LPL Financial LLC, the nation’s largest independent broker-dealer, and its charitable foundation, the LPL Financial Foundation, have donated $1 million to non-profit organizations serving those in need during the Covid-19 pandemic, the company announced yesterday in a news release.

Among the donations, LPL has funded one million meals through a donation to Feeding America, a Chicago-based national non-profit organization. 

To fight hunger in LPL’s home office locations of San Diego and Ft. Mill, S.C., the LPL Financial Foundation provided donations to the Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank in California and the Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina in Charlotte, N.C. LPL said the donations have the potential to impact up to 400,000 individuals.

Since many states have closed public and private schools to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, LPL has partnered with Promising Pages, a Charlotte, N.C.-based non-profit organization that works with school systems to distribute free books to students at the daily meal distribution locations. In San Diego, Computers 2 Kids is providing refurbished computers to families in need with school-age children.

The LPL Financial Foundation is offering accelerated grants to its 16 community partners so they can address the needs of clients while schools are closed. Junior Achievement, a national LPL Financial Foundation partner with branches local to LPL headquarters in both San Diego and the Carolinas, will use donated funds to help students transition to a virtual at-home learning environment. 

Another partner, Johnson C. Smith University, a private, historically black institution of higher learning in Charlotte, N.C., is using its LPL grant to pay the travel expenses of students who could not otherwise afford to return home upon the immediate closure of campuses nationwide, the company said.

In addition to making direct donations, the LPL Financial Foundation offers a Matching Gifts program that can double the impact of any charitable contribution made by an LPL advisor or employee.

“We applaud the efforts of our charity partners to quickly adapt and evolve the support and care they provide,” said Sallie Larsen, LPL Financial managing director and chief human capital officer. “Their commitment to our communities creates access to such fundamental needs as nourishment and education. We want to do our part to help.”