Acting responsibly is ingrained in everything we do and is how we drive a long-term sustainable business that makes a genuine and lasting positive impact for patients, employees and communities. From Civic 50’s most community-minded companies in America to People’s Companies that Care, we’ve consistently been recognized for our efforts to give back.
The AbbVie Foundation is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) dedicated to making a remarkable impact around the world through a commitment that builds strong communities, sustainable health care systems and effective educational programs.
Since its inception in 2013, the AbbVie Foundation has:
The AbbVie Foundation is not currently accepting unsolicited grant applications. Questions? Contact us at abbviefoundation@abbvie.com
Since AbbVie became a company in 2013, we set out to make giving a part of who we are, while focusing on communities where we can make a real impact. Our philanthropic priorities are to create long-term, meaningful impact by building and strengthening health care systems, effective education programs, and resilient communities.
AbbVie partners with nonprofits working to strengthen health care systems and supports community-based programs that enhance access to health care for the underserved. AbbVie is advancing equity in education by addressing systemic barriers to advancement and reducing the achievement gap. The nonprofits we support seek to change the trajectory of the lives of marginalized students by providing counseling and tutoring services, working to improve graduation rates, reduce dropout rates and boost college and career readiness for children K-12. AbbVie is building stronger, more resilient communities through community-level support of global and local programs targeting aid, such as disaster relief, to those in need.
Learn more about our philanthropic programs and partners:
Engaging and Supporting Our Employees in the Community
Community engagement is an integral part of AbbVie’s culture with our employees looking for ways to engage and give back through volunteering.
All employees can use up to two days of paid work time to volunteer in the community. Annually, thousands volunteer during AbbVie’s global week of service with hundreds of nonprofits in 50+ countries around the world.
About one-quarter of all employees volunteer annually through programs sponsored by the company or the AbbVie Foundation, ranging from programs to advance our philanthropic programs to several pro-bono programs that allow our employees to donate their specialized skills in the most useful ways.
AbbVie employees also contribute financially to their communities, often through our employee giving and matching program. For every charitable donation employees make to one of over 1.5 million eligible nonprofits, the AbbVie Foundation matches dollar for dollar up to $5,000. In 2020, as part of the company’s annual Employee Giving Campaign, AbbVie employees in 50 countries raised $21.7 million to benefit more than 8,100 charities.
The AbbVie Foundation is committed to supporting employee well-being. In 2020, 319 scholarships were awarded to children of AbbVie employees from 38 countries as part of the AbbVie Possibilities Scholarship Program, and $3.2 million was provided in financial assistance to employees from 21 countries as part of the Employee Relief Program.
Learn more about our philanthropic programs and partners:
Promoting health and education equity in underserved Black communities
AbbVie is committed to advancing equality, equity, diversity and inclusion within our business and in our communities. Following the events in summer 2020, AbbVie made a $5 million donation to the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and the Equal Justice Initiative to address issues in our criminal justice system. We have sought to meet the moment by funding longer-term philanthropic investments with sustainable, meaningful impact to advance racial justice, education and health equity through a $50 million, five-year commitment. As part of this program, we extended our employee matching program to $3 for every $1 for donations to civil rights nonprofits fostering racial equity.
The Urban Health Initiative (UHI) is the University of Chicago Medicine's community health department, which administers population health and community benefit programs to the South Side of Chicago. UHI is working to establish strong, lasting relationships with civic leaders, community organizations, health care providers and residents to develop a comprehensive health care system that is rooted in collaboration.
With an $8 million contribution from AbbVie, UHI will work to empower Chicago's South Side community—made up of 77 percent Black residents— to advance health equity. AbbVie's support will enable local teams of community health workers to promote access to care and resources proven to measurably reduce health disparities.
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted deep inequities in the health care system in the U.S. AbbVie's support of $10 million helped launch the "Fund for Health Equity," a five-year initiative to improve care across the country in underserved Black communities, especially those hardest hit by the pandemic.
The Fund focuses on supporting the improvement of health care services at free and charitable clinics and federally qualified health centers (FQHCs). It also will support community-based organizations focus on non-clinical matters and circumstances that strongly affect a person’s health – physical environment and social, political, cultural, and economic factors – commonly known as the social determinants of health.
UNCF's mission is to build a robust and nationally-recognized pipeline of under-represented students who become highly-qualified college graduates and to ensure that their network of member institutions is a respected model of best practice in moving students to and through college.
With a $10 million contribution, AbbVie is the seed funder for the Healthcare Diversity Workforce Program, a scholarship program designed to reduce barriers to advancement in health professions and increase the number of Black professionals in a wide variety of health care careers. Scholarship, academic and career development support will be provided to students who are interested in a career in health care, but who might otherwise not have an opportunity to go beyond high school.
