Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) announced today that the following 12 nonprofit organizations will participate in the fifth annual Strategy Challenge, the Firm's signature skills-based volunteer program providing nonprofits with pro bono strategic consulting.

• Bring Me a Book
• Futures and Options
• HealthCorps
• Hot Bread Kitchen
• Hollaback!
• Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement House
• Let’s Get Ready
• Mentoring Partnership of New York
• The Boys’ Club of New York
• The HOPE Program
• The W Connection
• Westside Family YMCA

The Strategy Challenge pairs each of these nonprofit organizations with a team of Morgan Stanley employees for eight weeks. The employee volunteers use their professional expertise and skill sets to develop strategies that help the nonprofits fulfill their missions in more effective and efficient ways.

The 12 nonprofits work on causes ranging from children's health to education to economic empowerment and are based in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

“Nonprofits are a critical part of the fabric of every community. But with limited resources and staff, it can be difficult for charities to navigate issues like program scalability, geographic expansion and organizational optimization,” said Joan Steinberg, Head of Morgan Stanley Community Affairs and President of the Morgan Stanley Foundation. “By providing expertise on these issues, we hope to significantly increase the impact our nonprofit partners can have for their constituents.”

Since establishing the Strategy Challenge in 2009, Morgan Stanley has delivered 22,500 hours of pro bono services to 49 nonprofits, worth approximately $3.4 million, according to standards developed by the Taproot Foundation. The Strategy Challenge is a joint effort between Morgan Stanley's offices of Community Affairs and Global Sustainable Finance.

“The Strategy Challenge exemplifies Morgan Stanley's commitment to use our capital markets expertise to help strengthen communities,” said Audrey Choi, Head of Global Sustainable Finance at Morgan Stanley. “Drawing on our employees’ business acumen and analytical skills is a highly differentiated way for us to give back and add value to high-impact nonprofits.”

The Morgan Stanley volunteers will present their recommendations for the nonprofits at a competition in June before experts from the private and nonprofit sectors.

Morgan Stanley is a leading global financial services firm providing a wide range of investment banking, securities, investment management and wealth management services. The Firm's employees serve clients worldwide including corporations, governments, institutions and individuals from more than 1,200 offices in 43 countries. For further information about Morgan Stanley, please visit www.morganstanley.com.

Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley is a global financial services firm and a market leader in investment banking, securities, investment management and wealth management services. With more than 1,200 offices in 42 countries, the people of Morgan Stanley are dedicated to providing our clients the finest thinking, products and services to help them achieve even the most challenging goals. Through its Global Sustainable Finance Group, Morgan Stanley seeks to support community development initiatives with debt, equity, and philanthropy.

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