Key Topics Community Engagement & Investment

Community Engagement & Investment

Harnessing our resources, expertise and passion to strengthen local communities.

Click through to learn about our 2025 impact in action. For detailed community engagement & investment data, please see our 2025 data table.

Our Approach

We’re taking action to help strengthen communities and support people during times of need, while supporting the two priorities of our broader corporate responsibility strategy: bridging the digital divide and addressing environmental sustainability. To ensure we’re always delivering effective, locally relevant support, we tailor our efforts through:

Community investments¹
Employee volunteering and giving
Disaster relief support

Fueling Progress with Community Investments

As a telecommunications company, we leverage our investments in local communities to support digital inclusion, digital literacy and learning, and employee engagement opportunities that help connect people with skills training, resources and opportunities for success in school and life. We focus primarily on underserved and low-income communities.

Find more information about our funding priorities in our Community Investment Policy.

Inspiring Employee Engagement

Our employees share our passion for positive community impact. We empower them to turn that passion into action with AT&T Believes®, our company-wide, year-round volunteering and giving program. By fostering a culture of service and community engagement, we have observed that employees who participate in community engagement programs are more likely to recommend AT&T as a great place to work to and remain with our organization at higher rates.

Through the AT&T Believes Volunteering and Giving portal, employees around the world can support the causes they care most about. They can also participate in company-sponsored volunteering and giving opportunities that focus on bridging the digital divide and addressing environmental sustainability.

Through the portal, employees can donate to their choice of more than 1.5 million eligible nonprofit organizations. AT&T matches eligible donations 100%, up to $1,000 per employee per year, doubling the previous matching cap of $500 effective in 2025.

We also offer Believes Volunteer Rewards, grants based on time spent volunteering in the community. Employees can direct grants to any eligible nonprofit, up to $1,000 per employee per year. We provide many volunteer opportunities that employees can participate in during working hours. In addition, we offer management employees the Believes Community Day, a paid personal day each year to volunteer with nonprofits aligned with their personal interests.

Bridging the Digital Divide

We offer various programs to engage employee volunteers in AT&T’s work to bridge the digital divide through our Connected Learning Centers. We connect employees directly with underserved learners through tutoring and mentoring programs delivered both online and in-person. We collaborate with organizations such as The Dream Opportunity, CareerVillage and UPchieve to provide this vital support.

Bridge to Possibility, one of AT&T Believes' signature annual employee engagement campaigns, activates thousands of employees annually in helping to bridge the digital divide by packing backpacks with school supplies and notes of encouragement that are distributed, along with laptops, to students in need as they go back to school in the fall.

Employee volunteers also provide support to organizations such as the Public Library Association as digital literacy workshop facilitators to help parents, families and seniors build the skills and confidence they need to use technology safely and responsibly.

We also deliver philanthropic and volunteer support to the National Parent Teacher Association for their “Ready, Tech, Go!” program, the Older Adults Technology Services and the American Library Association to expand digital literacy courses and workshops to underserved adults nationwide while increasing digital navigation services in public libraries. Read more in our Digital Divide issue brief.

Addressing Environmental Sustainability

AT&T provides philanthropic support to organizations focused on environmental sustainability. Each year, we team up with the Arbor Day Foundation to promote e-waste recycling through our Tree for a Trade-In tree planting initiative (read more in our Natural Resources issue brief). We also continue to support Third Derivative, a program developed by the Rocky Mountain Institute to accelerate sustainable technology innovation (read more in our Efficiency & Emissions issue brief).

AT&T Believes also hosts a signature employee engagement campaign for Earth Month each April, offering our employees opportunities to volunteer and give back in support of environmental sustainability.

Delivering Acts of Kindness

AT&T Field Operations employees have a unique opportunity to meet our customers where they are. Through AT&T’s Acts of Kindness, field employees can support AT&T customers who have been affected by extraordinary circumstances, such as a medical emergency or unexpected damage to their home. If a field-based AT&T technician and their supervisor discover that a customer needs assistance during a home internet installation or repair visit, they can use an AT&T grant — providing up to $250 per field manager each month — to purchase essential items on the customer’s behalf. Funds may be combined among multiple field managers for larger items.

