Corporate Social Responsibility

Environmental sustainability and philanthropic initiatives are at the core of the IMF’s corporate social responsibility program.

Environmental sustainability and philanthropic initiatives are at the core of the IMF's corporate social responsibility program.

Environmental sustainability

The IMF is committed to environmentally responsible operations. Climate change is a major threat to long-term growth and prosperity and has a direct impact on the world’s economic well-being. The IMF is expanding its climate change work, supporting member countries in adopting and implementing policies designed to mitigate, contain, and reduce emissions. Similarly, as an institution, the IMF is taking steps to advance its operational environmental sustainability goals.

For more than a decade, the IMF has taken steps to reduce its impact on the environment while ensuring that it can effectively serve its global membership. To further advance this work, it established the Environmental Sustainability Council in 2021 to advise and provide directional guidance to IMF management on the operational environmental issues facing the organization. The institution has also continued to invest in and manage new building technologies to reduce energy consumption, in addition to introducing new policies for greening the IMF’s global vehicle fleet.

Even as COVID-19 pandemic restrictions were gradually eased and the IMF staff began to return to headquarters and field offices—and critical mission travel resumed to a limited degree—the Fund’s carbon footprint remained well below pre-pandemic levels (see Figure 3.2). However, as operations return to a more normal pace, there is an opportunity to make some of the pandemic-related reductions in the IMF’s carbon footprint permanent. Importantly in this regard, considerable progress has been made in developing a new hybrid work model, which promises to permanently reduce employee commuting and building-related emissions, when implemented in 2022.

Figure 3.2

The IMF's Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Calendar Years 2012–21

(metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent)

Source: IMF, Corporate Services and Facilities Department.

Giving Together

Giving Together, the IMF’s philanthropic program, is supported by donations from employees and retirees and funding from the IMF’s corporate giving initiatives.

The prolongation of the COVID-19 pandemic and humanitarian crises arising from conflict and the incidence of natural and climate-related disasters have continued to present overwhelming challenges for people and communities around the world. The IMF community responded to these humanitarian challenges with unprecedented support in FY 2022. Total funding from employee and retiree donations, IMF corporate matching, and Giving Together grants and donations resulted in the program’s providing more than $5.5 million to charitable causes during the financial year—more than ever before in its history (see Figure 3.3).

IMF Managing Director in conversation with Congolese woman

Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva delivers charitable donation to the Fund for Congolese Women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (December 2021).

Giving

The 2022 giving campaign achieved a major milestone in both participation and total dollars raised, with contributions surpassing the $3 million mark for the first time. A record-breaking number of staff members and retirees contributed to the campaign, raising more than $3.3 million in donations and matching funds to support organizations in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area and across the globe.

In addition, the IMF’s Giving Together program organized fundraisers to support relief efforts for natural disasters in the Republic of Congo, Haiti, Indonesia, and Tonga and in response to the refugee crisis in Ukraine and neighboring countries. Combined, more than $736,000 was channeled to international relief organizations providing critical aid and support to affected children and families on the ground.

In total, employee and retiree donations, plus matching funds, raised $5.2 million to support charitable causes and humanitarian relief efforts during FY 2022—exceeding the $4.1 million raised the previous year.

Figure 3.3

Total Raised in Donations and Matching Funds, FY 2016-22

(millions of US dollars)

Among the recipients of the Giving Together program in FY 2022

$736,000
raised to support humanitarian and disaster relief efforts
$387,000
in grants to charities worldwide awarded to
30
organizations across
4
continents

Source: IMF, Communications Department.

Grants

The IMF strives to help its neighbors in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area and in communities around the world emerge from poverty and crisis by supporting community initiatives through partnerships and annual monetary grants. In FY 2022, Giving Together awarded $387,000 in grants to charitable organizations worldwide. Many of the year’s grants focused on programs and services that support groups disproportionately hurt by COVID-19, particularly communities of color, women, and youth. In total, grants were awarded to 30 organizations serving disadvantaged populations in 10 countries across four continents.

Volunteerism

In the wake of the global pandemic, IMF staff members found ways to make an impact in their communities through volunteerism. Whether individually or as part of a group, IMF staff members engaged in various philanthropic activities during the year, including preparing healthy meals for hungry families, organizing collection drives for students in underresourced communities and schools, and participating in community cleanup events with local nonprofit partners working to conserve and protect the environment.

In addition, in honor of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, staff members participated in a virtual volunteering event organized by Giving Together in partnership with the Capital Area Food Bank, a DC-based organization and one of the largest nonprofits tackling hunger and food insecurity in the Washington metropolitan region.