One day, Erica Frazier yells through a megaphone to start a 5K fundraiser. The next, she’s steering corporate citizenship and community branding campaigns at Chase Card Services.
The 28-year-old’s post at Chase Card Services – senior community development analyst, a position she’s held since mid-2007 – puts her front and center in the community and among the company’s employees.
The results have been staggering.
Chase’s roughly 1,300 employees have volunteered more than 35,000 hours in partnerships with 130 agencies the last three years under Frazier’s guidance. Nearly 20 percent of employees now donate to their charities of choice through Chase’s Annual Giving Campaign, and the credit card services company sponsors or sends volunteers to 40 community events and projects annually.
“Our employees are more empowered to invest in the causes they are passionate about, and they have structured support and assistance doing so,” Frazier says. “I feel extremely blessed to have the opportunity to lead people to help others for a living.”
It didn’t take her long to make an impact at Chase. Frazier helped develop and lead the company’s 2008 employee campaign to record 10,000 community volunteer hours in celebration of the company’s 10th anniversary in Springfield. That same year, she led a branding campaign to Chase from BankOne and First Card, and her community relations efforts recorded 2.5 million media impressions – a number that remained above 1 million in 2009 and 2010.
Last summer, Chase sponsored two home rehabilitations through Habitat for Humanity’s Re-Habitat project.
“Recruiting and managing the volunteers meant that I was on the roof with a hammer pulling shingles right alongside the other volunteers in the July heat,” Frazier says. “It also means, as often as possible, I walk with my volunteers in community walks, serve beside them at dinners, start cooking chili with them at 6 a.m. for fundraising, and share the responsibility of making donations and seeking resources.”
Frazier has focused her personal community efforts on Habitat for Humanity, where she’s a four-year board member and serves on the executive committee and as events committee chatirwoman; United Way of the Ozarks, where she donates time to the Day of Caring planning committee, the Female Leaders In Philanthropy advisory committee and as 2010 chairwoman of its allocation committee for children at risk; the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, through The Network and the Mayor’s Commission for Kids; and American Heart Association’s Heartwalk committee.
Her goal is to show people that they get involved.
“Time has shown me that most people want to help, but several need encouragement and support and to have a greater understanding of their own personal impact before they will really step up and get involved,” she says.
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