Recognizing Community Dedication

We believe in celebrating employees who go above and beyond for their communities, recognizing outstanding commitment through our AT&T Believes Impact Award. This annual award reinforces our core values and celebrates our culture by recognizing the efforts of our employees and business units in making a significant impact in their local communities. Winners receive a charity award, which they can donate to a nonprofit of their choice, as well as a personalized gift in appreciation of their efforts.

Providing Disaster Relief

When disaster strikes, we respond quickly and show up for our local communities. We strategically collaborate with nonprofits, such as the Information Technology Disaster Resource Center (ITDRC), SBP, and Télécoms Sans Frontières, to provide solutions across all phases of disaster preparation and recovery, including:

Resilience strategy
Preparedness planning
Immediate relief
Long-term recovery

Globally, our employees play an active role in AT&T’s disaster relief efforts through volunteering. Learn more about our Employee Support Teams who help in recovery and restoration efforts in our Network Resilience issue brief.

Helping Those on the Front Line

Through our partnership with the federal government, we deliver FirstNet® — the first and only dedicated platform built with and for public safety — providing first responders across the nation with dedicated spectrum internet, unmatched reliability and broader coverage than any other network. Recognizing the toll disaster response can have on first responders, we helped establish the FirstNet Health and Wellness Coalition to coordinate a holistic first responder health and wellness approach. Additionally, through the FirstNet therapy dog program, “ROG the Dog,” which is affectionately named for the Response Operations Group (ROG) at FirstNet, AT&T supports first responder wellness during times of crisis.

Learn more about how we support first responders and network resilience in our Network Resilience issue brief.

Supporting Employees in Need

The AT&T Employee Relief Fund, which is operated and controlled by E4E Relief, provides assistance to employees experiencing challenges beyond their control, including natural disasters, house fires or unexpected personal hardships. It’s funded by donations from our employees and matching grants from AT&T.

Community Engagement & Investment Governance

We encourage a spirit of service, guided from the top and overseen by various internal groups:

Board of Directors Governance and Policy Committee (GPC): Oversees and provides guidance and perspective, as deemed appropriate, to the Board and management on Corporate Responsibility (CR) strategy, policies, programs and reporting. Our Head of CR and other senior leaders present at GPC meetings throughout the year. Materials and discussions include but are not limited to digital divide, privacy, environmental stewardship, CR reporting and political and charitable contributions.
Corporate Responsibility Governance Council: Comprises executive leaders responsible for business areas most closely linked to our corporate responsibility priorities.
AT&T Corporate Contributions Council: Comprises senior executives with responsibility for authorizing and facilitating philanthropic investments, as well as supporting qualifying organizations. Approves corporate contributions.
AT&T Foundation: Led by a board of directors that comprises company officers, who are responsible for supervising philanthropic investments. Approves foundation grants.
AT&T Brand Review Team: Reviews all AT&T charitable contributions, ensuring alignment with our corporate policies and strategic priorities.
Community Engagement Team: Responsible for managing all AT&T community engagement activities, including the AT&T Believes program.

Impact In Action

Our 2025 Impact in Action

Topic	Goal	Progress
Employee Volunteering & Giving	Engage 50% of our employees worldwide through volunteering and giving initiatives by the end of 2030.	36% of employees engaged in volunteering and giving.²

Driving Our Investment

Throughout 2025, we supported various organizations focused on the digital divide, social impact and environmental sustainability. In total, AT&T and the AT&T Foundation contributed more than $72.0 million, including approximately $70.2 million in cash and nearly $1.9 million in in-kind giving.

