The Neffs National Bank presented donations to nine educational foundations totaling $100,000.

The donations were allocated in March at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and were presented to representatives from eight of the foundations over the course of the last two weeks in September.

Those foundations included: Parkland and Northern Lehigh School District Education Foundations, Wildlands Conservancy Inc., Commonwealth Charitable Management Inc., Wildlife Information Center Inc., Northwestern Lehigh Educational Foundation Inc., Lehigh Carbon Community College Foundation, Circle of Season Foundation Inc., and Carbon County Community Foundation. These donations were made through The Neffs National Bank’s participation in the state’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit Program.

This program authorizes tax credits for contributions to educational improvement organizations and allows the bank to earmark their taxes to support these programs.

Many of these organizations have adapted their educational programs to virtual platforms amid the pandemic through the help of EITC donations.

The Neffs National Bank President/CEO Kevin Schmidt said, “These organizations are definitely facing uncertain times with increased budget constraints and the need to re-engineer their education programs. I would encourage local businesses to support these organizations either directly or through participation in the EITC program.”

The Neffs National Bank also launched its financial literacy program in March with financial education partner EVERFI Inc. through the Commonwealth Charitable Management Inc. donation.

The online, interactive financial education resources are sponsored by The Neffs National Bank and are available to area school districts across Lehigh, Carbon and Northampton counties at no cost to the districts.