Year Up matches young adults with companies to gain skills, experience and career support.
A $10 million donation from AbbVie will support its training and internship program for more than 600 young adults (ages 18-26). AbbVie's support will enable technical skills training that is relevant and aligned with industry demand, with the goal of moving young adults from minimum wage to meaningful careers in as little as one year. More than 90 percent of Year Up students identify as a person of color.
National Urban League is a historic civil rights organization dedicated to economic empowerment, equality, and social justice. The League promotes economic empowerment through education and job training, housing and community development, workforce development, entrepreneurship, health, and quality of life.
AbbVie is supporting National Urban League's Project Ready Mentor with a $7 million contribution to lead a mentorship program for Black Americans and other historically underserved youth (ages 11-18). AbbVie's funding will provide mentorship in three new cities and expand existing programs in 11 cities and prepare youth for college and careers, helping them achieve post-secondary success with increased progress in math, reading, and writing.
Providence St. Mel (PSM) is a private PreK-12 school located on Chicago's West side. This independent, predominantly Black high school has had a 100 percent college acceptance rate since 1978.
A $1.5 million donation from AbbVie will fund scholarships for high school students living in Chicago's Southwest side based on financial need and academic potential. Additional funding will support PSM's Academic Intervention Model, which helps students two to three years behind their grade level to catch-up with their peers.
Supporting vulnerable communities impacted by COVID-19
In 2020, we made a $35 million contribution to support global disaster relief partners’ COVID-19 relief efforts. $5 million of this created the COVID-19 Resilience Fund that supported 26 nonprofits. Our relief response centered on having a measurable impact by providing critically needed support and supplies to frontline healthcare workers and hospitals, increasing health care capacity and access to care, particularly for hard-hit, disparately impacted communities, and providing targeted support toward downstream consequences of the pandemic.
International Medical Corps is a leading first responder with a well-earned reputation as a fast, reliable expert, working with states, countries and governments to help them recover and rebuild following crisis.
AbbVie was the sole funder of 27 mobile field units that helped to increase surge capacity at overburdened hospitals in Illinois, the Los Angeles area, NYC, Michigan, Texas, the Boston area and Puerto Rico. In addition, our donation supported the distribution of 915,480 pieces of personal protective equipment, more than 10,175 pieces of medical equipment, and 11,300 medical professional volunteer hours, including vaccination support in 2021.
In partnership with 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries and meal programs, Feeding America serves 37 million people throughout every county in the U.S. During the COVID-19 pandemic, food banks reported they were supporting people who were newly unemployed and were struggling to find work due to COVID-19 layoffs. Across the U.S., food banks reported an unprecedented demand.
AbbVie’s donation helped provide 5 million meals and household items to 200 foodbanks across 50 states. To accommodate those under stay-at-home orders or are otherwise confined to home, Feeding America launched creative new delivery methods, including direct-to-home food drops and minimal-contact food pick-ups.
Direct Relief is a humanitarian organization committed to improving the health and lives of people affected by poverty or emergencies. They operate in more than 70 countries, all 50 U.S. states and U.S. territories including Puerto Rico, where we've given them a $50M donation to improve the island's resiliency.
AbbVie’s donation to Direct Relief provided equipment and supplies in the hardest-hit European countries. Direct Relief has procured and delivered personal protective equipment (PPE) for front line healthcare workers as well as oxygen concentrators for patients. This equipment was critical as hospitals work to manage high patient demands and limited beds, particularly in intensive care units. In total, 1.45 million units of personal protective equipment and 500 oxygen concentrators were sent to 52 hospitals in Italy, Spain and UK.
Creating long-term impact for communities in need
In 2018, we announced a $350 million multi-year commitment to support nonprofits creating long-term impact in communities in need, from North Chicago to Puerto Rico and cities across the U.S., with a focus on helping families thrive, supporting disaster relief and strengthening K-12 education.
For more than 40 years, Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) has been keeping families together and close to the medical care they need. Ronald McDonald Houses provide comfort, support and resources for families with sick children just steps from the hospitals treating them. Within the Houses, families have more than just a place to sleep – they have lounge spaces to relax and spend time together just like they would at home. As the need for services continues to grow, many Houses are at capacity and have to turn away families.
New: Learn more about how one pediatric oncologist lit a spark to open the first Ronald McDonald House.
With a historic contribution of $100 million from AbbVie, RMHC is able to serve more families by adding over 600 new guest sleeping rooms at 33 Ronald McDonald Houses in the United States. These improvements, including the construction of four new Houses, are resulting in approximately 230,000 additional night stays for pediatric patients and their families annually.