Uplifting Communities Through Employee Action

In 2025, 36% of AT&T employees volunteered their time or donated to causes that were personally meaningful to them. This included nearly 26,000 employees who contributed nearly 468,000 volunteer hours, equivalent to roughly $16.3 million in volunteered time.³⁴ Nearly 39,000 employees donated more than $12.3 million to nearly 17,000 worthy causes.⁵⁶

Through AT&T Believes®, employees continued supporting community action across our focus areas. In 2025, six employees received an AT&T Believes Impact Award based on their outstanding community engagement efforts as tracked via our internal AT&T Believes Volunteering and Giving portal.

Digital Divide

In 2025, our employees supported our work with our nonprofit device refurbishment collaborators to provide technology directly to learners who need it most, supporting our commitment to bridging the digital divide. In 2025, through our free laptop efforts, volunteers helped distribute more than 39,300 devices to students and families across 39 states.

Additionally, 2025 marked the third year for Bridge to Possibility, our signature three-month AT&T Believes volunteering campaign that rallies employees across the company to take action toward closing the digital divide. This year, over 10,300 AT&T employees volunteered to write more than 33,000 personal notes of encouragement that were packed with school supplies into 30,000 backpacks and donated, along with nearly 11,000 laptops, to more than 80 nonprofit organizations serving communities across 17 states.

2025’s Bridge to Possibility engagement was record-breaking. In June 2025, over 600 AT&T employees gathered at our Dallas headquarters to stuff 10,000 backpacks with new school supplies, earning the company two GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS® titles for “Most People Stuffing Backpacks with School Supplies Simultaneously” and “Most Backpacks Stuffed with School Supplies in One Hour.”

Environmental Sustainability

In April 2025, we hosted an Earth Month campaign centered on the theme of “Connecting to a Cleaner Future.” Employees were encouraged to support efforts in four areas:

Giving Old Tech a New Life: Employees donated nearly 16,000 pounds of e-waste, our largest e-waste collection drive to date, helping avoid approximately 22,000 pounds of carbon emissions by diverting tech from landfills. Tech donations went to Compudopt and Human I-T to be refurbished and re-distributed, and employees' charitable donations to these nonprofits received a 200% company match.
Supporting Disaster Relief Efforts: AT&T employees assembled 3,500 disaster relief kits to support communities in times of need. These kits were then distributed to retail stores and given to the public following natural disasters.
Learn & Take Action for a Sustainable Future: Employees attended a virtual workshop hosted by The Carbonauts, an organization that offers upskilling sessions on sustainability and the future of work. The workshop taught practical ways to reduce carbon footprints and make sustainable lifestyle changes.
Cleaning Up Our Communities: In partnership with Keep America Beautiful, employees organized groups of 25 to clean up local areas and leveraged the Charity Miles app to run, walk, or bike to raise $100,000 for the organization.

Beyond Earth Month, we continued to collaborate with The Carbonauts to bring employees new webinars on environmental sustainability throughout the year.

Launching Giving Season

In 2025, we launched a third signature volunteer and giving campaign, AT&T Believes Giving Season, timed to occur during the winter holiday season. We kicked off the campaign in November with AT&T Believes Week, five days of themed, virtual and in-person engagement opportunities. From mid-November to early December, we offered a 200% match on all donations made in the AT&T Believes Volunteering & Giving portal. We used the campaign as a final push to encourage employees to use their full $2,000 in annual volunteer rewards and gift matching — $1,000 each — to support the nonprofits of their choice before year-end and as a reminder to use their 2025 Personal Community Day.

AT&T Believes International

AT&T Believes International® continued to increase levels of employee participation through Revive Tu Cancha, our program to positively affect communities through the power of sport. Throughout 2025, we continued to expand Revive Tu Cancha — which translates to "Revive Your Court" in English — across the U.S., revitalizing youth sports courts and fostering community engagement. In 2025, we have revived 27 multipurpose courts across the U.S. and Mexico. In the run up to the 2026 World Cup, we have set a goal to revitalize 100 courts across Canada, Mexico and the U.S.

