The Chevron Challenge to raise funds for diversity and inclusion charities supporting women

Golf may be at the forefront of this year's tournament, but “The Chevron Challenge” is helping shape the future for young women.

“Everything we’ve done for this event is around young women,” said Chevron Strategic Analyst Glenn Weckerlin.

Diversity and inclusion are at the center of the challenge. It's all part of an effort to support women from early education and throughout their career path.

“Kind of progress them into high school, get them into college, and then out of college into the workplace and create a better environment in every step of that way,” Weckerlin explained.

Each day, Chevron partnered with a nonprofit that focuses on empowering women of all ages.

“Our industry has been historically short of women, it’s not representative of the U.S. population quite frankly. We’re nowhere near 50% and the only way to fix that is to give back in the chain," Weckerlin added, "And you really need diverse views to do that. You can really solve all the problems in the world if we don’t have women and that’s 50% of the answer.”

And the 14th hole, Chevron will donate $10,000 for every birdie and $1,000,000 for a hole-in-one toward a charity each day.

The four-tournament day charity themes that Chevron will shine a spotlight on during this week are:

Thursday - NSBE SEEK powered by Techbridge Girls

Techbridge Girls excites, educates, and equips girls from underserved communities to pursue STEM careers. Techbridge Girls has developed and implemented equitable STEM pedagogy that is gender and culturally responsive. Techbridge Girls brings a focus on STEM equity, social-emotional learning practices, and cultural and gender-responsive curriculum, by providing resources for the educators and the wider ecosystem that surrounds the girls, including their role models, families, and the community.

The National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) created the Summer Engineering Experience for Kids (SEEK) to inspire Black students with the opportunities and wonder of the STEM field. SEEK is a free, three-week summer program that offers a fun and engaging educational experience for students in grades 3–5. SEEK aims to provide high-quality learning opportunities to underrepresented students who otherwise may not have access to a robust STEM education.

Friday – LPGA Foundation & KPMG Foundation Scholarships

A new Chevron scholarship through the LPGA Foundation will be launched this fall that focuses on providing financial support to girls from underrepresented communities looking to enter a science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) career path.

Chevron supports the KPMG Future Leaders Program, a charitable initiative focused on developing future generations of women leaders. Annually, the program awards twenty-two top female high school seniors the opportunity to enhance their personal growth through college scholarships, a leadership development retreat, mentorship, and an introduction to golf.

Saturday – Catalyst

Chevron invests in organizations like Catalyst, which for 60 years has accelerated the progress of women in business and is leading the Great Reimagining of the workplace – one that works for all women.

Chevron also partners with Catalyst to expand the Men Advocating Real Change (MARC) program. The MARC program is focused on engaging and empowering male executives and leaders to consistently model inclusive behaviors, influence more equitable talent management systems and processes, and build effective partnerships across gender.

Sunday – LPGA Foundation

“We’re hoping for a lot of birdies and a hole in one. And with any luck, we’ll get over $2 million to go to a series of nonprofits of ours,” Weckerlin said.

Chevron says this challenge is a way to highlight equal opportunity for women everywhere.

“Our goal is not just one winner. It’s many many winners," said Weckerlin, "So for us, if we can increase access and opportunity for all these young girls we’re engaging with this week, then that’s success.”

And although the tournament will move to Texas next year, they plan to continue the challenge as a yearly tradition.