The Votes Are in: America Shows Its Love for National Parks, but Everyone Wins in Lowe’s First Online Giving Campaign

MOORESVILLE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Lowe’s and the Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation are distributing grants totaling $1 million to the four charities that participated in the company’s first-ever online community giving campaign. Each charity will receive $100,000 for participating, and the remaining $600,000 will be distributed based on the percentage of votes each charity received at www.lowes.com/give and on Lowe’s Facebook page from Jan. 9-21.

“Lowe’s and LCEF are proud to give each of the four charities grants that will help create more sustainable communities and environments across the United States and in Haiti.”

• The top vote getter, with 44.15 percent of the consumer vote, is the National Park Foundation, the official charity of America’s national parks. It will receive a grant of $364,900. The Foundation will be using its grant to fund America’s Best Idea Grants, a program inspired by the Ken Burns film, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea. The funding will also support the Foundation’s Electronic Field Trips (EFTs), which will allow millions of school children to experience America’s national parks as virtual classrooms, learning vital topics from climate change to geology to history, through an interactive online and broadcast experience.
• Keep America Beautiful (KAB) received 37.38 percent of the vote for a total grant amount $324,280. KAB will use the grant to help host its signature community improvement program, the Great American Cleanup, this spring. The Great American Cleanup is the nation’s largest organized clean-up, beautification and community improvement program and will promote clean-up and recycling efforts in more than 33,700 communities.
• Water.org will receive $158,920, having won 9.82 percent of the vote. Funds awarded from the Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation will support Water.org’s long-term development efforts in Haiti to increase access to sustainable, safe water and sanitation services. Water.org has committed to reaching 50,000 Haitians with clean water and sanitation by 2012.
• American Forests received 8.65 percent of the vote, making its total grant amount $151,900. American Forests plans to use the funds to help reach its 2011 goal of planting more than five million trees in dozens of restoration projects across the United States and to launch a new public education initiative about forests and trees. The trees it plants with Lowe’s support will help restore critical habitat for wildlife, prevent erosion, stabilize watersheds, and filter pollutants from the atmosphere. Its new educational resources will help educate and engage diverse communities of people about the environmental and societal benefits of forests and trees.

“We found that people were extremely enthusiastic about the online giving campaign,” said Larry D. Stone, chairman of the Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation. “Lowe’s and LCEF are proud to give each of the four charities grants that will help create more sustainable communities and environments across the United States and in Haiti.”

Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation selected the four, well-established charities based on their missions, which align with one of Lowe’s sustainability focus areas, including promoting energy and water conservation, minimizing waste and increasing recycling opportunities, land conservation, and reducing carbon emissions.

ABOUT LOWE’S

Lowe’s is a proud supporter of Habitat for Humanity International, American Red Cross, SkillsUSA/Skills Canada, and The Nature Conservancy, in addition to numerous nonprofit organizations and programs that help communities in North America. In 2009, Lowe’s and the Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation together contributed more than $30 million to support community and education projects in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Lowe’s also encourages volunteerism through the Lowe’s Heroes program, a company-wide employee volunteer initiative. Lowe’s is a FORTUNE® 50 company with fiscal year 2009 sales of $47.2 billion and has more than 1,725 stores in the United States, Canada and Mexico. For more information, visit Lowes.com/socialresponsibility.