Our Communities
3M recognizes that tomorrow’s great innovators are sharpening their skills today. Through employee-powered volunteerism and charitable giving, we are giving back to our communities and helping advance diversity in STEM and skilled trades.
We invest in organizations and programs that improve academic outcomes and provide transformational opportunities for the next generation of scientists and engineers – including those from underrepresented groups – as we seek to advance diversity and inclusion in STEM and skilled trades.
We also open doors of opportunity in 3M communities across the globe through philanthropic giving, including cash and product donations. We make a positive impact through global and local programs, including investments that help advance inclusive opportunities in the workforce for the next generation of innovators.
In 2023, we contributed more than $40 million in cash donations to community partners in addition to the impact of 3Mers’ active engagement in volunteerism.
As a science-based company, we are uniquely positioned to support STEM, skilled trades and advanced manufacturing workforce training and development programs. 3Mgives seeks to develop the next generation of STEM and skilled trades workers, including underserved and underrepresented populations in STEM and skilled trades-related fields. In 2023, we continued to move the needle toward our goal of 5 million STEM and skilled trades learning experiences for underrepresented individuals by the end of 2025, having now driven more than 2.2 million learning experiences globally after 2 years of reporting.
While our investments span globally, our longest standing commitments remain close to home at our headquarters. We continue to expand career pathway options for local students. 3M has long supported STEM programming in Saint Paul Public Schools (SPPS), helping students receive college credit for STEM classes before they begin their two- or four-year STEM degree programs.
3M is a supporter of the SPPS 3M Advanced Learning Center, a centralized hub at St. Paul College. Here, students from SPPS can take classes and earn college credit in multiple skilled trades disciplines through hands-on learning and use of state-of-the-art equipment. This hub, in addition to ongoing scholarship and support programs, will help local students pursue their dreams in STEM and skilled trades.
In addition to the investments near our headquarters, 3M contributes to innovative and research-based STEM and skilled trades programs in communities where we operate and live all over the world. 3M seeks to expand STEM awareness by sharing opportunities through global relationships with FIRST Robotics competition teams in various countries and with schools and nonprofits. For example, with funding provided by 3M in 2023, GlobalGiving supported the Perspektywy Educational Foundation—a Polish organization that seeks to address low participation by women in STEM fields. Our investments also included support for the Women in Tech Summit, one of the largest events in Poland that inspires young women to pursue careers in STEM.
Science Encouragement Programs
We take great pride in our Science Encouragement Programs, which help students take steps toward careers in STEM. We pique curiosity with fun, hands-on demonstrations and classroom visits, and we nourish that curiosity in programs for students and educators. In 2023, through our volunteerism programs like Visiting Wizards, we provided compelling STEM and skilled trades learning experiences to thousands of students thanks to 3Mers from across the company volunteering.
National Collaboration to Advance Opportunities in STEM Education
3M partners with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), in collaboration with the White House Office of Science and Technology (OSTP), in a nation-wide effort to help eliminate systemic barriers in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM). The historic collaboration includes over 150 organizations across multiple sectors and combines more than $1.8 billion in work and investment initiatives.
3M is a member of the STEMM Opportunity Alliance (SOA), a new landmark initiative tasked with driving transformative change across the American STEMM ecosystem by dramatically expanding access and opportunities and bolstering America’s global competitiveness.
In August 2023, 3M hosted SOA’s Building an Equitable and Excellent STEMM Workforce Summit at the company’s Innovation Center at its corporate headquarters in St Paul, MN. This summit brought together more than 200 leaders from federal, state and local governments, federal decision makers, industry, higher education institutions, education organizations, community organizations and research institutions. This cross-sector initiative helped craft new strategies for driving greater fairness, opportunity and innovation in the science and technology ecosystem regionally and nationally.
In 2023, we invested $13 million of our $50 million five-year commitment supporting diverse-serving organizations, bringing our total cumulative investment to more than $39 million since announcing the pledge in 2020. We projected almost $3 for every $1 invested in social value returns such as increased wages, additional taxes paid and avoided justice systems costs. This analysis continues informing future investments as we seek to maximize our social impact.
3M is proud to drive community impact through product donations. We contribute products to many global nonprofits working to advance education, humanitarian aid and community well-being. From Post-it® Notes to N95 respirators, packaging tape to headphones, 3M supported schools and nonprofit organizations with a wide array of products that support, sustain and amplify social impact. In 2023, our total product donations were valued at $29.8 million.
For example, 3M and Hourcar have partnered since 2021 to help communicate Hourcar’s mission through 3M’s state of the art vehicle wrap technology. Hourcar is a local shared-mobility nonprofit organization whose mission is to connect people to their communities with convenient and sustainable multimodal transportation.
In 2023, we contributed more than $40 million in cash donations to community partners in addition to the impact of 3Mers’ active engagement in volunteerism.
Bringing the wonders of science to students, through golf.
In addition to serving as the named sponsor for the 3M Open PGA Tour event, 3Mgives invested in Golf-4-All Day. This initiative helped connect more than 500 youth to the tournament in fun and exciting ways.
The 3M Open also strives to uphold 3M’s commitment to diversity and inclusion among the event’s volunteer base in 2023 to involve every part of our community. We believe an inclusive, welcoming environment at this important event creates a more positive experience for our customers who attend as well as the community that graciously hosts us each year.
3M Impact Local
In 2023, 3M led local activations of 3M Impact, our skills-based service program, around the world - designed to serve area partners with locally based 3Mers who want to share their talents to make a positive impact on their community. Our 3M Impact Local program was held in eight countries globally. In the U.S., we held 3M Impact Local activations in Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri and Texas. Included in this program, 3Mers came together to support small businesses through a small business hack-a-thon with local partner, Metropolitan Economic Development Association (Meda), to solve tactical business growth challenges close to our headquarters in Minnesota.
