CONNECTIONS One category where StonehamBank focuses its charitable eff orts is groups serving children, such as Robin Hood Elementary School's homework club. Community Spirit The community bank that keeps on giving At the center of StonehamBank's corporate values is a pledge to donate 10% of profits to community organizations. The community bank's eff orts to give back have given it a socially conscious reputation in its communities. By Eric Best aking donations and writing big checks are things that all community banks do. But StonehamBank has made a lasting pledge to charitable giving. 66 Q ICBA Independent Banker Q May 2020 M For the past decade, the $610 million-asset, two-branch community bank in Stoneham, Mass., has formally made what it calls the Optimum Pledge, a commitment to give up to 10% of its profi ts back to the community. The pledge has its roots in the bank's beginnings; it has been an engine of economic mobility in eastern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire since its founding in 1887. " This was a shoe factory town, and there was not a lot of homeownership, " says CEO Edward Doherty Jr. " Our