Learn more about the TIAA Difference Maker 100 Program

The following is a sponsored post in collaboration with TIAA.

TIAA is a leading financial services provider for those in the nonprofit, academic, research, medical, and governmental fields, with over 15,000 institutions and 5 million individuals served.

They are a different kind of financial services company, helping people in these fields meet their financial goals through their global and diversified financial services. TIAA continues the legacy built by Andrew Carnegie, who helped create TIAA in 1918 to ensure teachers could actually retire.

Yes, in 1918!

2018 marks 100 years for TIAA, and they are commemorating this amazing feat by honoring the people who are changing the world through the TIAA Difference Maker 100 program.

I’m really excited to share what they’re doing. It is so important to celebrate people who are helping their communities.

On October 1, 2018, TIAA honored 100 Difference Makers with a $10,000 donation each in their name to support the nonprofit where they make a difference. That’s 100 donations, totaling $1 million!

TIAA also held a companywide “100 Days of Difference” campaign during which TIAA employees participated in 341 projects that touched close to 700,000 lives across the country.

Difference Maker 100 Program

Everyone selected as a Difference Maker 100 honoree is doing great things. One honoree that I’d like to highlight is Sarah Garman.

In 2014, Sarah Garman created Miami Dade College’s first student-run food pantry. She did this when she found out that some students of the college had a hard time paying for textbooks, and would often had to choose between textbooks and food, due to the high costs.

From TIAA: “Stocked with donations from faculty, students and staff, the pantry has thrived in the years since, distributing more than 9,000 food and hygiene products in the 2016-2017 academic year and currently serving about 200 students a month. The model has been so successful that it was duplicated on all seven of the college’s campuses. To cope with a growing need, Garman devised a creative form of fundraising: a sponsored High Tea Party. At the event, school departments purchase tables to decorate and compete for titles such as Most Beautiful and Most Creative. “It has become the signature event at the campus, and that is saying something because we have hundreds of events every month,” Garman says. “This year we sold out – over 40 tables and we raised over $4,500. The pantry and High Tea has really brought the campus together for a good cause – the best cause – our students.'”

And, there are so many other amazing people who are changing the world as well!

I’m so happy to hear that TIAA is helping to honor these amazing people.

I recommend that you take TIAA’s Difference Maker Quiz to see what kind of Difference Maker you are. You can also see the full list of the Difference Maker 100 honorees across the country on the website as well.

I took the quiz and I’m a Giver: