At Wolf River Community Bank, December isn’t just about year-end numbers and holiday cookies… although we do love both. It’s also the time of year when our team participates in the Wolfpack Give Back program. This is an employee-directed giving initiative that lets every employee close out the year by supporting causes that matter most to them.

$13,000 Donated in 2025

In just its second year, employees directed more than $13,000 to 37 different local charities through the Wolfpack Give Back program. That’s a $5,500 increase from the program’s inaugural year, indicating that our support had more than doubled! This growth is attributed to the bank’s decision to allocate $250 per employee in 2025, up from $100 in 2024.

The best part of each donation is how personal it is. Every donation has its own story behind it.

Take Austin Godwin, Banking Development Associate, for example.

Austin chose to direct his donation to the Wisconsin Humane Society. Why? Because this organization helped his family adopt every pet they’ve welcomed into their home—including Mater (and his adorable dinosaur pajamas), adopted in 2024. The Wisconsin Humane Society’s compassion for animals and the joy that these adoptions brought to Austin’s family inspired him to give back to them.

New Ways to Make an Impact in 2026

This year, we’re making a few upgrades to the Wolfpack Give Back program to give our employees even more opportunities:

• Employees can now voluntarily contribute through payroll deduction.
• Anyone who contributes $150 or more gets entered into a drawing for two bonus PTO days next year.
• All employee contributions get added to the bank’s year-end donation total, boosting the overall impact!

This is just one of several initiatives designed to strengthen our employee-first culture. Other efforts include a paid volunteer program, fun-at-work activities like dress-up days and Bingo, and our Dress for Your Day approach.

As Miranda Schultz, our EVP, CFO, and COO, puts it, “When we invest in our people, they invest back into the world around them.”

The Wolfpack Give Back program is proof of that in action.

All Employee-Selected Donation Recipients

The full list of charities supported through this year’s program includes:

• American Cancer Society of Wisconsin
• Appleton Community Music
• Autism Society of the Fox Valley
• Appleton West Youth Basketball Association
• CAST
• Chasing the Rainbows
• CP, Inc.
• Damascus Road Project (Oshkosh)
• Fox Valley Humane Society
• Fox Valley Memory Project
• Friends of Mosquito Hill Nature Center
• Greenville Civic Club
• HAPSA Nepal
• HeadsUp Fox Cities
• Hortonville Community Food Pantry
• Junior Achievement (Fox Valley)
• Marion Friends of the Parks
• Mosquito Hill Nature Center
• National MS Society
• Neenah Police Department Citizens Academy
• New London High School Ice Fishing Team
• New London Library Building Project
• Old Glory Honor Flight
• Oshkosh Area Humane Society
• Our Pack Animal Rescue
• Outagamie County 4-H
• Pillars
• Ronald McDonald House
• Shiocton School Food Pantry
• Shiocton Steps for Suicide Awareness
• St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
• Washington Center Community Cupboard
• Waupaca Area Youth Hockey Association
• Wings of Hope Search and Rescue
• Wisconsin Humane Society
• Wisconsin Veterans Home at King
• Wolf River Art League

We’ll be sharing video stories from employees across our social media channels, offering a closer look at these nonprofits, their missions, and the personal connections behind each donation.

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