American Heritage Bank Offers Financial Donations, No Questions Asked

American Heritage Bank in Clovis, New Mexico, has redefined what it means to be a neighbor through Community Chest, a giving program that the $136 million-asset community bank established three years ago. 

Every two months, the Community Chest program allots $1,000 of funds, in addition to community-donated funds, to an individual or organization facing financial hardship. The Community Chest takes donations from employees, customers and any other community members who would like to contribute. 

Mac Langford, president of American Heritage Bank, was inspired by a local television program he saw in which business sponsors pooled money to help community members. Langford knew American Heritage Bank, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this month, could easily adopt a similar project. 

“I just thought it was a great idea,” he says, “to engage [with] our communities at a very personal level and help get our employees involved.”

Colten Grau, the community bank’s vice president, took the lead in transforming the idea into a structured program. He established multiple avenues for public contributions to the Community Chest. 

For example, people can give cash donations to branch tellers, customers can transfer money directly from their accounts and noncustomers can make transfers through ACH, says Grau.

Empowering employee and customer autonomy

The Community Chest relies on both its employees and community members to identify individuals or organizations in need, with no specific qualifications required. As a result, employees and community members often refer organizations or families that are personal to them. 

“A lot of our frontline [employees] let us know if people are in need,” says Langford. “It can be an individual or a charity that [an employee] cares about and/or would like to promote.” 

Employees who make a referral, or who have a personal connection to a recipient, have the opportunity to present them with the funds. 

American Heritage Bank’s customers are just as involved and eager to participate. 

“A few of our customers believe in this mission, so we’ve made it where they can automatically donate monthly from their account,” says Grau. “We have some customers that do that.” 

He says it’s rewarding to see customers donate monthly to help support and spread goodwill in the community. Past recipients of the Community Chest have surfaced both in and outside of the community bank’s customer base. In fact, the very first recipient was a customer. 

“Her house had burned down and she lost everything. … She was a customer, and some of our employees had already started a collection individually,” says Grau. “Mr. Langford decided to match what had been collected, and the Community Chest program kind of evolved from that.”

Getting the word out

Grau is also in charge of marketing at American Heritage Bank. To amplify the program’s reach, he launched a social media campaign that includes a monthly newsletter highlighting success stories, encouraging donations and inviting recommendations for potential recipients. 

While American Heritage Bank aims to raise awareness about the program, it remains committed to respecting recipients’ privacy. 

The Community Chest has supported local families facing a variety of challenges, including medical bills, the loss of a loved one or the devastation of losing a home. The community bank approaches these personal matters with the utmost respect, and American Heritage Bank has fostered a culture of helping others out of goodwill without expecting anything in return. 

“It’s not about helping the bank; it’s about helping the community,” says Langford. “A lot of the people we give to, we don’t publicize it, because they don’t want to publicize what they’re struggling with.”

The community bank’s staff consistently takes the initiative to engage with the community and plays an active role in finding who American Heritage Bank can help support. 

On one occasion, a customer had walked into American Heritage Bank to ask for $20 so he could buy groceries. As it turns out, the bank had already preselected him to be a recipient, Grau says. 

“That day he came in, we handed him an envelope from our collections,” he says. “This guy just needed 20 bucks for groceries, and we handed him an envelope full of cash. He just broke down in tears of gratitude.”

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