Innovation

TD Bank’s innovation is investing in the community, as they are well known as “TD Green,” due to their incredible sustainability practices. During an interview with Emma Mazzaferro, bank manager of 70 Bayard Street, New Brunswick NJ 08901, she explained how “TD Bank, for many years now, has tried to become more paperless, whether it is with the transactions or down to the modules that the employee have to be trained on. TD Bank is focusing now more than ever on investing in the community.” TD Bank believes that the root of every successful employee starts with a team of people working together to make the surrounding community a better place. Mazzaferro stated, “TD donates millions of dollars each year to causes that matter to their customers, employees, and stakeholders. Over the past five years alone, our corporate donations have exceeded $300 million.” However, although financial support is important, it can only go so far. TD Bank also contributes services by building collaborative partnerships with community organizations.

Additionally, Fabricio Acosta, a teller at TD Bank in New Brunswick mentioned, “TD Bank strives to give volunteer time, resources, and skills to their employees to help tackle pressing community issues. I have only been with TD [Bank] for a short period of time so far, but I already am aware of events going on around our community, like planting trees and typical donations being asked for organizations in our community. TD [Bank] is really a great green environment, and working at other banks I have not seen a bank this invested in their community like TD [Bank].” According to Mazzaferro, local involvement is more than a tradition at TD Bank, “it’s part of our DNA.” TD Bank’s dedication to the community is demonstrated in many ways, from volunteering at local schools to joining a neighborhood tree planting to contributing financial literacy programs.

Ways TD gives back to their communities:

Corporate Giving: support non-profits from the branch to the corporate level.

Employee Volunteerism: encouraging their employees’ volunteer efforts, setting up planting trees activities around their communities to activity sponsoring volunteer events.

Community Partnerships: TD proudly works together with many organizations to help tackle important societal challenges. TD helps either financially, or gives business expertise on how to grow its business.

Thought Leadership: TD supports and participates in multi-stakeholder initiatives that aim to generate discussion, ideas and best practices for addressing key community issues.

Inspiration

The innovation of “TD Green,” and the idea of investing in local communities was developed collectively by the leaders of the TD Bank organization. TD Green’s primary goal can be heavily linked with one of the UN Sustainability Goals. That is Goal 11, which is labeled, “Sustainable Cities and Communities.” So why would TD Green, along with the idea of investing in local communities, be linked with Goal 11?

TD Green’s primary goal is to minimize paperwork. It gives its customers incentives to use less paper by having them perform much of their bank work online. This means that much of the mail or paperwork that would need to be printed for customers would now be available online for them to view. This results in reduced wastage of paper and cleaner communities.

Overall impact

As previously stated, TD Green’s goal evolved when it decided to invest in local communities as well. The idea of investing in communities ensures that neighborhoods across the United States and the world have the means to rise above poverty by encouraging people to volunteer. When it comes to being sustainable, TD Bank has found the means to hold tree-planting events across various communities around the world. TD Bank is also involved with the program, “Elijah’s Promise.” This program in New Brunswick, New Jersey ensures the well-being of impoverished and homeless people through food donations. These are just a few programs that TD Bank is involved with.

As previously stated, Emma Mazzaferro has said that what inspires her most about the innovation is the fact that TD Bank set many of these programs as requirements for all of its banks. She said, “This will encourage many banks to incorporate these programs and improve communities.”

This innovation of minimizing paperwork and investing in local communities coincides with TD Bank’s purpose of upholding their name “TD Green”. TD Bank not only strives to uphold their name of “TD Green” by sustaining the environment through minimal paperwork, but also by sustaining the communities where their banks are located. In tandem, these goals promote a sense of creating a better world; a world that is environmentally sustainable as well as economically sound.

Business benefit

TD Bank's TD Green innovation greatly benefits the business, in addition to the environment. Employees are able to reach new levels of efficiency from the increased use of technology. Information becomes available instantaneously and is very organized for each employee, allowing them to function in a way that truly makes them "America's Most Convenient Bank."

On their website, TD Bank lists the benefits of working for their company that make them stand out from others. As an organization, they are dedicated to improving the lives of those internally, in addition to those around them. They do this through activities such as, "Development programs and mentoring tools for employees from underrepresented groups; accessibility and accommodations for employees; enhancing the ability of each employee to realize his or her potential without barriers; volunteer programs, encouraging employees to dedicate time to the communities and charities they support." Employees are incredibly supportive and grateful for the various opportunities to discuss current issues, as mentioned by Acosta. TD Bank prides itself on having over 27,000 employees in the United States that "represent the strongest team in banking." Each member of the TD Bank community is dedicated to "integrate environmental responsibility into every aspect of our business."

TD Bank's desire for employees to succeed is very apparent, and led to them being selected as one of Canada's Top 100 Employers (2019), Top Employers for Canadians over 40 (2019), and Greater Toronto's Top Employers (2018). Employees and managers both receive individual performance reviews every six months and performance recognition programs allow for a desirable and efficient workplace. They have various career planning services, options to pay for tuition for courses that are not related to an employees current position, and are partners with numerous leading business schools in the United States and Canada.

Social and environmental benefit

As mentioned previously, TD Green’s primary goal is to minimize paperwork. By giving its customers incentives to use less paper and perform much of their bank work online, much of the mail or paperwork that would need to be printed for customers would now be available online for them to view, resulting in reduced wastage of paper and cleaner communities.

As discussed, TD Green’s goals evolved when it decided to invest in local communities as well. In the interview with Mazzaferro, she said, “We have grants through TD Charitable Foundation. They are partly for affordable housing, economic development, neighborhood revitalization, financial health, health and community services.” The idea of investing in communities ensures that neighborhoods across the United States and the world have the means to rise above poverty by encouraging people to volunteer. When it comes to being sustainable, TD Bank has found the means to hold tree-planting events across various communities around the world. TD Bank is also involved with the program, “Elijah’s Promise.” This program in New Brunswick, New Jersey ensures the well-being of impoverished and homeless people through the food donations.

TD Bank’s charity in the community has been incredibly impactful in the lives of many. In an effort to assist with homelessness, TD Bank provides a grant called Housing for Everyone. The 25 non-profit winners of the Housing for Everyone grant in 2017 received grants ranging from $125,000 to $625,000. The rewards totaled to $3.125 million to “create or preserve housing units for a specific constituency.”

In an effort to ensure that each TD Bank location is in line with the corporate values and investing in the community, Mazzaferro explained that her bank is required to meet criteria each quarter. Examples of this include completing a minimum of three educational seminars about topics such as financial education, first time home buyer advice, small business information, and much more.

Interviews

Emma Mazzaferro, Manager

Fabricio Acosta, Teller 1