Wells Fargo Donates $115,000 to SM Non-Profits:

Wells Fargo awarded $115,500 to 16 non-profit organizations in Santa Monica and Venice last year. The company is among the largest corporate contributor to non-profit organizations in Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles and west San Bernardino counties, giving a total of $11 million to 1,160 organizations last year.”Our contributions to nonprofits are an investment in the long-term well being of the communities we serve,” said Shelley Benson, Wells Fargo regional president for the Los Angeles community bank. “In addition to our cash contributions, our team members volunteer thousands of hours and their talents to help make our communities even better places to live and work.”Wells Fargo made more than half of its Santa Monica and Venice donations to education and youth programs, including Painted Turtle, the Boys and Girls Club of Venice, the McKinley Elementary School P.T.A. in Santa Monica, the Neighborhood Youth Association and Will Rogers Elementary School in Santa Monica. Wells Fargo also made donations to the John Wayne Cancer Institute Auxiliary, the Rape Foundation, the Center for Healthy Aging, the CLARE Foundation, Santa Monica Firefighters, the Musicares Foundation, the Santa Monica Theatre Guild and the Special Olympics.Jonathan Weedman, head of the Wells Fargo Foundation in Los Angeles, said, “We value the longtime partnerships we share with so many outstanding nonprofits in and around Santa Monica, and we look forward to continuing to strengthen those relationships in the future.”