Watch: Live announcement
Read: Press release
Family Reach alleviates the financial burden of cancer by working with more than 300 hospitals and cancer centers in the United States to equip families with financial education, planning, navigation and assistance before they hit critical breaking points.
NEW: Explore the five key areas of progress Family Reach has made with a $5 million AbbVie donation.
A $5 million donation from AbbVie is enabling Family Reach to help even more families, allowing an expansion to an additional 25 hospitals in 25 states across America and enhancing access to tools and support programs to an estimated 4,400 additional families.
Read: Press release
Young patients at St. Jude and their families often spend months on the Memphis, Tennessee campus, as doctors work tirelessly to treat their pediatric cancer and other life-threatening diseases. With the majority of funding coming from individual contributions, St. Jude upholds its longstanding promise that families never receive a bill for treatment.
To support St. Jude and its focus on putting families first, AbbVie has donated $50 million, the largest one-time gift in St. Jude history. The gift will allow St. Jude to accelerate plans to enhance the patient and family-centered care at the heart of its mission. The AbbVie gift will build spaces – both indoor and outdoor – for families to be together, including a treatment-free floor called Family Commons and a new walking path, gardens and playground.
Read: Press release
Since the hurricanes struck Puerto Rico, Direct Relief has been on the island and focused on restoring health care. From delivering emergency medical packs to the hardest-hit areas in the weeks after the storms to restoring power with new renewable sources like solar, Direct Relief continues to increase access to health care.
With a $50 million commitment from AbbVie, Direct Relief is focused on supporting more than 60 community health centers and local facilities with renewable energy, the capacity to produce clean water and mobile medical units to provide health care to remote areas. Residents will also have access to new telemedicine programs to address the shortage of healthcare professionals on the island.
With thousands of homes on Puerto Rico destroyed by the hurricanes, Habitat for Humanity International is focused on helping people repair and rebuild. With the $50 million from AbbVie, Habitat will directly assist 13,000 hurricane-affected residents through repair, new construction, workforce training and assistance with clear property titles.
The AbbVie donation is also going toward Habitat’s efforts to effect policy and systems reforms in aiding many of the estimated 1.3 million Puerto Ricans who live in housing that was built without clear title or proper permits. Those residents face significant barriers to construction and repairs as well as assistance from other sources of aid.
For more information, visit www.abbvie.com/puertorico.
Across the United States, students and their families face challenges accessing and navigating the maze of public and private services that could help them succeed in school and earn a high school diploma.
New: Learn how an intervention from Communities In Schools changed the course of one young man’s life.
By centering resources on the students with the highest need and making strong connections through school-based coordinators, nonprofit Communities In Schools (CIS) removes barriers for students at risk of dropping out. This mission is being elevated with a $30 million contribution from AbbVie.
This donation, the largest in CIS’ 40-year history, is enabling the nonprofit to grow its existing network, expand into communities not yet served, increase professional development offerings and continue its emphasis on research and innovation.
Read: Press release
We know all children can succeed. But children living in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty graduate high school at rates 22% lower than their middle or upper-income peers.
City Year’s goal is to strengthen the urban high school graduation pipeline, helping more students stay in school and on track to graduate. The organization deploys City Year members to serve full-time in schools as near-peer tutors, mentors and role models, helping students acquire critical strengths and skills to help them thrive both in and out of school.
A $10 million total contribution will help communities where AbbVie employees work and live:
Nationwide, the AbbVie donation will expand City Year’s National Math and Literacy Academic services to 258,000 students by 2022.
Read: Press release
The challenge is certain: Closing the opportunity gap and improving schooling outcomes for underserved youth in America’s most distressed urban neighborhoods.
What’s uncertain is how to solve this problem – that’s why the University of Chicago Education Lab is dedicated to finding solutions by developing, rigorously testing and scaling innovative programs to give youth in Chicago and across the United States the supports they need to succeed.
A $15 million donation from AbbVie, the largest the organization has ever received, is allowing the Education Lab to deepen its relationship with Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and other educational institutions to provide students at highest risk for dropout and violence victimization with individualized instruction and socio-emotional support, and to generate evidence about which approaches are moving the needle for kids.
Read: Press release
A longtime partner of AbbVie, the public school district in North Chicago provides learning opportunities for 3,400 students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade.
Neal Math & Science Academy – North Chicago’s only middle school – is where the District educates students during the pivotal transition into high school. Yet, their learning environment is in the poorest shape of any district building.
A $40 million donation from AbbVie will rebuild Neal Math & Science Academy, resulting in a new state-of-the-art middle school and giving students a 21st century learning environment that will help to propel learning and student success.
Read: Press release
