Ares in Motion
AIM continues to empower our team members to support local communities and charities around the world. Started in 2012, AIM encourages grassroots volunteerism, facilitates nonprofit board service and other pro-bono opportunities, and augments employees’ personal donations to the charitable causes of their choice. In addition, AIM seeks to build team members’ knowledge about the important work of nonprofits and nonprofits leaders.
In 2023, more than 58% of Ares team members volunteered at least once — a 91% increase from 2022 — and collectively donated over 6,800 hours of volunteer service at 47 locations across the world. AIM also provided $996,455 in matching funds to 780 nonprofits.
Summer of Service
Our annual Summer of Service (“SoS”) affords team members opportunities to impact their community through volunteerism. Launched in 2022, SoS helped restart Firm-sponsored volunteering globally post-COVID and following our return to the office.
We built on the success of the first year of SoS by deeply engaging senior executives as SoS event champions. This demonstrated leadership buy-in and support that inspired team members worldwide to get involved. As a result, the number of SoS volunteers rose from 596 in 2022 to 866 in 2023 (a 45% increase), with most employees volunteering more than once.
In total, Ares team members volunteered 3,380 hours of service in support of causes like helping women prepare for technology careers, revitalizing urban spaces and providing meals to counter food insecurity. In addition, the Firm’s 130 U.S. college interns participated in SoS during orientation while U.K. college interns volunteered on a farm outside London.
AIM Programming for New Professionals and Teams
We leveraged the success of the summer intern volunteer activities to design and deliver specialized AIM programming for new hires from our 2022 intern class. Analysts packed care kits for veterans in collaboration with L.A. Works for The American Legion Post 377 Sunland–Tujunga, constructed gingerbread houses for a Habitat for a Humanity of Metro Denver fundraiser and prepared meals for God’s Love We Deliver to help individuals in New York too ill to shop or cook for themselves.
We also designed curated volunteer activities for teams across the world as per their request to identify service opportunities that would help bring them closer together. This included support for 36 teambuilding events, including offsites and retreats. Team members also hosted field days for disadvantaged youth in New York City and worked to help restore the city’s oyster population as well as beautified a community space in Nashville.
Nonprofit Board Training and Placement
A primary objective of AIM is to develop team members’ skills through community engagement and build their capacity for impact through nonprofit board service. This goal prompted the launch of our nonprofit board training and placement program in 2022 as a thoughtful response to employees who expressed a desire to give back to their community beyond Firm-sponsored activities.
We collaborated with Cause Strategy Partners to deliver the organization’s signature program, BoardLead, to recruit, match, train and support employees for high-impact nonprofit board service. The program sought to help them develop new skills in governance and strategic oversight, and expand their network with those who share their ideals. Participants received rigorous training in board governance best practices as well as one-on-one support to prepare for board placement.
In 2023, 42 employees participated in this initiative, with 11 placed on nonprofit boards of directors. Sixty team members have participated over the past two years, with 20 placed on nonprofit boards. We also scaled the program in 2023 by adding a national young professional board placement program and including governing board placement in the UK.
