Bath & Body Works gives Besa $250,000 to power community good throughout Central Ohio

Columbus, Ohio — Personal care and home fragrance leader Bath & Body Works today announced a $250,000 gift to Besa to inspire volunteerism and provide help and hope to underserved community members throughout Central Ohio.

The grant from Bath & Body Works will help fund four key initiatives through Besa:

• Mobilizing Community Members to Respond to Crises: Allow Besa to mobilize even more volunteers to help people navigate unforeseen crises, like providing fans to people during a heat wave or checking on senior citizens during an electrical blackout.
• Advancing Equity in Underserved Neighborhoods: Build Besa’s capacity so it can better support nonprofits — and ultimately neighbors in need — by staffing food pantries and distributing diapers in communities like Linden and Franklinton.
• Overcoming Chronic Community Issues: Support Besa’s efforts to expand volunteer shifts with nonprofits addressing chronic issues, like helping outfit women at Dress for Success or preparing care packages for youth at Star House experiencing homelessness.
• Celebrating Heritage Months and Moments: Advancing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion by curating community engagement opportunities during meaningful times like Black History Month, Women’s History Month and Pride Month.

The gift from Bath & Body Works marks the largest corporate donation in Besa’s 11-year history.

“For years, Besa has helped us serve and support underrepresented communities while inspiring volunteerism among our associates and connecting them more deeply to the community. This investment will allow Besa to inspire that same volunteerism and connection with thousands more especially in times of crisis, when their neighbors need them most,” says Bath & Body Works Associate Vice President of Community Relations Rhoe Fields. “We’ve seen what Besa is capable of doing, and we can’t wait to see the powerful impact they make with this significant investment.”

For more than 30 years, Bath & Body Works has been dedicated to making a positive difference in the lives of their associates, their customers and the communities where they do business. Through grants, in-kind product donations, associate board service and volunteerism, Bath & Body Works partners with organizations committed to improving the lives of people in underserved and underrepresented communities. With this gift, the Bath & Body Works Foundation has donated more than $322M to nonprofits.

Since 2018, Bath & Body Works has partnered with Besa to engage more than 1,800 associates to give nearly 10,000 volunteer hours and make more than $250,000 in community impact. Because of its dedication to doing good, Bath & Body Works was named Besa’s Corporate Partner of the Year in 2022.

“Bath & Body Works is an exemplary company on so many levels. The way they consistently seek to understand needs and find creative ways to fill gaps is incredible, and this gift is another example,” said Besa CEO Matthew Goldstein. “It will help us build capacity to serve even more nonprofits by mobilizing critical volunteers during the nation’s ongoing volunteer shortage. And it will enable us to deliver help and hope to our community’s most underserved and overwhelmed during emergencies, when they need that help and hope the most.”

Since launching in 2012, Besa has rallied 70,000 corporate and individual volunteers to give 165,000 hours on 11,300 service projects and has facilitated $80M in community impact.

ABOUT BESA

Besa is a Columbus-based nonprofit dedicated to powering a wave of civic engagement and supporting those who need it most by connecting people and businesses to community service. Besa makes giving back easy by curating more than 70 volunteer experiences every month that Columbus residents can easily find and register for at www.besa.org. It also helps business partners manage and strengthen their philanthropic efforts through strategic planning, curated volunteer experiences, volunteer management and philanthropy software.

ABOUT BATH & BODY WORKS

Home of America’s Favorite Fragrances®, Bath & Body Works is a global leader in personal care and home fragrance, including top-selling collections for fine fragrance mist, body lotion and body cream, 3-wick candles, home fragrance diffusers and liquid hand soap. Powered by agility and innovation, the company’s predominantly U.S.-based supply chain enables the company to deliver quality, on-trend luxuries at affordable prices. Bath & Body Works serves and delights customers however and wherever they want to shop, from welcoming, in-store experiences at more than 1,820 company-operated Bath & Body Works locations in the U.S. and Canada and more than 440 international franchised locations to an online storefront at bathandbodyworks.com.

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CONTACT // Kristy Eckert, Kristy Eckert Communications, 614.746.2787, kristy@kristyeckert.com