Activision Blizzard Donates $2 Million to the Call of Duty Endowment, Helping Place Thousands of Veterans into High-Quality Jobs During These Trying Times
New “Fearless” In-Game Content Pack for Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® and Call of Duty: Warzone Launches This Month With 100% of Proceeds Going to the Call of Duty Endowment
SANTA MONICA, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Activision Blizzard today announced that it has donated $2 million to the Call of Duty Endowment to help fund emerging veteran employment needs. The donation helps kick off the company’s celebration of National Military Appreciation Month through the #CODEFearlessChallenge, a social media campaign that calls for followers to post a photo or name of a veteran or current member of the military to honor their service and sacrifice.
“Military veterans need our support more than ever,” said Bobby Kotick, Co-Chairman of the Call of Duty Endowment. “With unemployment rates at all-time highs, we know from past experience that veterans will be far more affected than ordinary citizens. With this donation to the Call of Duty Endowment, we hope to find jobs for at least 4,000 veterans.”
The #CODEFearlessChallenge coincides with a series of events in May supporting the Call of Duty Endowment. Later this month, a brand-new downloadable content pack will launch for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Warzone called the Call of Duty Endowment (C.O.D.E.) Fearless Pack, with one hundred percent of Activision’s proceeds from the pack going to the Endowment’s efforts to place veterans into high-quality jobs.
In the last month alone, the Endowment has seen an unprecedented increase in requests from veterans seeking employment assistance from its grantee charities—a more than 50% increase over the same period last year. Activision Blizzard’s $2 million donation, as well as other funds raised through #CODEFearlessChallenge, will go directly to the Endowment’s grantee charities to meet this heightened demand. Additionally, Humble Bundle is running a two-week promotion with the Call of Duty Endowment as the charity of choice. Titled: Humble Sierra the 3rd Bundle, this promotion will run starting on May 5 to May 19.
“We’ve seen a huge increase in veterans asking our partners for assistance since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dan Goldenberg, executive director of the Call of Duty Endowment. “We’ve been committed to helping veterans find meaningful employment for over 10 years, but we’ve never seen anything like this. Veterans will need our help more than ever, and through Activision Blizzard’s donation and support from the gaming community, we’re well positioned to provide that help.”
The Call of Duty Endowment has funded the placement of more than 69,000 vets in meaningful employment since its inception and aims to place 100,000 veterans in meaningful jobs by 2024. The Endowment’s 2019 cost to place a veteran was $499 – providing meaningful employment at 1/6 the cost of US Department of Labor efforts. Nationally, American veterans make an average salary of $49,945, while those placed through the Endowment’s grantees, with their focus on high-quality placements, made an average of $60,750, or 21% more.
To help get veterans back to work, please visit: www.callofdutyendowment.org/help.
About the Call of Duty Endowment
The Call of Duty Endowment is a nonprofit organization co-founded by Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard. The Endowment seeks to help veterans find high-quality careers by supporting groups that prepare them for the job market and by raising awareness of the value vets bring to the workplace. For more information about the Call of Duty Endowment, please visit www.callofdutyendowment.org.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements: Information in this press release that involves Activision Publishing’s expectations, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future, including statements about the expected availability, and features of the Call of Duty Endowment Fearless Pack, are forward-looking statements that are not facts and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause Activision Publishing’s actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements set forth in this release include unanticipated product delays and other factors identified in the risk factors sections of Activision Blizzard’s most recent annual report on Form 10K and any subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon information available to Activision Publishing and Activision Blizzard as of the date of this release, and neither Activision Publishing nor Activision Blizzard assumes any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements believed to be true when made may ultimately prove to be incorrect. These statements are not guarantees of the future performance of Activision Publishing or Activision Blizzard and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond its control and may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations.
ACTIVISION, CALL OF DUTY and MODERN WARFARE are trademarks of Activision Publishing, Inc. All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners.
Contacts
Kelvin Liu
Director, Corporate Communications
Activision Blizzard
310.255.2213
kelvin.liu@activision.com
