In 1998, Wells Fargo & Company set a goal of lending $1 billion to black-owned companies by 2010.
It recently announced that it reached that mark two years early, adding that a new multi-year lending goal will be announced later this year.
According to the most recent (2002) U.S. Census data, there are more than one million African-American-owned businesses in the U.S., a 45 percent increase over the 1997 census figure. Wells Fargo is committed to the growth of the African-American business community and supports African-American organizations and activities in the communities it serves. Over the past ten years, the Wells Fargo Foundation has given more than $38 million to community organizations throughout the nation that serve African Americans. For the past three years, Wells Fargo has sponsored Tavis Smiley’s annual State of the Black Union symposium.
Wells Fargo’s African-American Business Services program provides outreach and education to African American business owners through resources including workshops, seminars, tradeshows, and regional and national alliances. Wells Fargo maintains close relationships with national African-American organizations, including the National Black Chamber of Commerce, 100 Black Men of America and the National Black MBA Association (NBMBAA).