In 2025, we dedicated additional efforts to activating the new revitalized courts with the El Barrio Cup, a youth soccer tournament with an educational skills challenge and laptop distributions for families. Together with the national U.S. and Mexico soccer teams, AT&T and our employees hosted three El Barrio Cup events with another five planned for 2026.

Additionally, we supported various device distributions and refurbishments in the UK, Brazil, India and Slovakia. In collaboration with local IT departments and AT&T Believes volunteers, approximately 250 laptops were distributed across the specified countries.

Supporting People in Times of Need

In 2025, we demonstrated our unwavering support in times of greatest need, providing more than $2.3 million in corporate disaster relief and raising over $277,000 through employee giving, which included matching grants from the AT&T Foundation. The Employee Relief Fund provided more than $1 million in relief to over 400 AT&T employees recovering from personal hardships.

We also debuted AT&T Believes Rise and Rebuild, a volunteer program through which employees can return to a community affected by a previous disaster to assist in ongoing rebuilding efforts. In 2025, employees helped rebuild a house in Tampa, Florida, that was affected by Hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024.

Bringing Connectivity to Those in Need

In 2025, we deployed the Mobile Connectivity Center™ (MCC), a 48-foot trailer equipped with devices, wireless internet connectivity and air conditioning and heating, for two natural disasters, the Southern California wildfires and the Texas floods to help communities get back online, charge devices and remain connected with their loved ones.

Learn more about how the MCC is helping get more communities connected in our Digital Divide issue brief.

Supporting Central Texas

Following the July 4, 2025, Texas floods, AT&T employees came together to donate more than $135,000, including matching donations from AT&T, to support those affected. Through a retail donation campaign across participating AT&T stores in Texas, we drove more than $15,000 in additional donations to fund refurbished laptops to give to those affected by the floods. AT&T frontline employees in Kerr County were on the ground with Texas Governor Greg Abbott and First Lady Cecilia Abbott at our local laptop distribution event in September, ensuring that residents have the resources they need to reconnect as the area recovers.

Our Network Disaster Recovery team deployed the MCC after the Texas floods for three weeks, our longest deployment to date. In addition, the FirstNet ROG — led by a team of former first responders — was on the ground to provide public safety dedicated FirstNet connectivity for their response and recovery efforts with assets from our FirstNet dedicated fleet of deployable network assets. Following relief efforts, peer support groups were offered through the FirstNet Health and Wellness Coalition to provide first responders with further wellness support.

Aiding California

During the Southern California wildfires, we mobilized our disaster response capabilities to help ensure connectivity and public safety for affected communities. By prioritizing the emergency communications needs of first responders through FirstNet, we were able to support critical operations across the affected areas.

AT&T sponsored the FireAid benefit concert with a $2 million donation. Additionally, we contributed $100,000 to the American Red Cross, supported the needs of our local employees and matched employee donations to key organizations focused on wildfire relief efforts.

Providing Relief in St. Louis, Missouri

In response to a devastating tornado in St. Louis, MO, we mobilized our disaster response capabilities to help maintain connectivity. With FirstNet, we prioritize public safety's emergency communications needs, deploying mobile cell sites dedicated solely to first responder communications. Additionally, we deployed charging stations across the city to support those without power. AT&T contributed $25,000 to the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis’s disaster relief fund and $25,000 to the United Way of Greater St. Louis Severe Storm/Tornado Relief Fund to support residents across the region. We also matched employees’ donations to the relief efforts.

Showing Acts of Kindness & Helping Those In Need

Through AT&T’s Acts of Kindness, our technicians in AT&T Field Operations supported 85 AT&T customers affected by extraordinary circumstances. For example, during the summer in Wisconsin, an AT&T technician discovered that one of his customers, who had already lost their previous home to a fire earlier in the year, was now living without a working air conditioning unit. The situation was urgent because one of the customer’s children had a serious medical condition that made them extremely sensitive to heat. Recognizing the severity of the circumstances, the technician and his supervisor quickly secured approval from AT&T to purchase and provide a new air conditioning unit for the family, ensuring their well-being during the hot summer months.

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2025 Data