing aligns its clients, businesses it invests in, its team members, and the communities it impacts, to expand opportunity and achieve positive outcomes. As of September 30, 2022, Apollo had approximately $523 billion of assets under management. To learn more, please visit www.apollo.com.
Apollo Forward-Looking Statements
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Contacts
Apollo
For Investors:
Noah Gunn
Global Head of Investor Relations
Apollo Global Management, Inc.
(212) 822-0540
For Media:
Joanna Rose
Global Head of Corporate Communications
Apollo Global Management, Inc.
(212) 822-0491
