BMO wins Junior Achievement’s President’s Volunteer Award for advancing financial literacy across the U.S.

April is Financial Literacy month, and we’re excited to share that BMO has won the U.S. President’s Volunteer Award for the 2023-2024 school year from Junior Achievement USA (JA) for volunteering over 1,500 hours for the seventh consecutive year.  JA is a nonprofit organization that works with volunteers to help prepare young people for success through lessons that promote financial literacy, work and career readiness and business ownership. Last month, BMO was honored in New York City at the JA Volunteer Summit for supporting JA’s mission to help young people succeed in the communities we serve.  

The Junior Achievement U.S. President’s Volunteer Service Award is a recognition program created in 2003 by President George W. Bush to recognize individuals and organizations who contribute a significant amount of time to volunteer service. JA presents this award to businesses with a U.S. presence that provide volunteers to teach JA programs anywhere in the world. With the help of 175,000 JA volunteers, over 4.6 million students in 20,000 schools were reached nationally from 2023- 2024. 

“BMO is honored to receive the Volunteer Service Award from Junior Achievement USA for the seventh consecutive year.  As part of BMO’s commitment to building a more inclusive and thriving economy, we are working to advance financial literacy across our U.S. footprint. Financial literacy is key to developing a healthy relationship with money, understanding personal finance management, and making real financial progress.”  

– Carolyn Booth
Head of U.S. P&BB and Executive Committee of the board of Junior Achievement Chicago 

“Volunteers play an integral part in the delivery of Junior Achievement’s learning experiences. We are grateful for the role these organizations play in helping Junior Achievement pursue its mission of inspiring and preparing young people for success through the involvement of volunteer mentors. The organizations we honor with the U.S. President’s Volunteer Service Award are responsible for positively impacting the lives of millions of young people and we appreciate their commitment to making a positive difference in countless communities throughout the nation.” 

– Tim Greinert
President of Junior Achievement USA

In addition to employee volunteerism, BMO supports financial literacy and economic education programming for JA chapters across the U.S. In 2024, BMO donated nearly $600,000 to Junior Achievement chapters, allowing the organization to reach hundreds of thousands of young people in underserved communities. BMO’s donation also helps JA meet their goal to reach 350,000 students annually during the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years.