Annual performance
Even during the challenging times of the COVID-19 pandemic, the culturally engrained spirit of giving is as strong as ever. Amid unprecedented challenges for underserved patients and communities, 2020 was our most significant year of giving yet as Edwards nearly doubled its giving support by providing almost $20 million to charitable causes around the world, including:
- Increased Foundation funding, including
- new funding for urgent use to meet COVID-19 hardship needs
- pivoted existing funding enabling previously issued grants to be used to address urgent needs
- expedited funds bypassing our annul grant cycle
- Approximately $10 million in donated Edwards product technologies for urgent humanitarian patient support, including critical care technologies to address COVID-19 hot spots
- Amplified employee giving through
- New clinical volunteer policy allowing employees to take paid time off to serve hospitals understaffed to treat COVID-19 patients
- Employees training frontline clinicians supporting critical care patients
- Elevated our employee matching gift program to a $2:$1 ratio
- Increased in-kind donations including food, refurbished computers and personal protective equipment
Employee charitable activity and giving
From the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on patients and our communities, to the racial equity conversation sweeping the globe, now more than ever, there is an urgent need to listen, connect, support, give and grow together. Edwards is energized by our work to support those in need, and we seek to embed this spirit throughout our culture by encouraging our employees to support others and give back.
In 2020, we had an 89 percent response rate on our engagement survey with over 12,500 employees responding. We found that Edwards’ employee engagement scores outpaced the Global Top Performing Companies benchmark by 7 points. This benchmark is composed of the top 20 percent of scores across companies in all industries. Coming in above this benchmark showcases just how engaged our workforce truly is.
Not only are our employees incredibly engaged, but they also are firm believers in giving back to the communities we serve. According to the same survey, 83 percent of our employees stated they participated in charitable activities over the prior 12 months, through volunteering their time, or donating money or goods to non-profit organizations. This brings us closer to our company-wide aspiration to have 100 percent employee participation in engagement of a charitable activity. Across the VP and above level, 100 percent of our employees stated they participated in charitable activities. Of those, these individuals reported having a higher level of patient focus, engagement, culture, belonging, empowerment, and innovation than individuals who did not participate in charitable activities. This is a testament to how integral philanthropy is to Edwards and our patient-focused workforce.
Highlights of 2020 global employee community giving activities and in-kind donations:
- A member of our TMTT R&D team in Israel helped solve a ventilator shortage by assisting the Israeli Defense Forces in the development of a prototype, resulting in 1,000 ventilation monitoring systems ready for COVID-19 patient use
- Our Irvine IT team donated over 100 repurposed computers for at-risk youth in Orange County, as more students struggled with online learning
- One employee in India prepared and distributed food to 100 families in need each week during a significant COVID-19 case surge
- In Ireland, Edwards and employees united to refurbish four different youth athletic clubs with fresh paint, repairs and revitalized grounds
- Our Irvine headquarters café team donated over 20,000 meals and 3,400 hours of team member’s time to local homeless shelters experiencing increased demand from clients suffering from economic downfall, also keeping our café employees working with purpose
- Our Irvine sales and marketing team filled 600 backpacks with school supplies, personal notes and materials for the teachers and children of Pedawa, Bali
- Edwards volunteers in Costa Rica built 40 wheelchairs that were donated to local community members in need near our manufacturing facility in Cartago, Costa Rica
- Edwards employees in Brazil launched a campaign to raise money for a local nursing home to provide more than 100 food baskets, which Edwards matched, resulting in 363 food baskets for the elderly in need
The Edwards Lifesciences Foundation
Increased funding during 2020 allowed the Edwards Lifesciences Foundation to issue emergency grants to organizations serving on the frontlines of COVID-19 and providing community safety net services such as financial assistance for food, medication and rent to vulnerable communities. We joined with our Every Heartbeat Matters partners to re-purpose funds to meet immediate needs; supported COVID-19 testing sites in underserved communities; moved clinical education to virtual settings; performed research and education on COVID-19 impact on structural heart disease patients, and redirected funding on STEAM education to hunger and housing. View list of these partners and grants.
As non-profits struggled with reduced operational support and increased demand, we substituted our annual grant cycle process for long-term relationships, providing trusted partners with emergency safety net and patient service grants immediately. For new funding issued via our annual grant cycle, our global committee of reviewers centered on the most urgent needs. Funding specifically focused on operational support for our trusted partners, including eight trusted EHM partners to address U.S. black patient health care gaps for structural heart and critical care patients.
In 2020, Edwards global giving totaled nearly $20 million, a significant increase from approximately $11 million in 2019, with over $8 million in cash grants from our Foundation, and approximately $10 million in donations of technologies for humanitarian aid. Additionally, we align our Foundation giving with employee engagement through our foundation’s employee matching gift program, which matches donations to non-profit organizations up to $5,000 per employee each year. In 2020, we elevated this match program by offering a $2 to $1 ratio, resulting in nearly 20 percent of our Foundation grants to be focused on matching employee donations and campaigns to help global communities and, when included with all matching programs, totaled $1.6 million.
Every Heartbeat Matters
When we launched Every Heartbeat Matters (EHM) in 2014, our goal was to impact the global burden of heart valve disease by supporting the education, screening or treatment of 1 million underserved people by 2020. At an all-employee event in early 2020, we proudly recognized our 60+ charitable partners who not only made the achievement of this goal possible, they also helped us exceed it. To date, we have been able to impact structural heart and critical care patients by diagnosing, treating and aiding recovery for nearly 2 million underserved people in 46 countries.
In support of our new EHM commitment – we will improve the lives of 2.5 million additional underserved structural heart and critical care patients by the end of 2025 – we address stages of the patient journey, beginning with detection through treatment and now through recovery. We are broadening the focus from heart valve disease to all structural heart disease and critical care support. We enhanced our product donation program to provide humanitarian treatment for underserved patients outside the U.S. We are significantly increasing donations of Edwards’ technologies for humanitarian care in partnership with MAP International. This includes donations of our most advanced surgical heart valves, heart valve repair rings, and critical care monitors and sensors.
For more on EHM, including stories of impact, please see our dedicated web page.