Community Affairs manages Morgan Stanley's core philanthropic outreach.  Our responsibilities include grant making, employee community engagement, oversight of the Morgan Stanley Foundation and our signature program, the Morgan Stanley Global Alliance for Children's Health. 

Among the key priorities for the Firm and the Foundation are children's health, diversity education, and encouragement and support of Morgan Stanley employees' community involvement.   

The Firm's programs are complemented by several other local U.S. and international initiatives, including local giving by business units directly throughout the world, the Morgan Stanley International Foundation based in London, the Inspire Program in Japan, and a growing Community Affairs program across the Asia Pacific region.
In 2012, more than 32,000 employees gave 430,000 hours of their time and talent to philanthropic causes and, with the Firm funded, nearly $82 million to charities globally. 

Strategy Challenge
Through the annual Morgan Stanley Strategy Challenge in partnership with Global Sustainable Finance, Morgan Stanley creates teams of employees who work with nonprofits over an eight-week period to analyze and solve an important strategic issue for the organization.  Launched in 2009, the program annually donates millions of dollars of pro bono expertise, and more importantly, empowers the nonprofits to more strategically deliver on their missions.

Volunteer Incentive Program
To recognize and support employee volunteer efforts, Morgan Stanley’s Foundations offer grants through the Volunteer Incentive Program ("VIP"), one of the most robust ‘dollars for doers’ corporate programs on Wall Street. VIP grants support health, human service and environmental charities where our employees are active and ongoing volunteers. In addition to supporting employees’ efforts, the VIP enables us to reach out to hundreds of local, community-based organizations that may not have access to traditional sources of funding. Since its inception in 1993, the VIP has provided more than $30 million in support to thousands of communities.

Global Volunteer Month
Morgan Stanley’s Global Volunteer Month is our worldwide service initiative that encourages employees to give back to their communities. Held each June, the campaign engages employees in teams and individually on local service projects, serving as a springboard for year-round volunteer engagement. In 2011, over 20,000 employees volunteered on nearly 1,000 projects, contributing over 170,000 hours of service and benefiting over 500 nonprofit organizations.

Employee Giving and Matching
The generous employees of Morgan Stanley give annually through the firm’s employee charitable giving campaigns, which benefit more than 12,000 local charities and the core programs of the Morgan Stanley Foundation. In 2011, employees gave more than $34 million through the campaign. To increase the reach and impact of our employees’ giving, Morgan Stanley offers a unique initiative, called Charitable Spending Accounts. U.S. employees who contribute through the Annual Appeal, our annual employee giving program, are eligible to receive up to $4,000 in corporate funds that they can direct to charities. Unlike traditional ‘matching gifts’ programs, Charitable Spending Accounts offer employees the option of directing corporate dollars towards all U.S. charities, and not only those that they have personally funded. Participating employees may also make as many allocations with their accounts as they would like during each year. Since the program's inception, employees have allocated more than $21 million to nonprofits across the United States.