Target Donates 300 Million to the Fight Against COVID

In March 2020, Target announced a $10 million relief effort as part of its $300 million commitment to the team. Since then, Target has been collaborating closely with organizations to align support accordingly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Part of Target’s $300 million commitment will go to directly to benefiting employees and their families. Target pledged to increase its industry-leading pay by $2 an hour for its frontline workers until at least May 2.  Additionally, frontline workers over the age of 65, are pregnant or those with underlying medical conditions have been given up to 30-days paid leave. This comes on top of expanding back-up care for all team members, temporarily waiving its absenteeism policy and covering quarantine and confirmed illness pay. Bonuses have been given to 20,000 hourly store leads who manage individual departments.  Finally, $1 million will be donated to the Target Team Member Giving Fund, which was established in 2018, to assist team members who are most impacted by coronavirus

In state and local communities, Target is dedicating $5 million to foundations that support nonprofits addressing the greatest needs in their area, particularly for vulnerable, underserved and under-resourced communities. Foundations receiving funds from Target include the Seattle Foundation’s COVID-19 Response Fund, which supports local orgs deploying emergency resources such as financial support and childcare, as well as the Greater New Orleans Foundation Disaster Response and Restoration Fund and its network of community organizations taking care of the elderly, homeless and more.

As part of their national response efforts, Target is giving $3 million to support national nonprofits assisting with response and recovery for impacted communities. The Center for Disease Philanthropy is one national organization that has received support from Target to continue their work building nonprofits’ response capabilities in addressing needs of the most vulnerable populations. Another recipient is Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization with a network of more than 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries.

Target is also mounting a global response, committing $1 million to support organizations that help to provide critical medical equipment and supplies to regions worldwide. These organizations include Project ECHO, an organization providing tele-medicine capabilities to remote locations and vulnerable communities in India and throughout the world; and UNICEF, which is delivering life-saving health supplies, building water and hygiene facilities and keeping kids connected to education while contributing to efforts to stop the spread of the virus.

In addition, Target supports the United Nations Foundation’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. The company is also one of the participating partners of Global Citizen’s One World: Together At Home, the global special event to support frontline health workers and the World Health Organization. Target’s grant will support ongoing work to track and understand the spread of the coronavirus, provide care to patients and essential supplies to frontline workers, and accelerate efforts to develop vaccines, tests and treatments.