PEORIA, Ill., Dec. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) employees and retirees together with the Caterpillar Foundation have pledged more than $11.5 million to United Way agencies across the United States as part of its 2016-2017 campaign.  This amount includes a dollar-for-dollar matching grant from the Caterpillar Foundation. The United Way has been Caterpillar's only annual solicitation for funds to its employees and retirees for more than 60 years.

"Our employees and retirees are committed to making a positive impact in the communities where they live and work," said Caterpillar Foundation President Michele Sullivan. "That's why they continue to donate every year to the United Way even during these challenging economic times to support their communities, neighbors and sometimes even their families and friends. More than half the money raised will go to the Heart of Illinois United Way in Peoria, Illinois, which is home to our corporate headquarters. Outside of Peoria, our employees and retirees give just as generously and their contributions are from Nashville, Tennessee, to Corinth, Mississippi, to San Diego, California, and more."

Since the Caterpillar Foundation began investing in the United Way, employees and retirees have been able to designate their contributions to the United Way of their choice.

"The United Way assesses the community needs, finds efficient programs that deliver measurable outcomes and works to eliminate those needs in the future by identifying the causes and creating long-term solutions," said Sullivan. "That's done through the Boys & Girls Clubs,

Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) for Children, The Salvation Army and the hundreds of other United Way-funded agencies."

Employees and retirees pledged more than $5.7 million, and Caterpillar's overall employee participation in 2016 reached 47 percent.

"On behalf of more than 500 local United Ways and our member agencies, I wish to express my sincere appreciation for the unwavering support and volunteer leadership of Caterpillar employees," said Michael Stephan, President of the Heart of Illinois United Way.  "Caterpillar's steadfast commitment in partnering with United Way to ensure vital programs are available that positively impact the education, income and health of our communities is truly humbling. United Ways, and the communities we serve, tremendously benefit from the generous investments of the Caterpillar Foundation and all the employees and retirees who graciously give back to communities where they live and work." 

Caterpillar also has two international United Way campaigns. One is in Panama, and the other is in Mexico.

About Caterpillar Foundation

Founded in 1952, Caterpillar's philanthropic organization, the Caterpillar Foundation has contributed more than $650 million to help make sustainable progress possible around the world by providing program support in the areas of environmental sustainability, access to education and basic human needs. To learn more about the global impact of the Caterpillar Foundation, visit www.togetherstronger.com. 

About Caterpillar

For 91 years, Caterpillar Inc. has been making sustainable progress possible and driving positive change on every continent.  Customers turn to Caterpillar to help them develop infrastructure, energy and natural resource assets.  With 2015 sales and revenues of $47.011 billion, Caterpillar is the world's leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives.  The company principally operates through its three product segments - Construction Industries, Resource Industries and Energy & Transportation - and also provides financing and related services through its Financial Products segment.  For more information, visit caterpillar.com.  To connect with us on social media, visit caterpillar.com/social-media. 

Forward-looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release relate to future events and expectations and are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "believe," "estimate," "will be," "will," "would," "expect," "anticipate," "plan," "project," "intend," "could," "should" or other similar words or expressions often identify forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding our outlook, projections, forecasts or trend descriptions. These statements do not guarantee future performance, and we do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements.

Caterpillar's actual results may differ materially from those described or implied in our forward-looking statements based on a number of factors, including, but not limited to: (i) global and regional economic conditions and economic conditions in the industries we serve; (ii) government monetary or fiscal policies and infrastructure spending; (iii) commodity price changes, component price increases, fluctuations in demand for our products or significant shortages of component products; (iv) disruptions or volatility in global financial markets limiting our sources of liquidity or the liquidity of our customers, dealers and suppliers; (v) political and economic risks, commercial instability and events beyond our control in the countries in which we operate; (vi) failure to maintain our credit ratings and potential resulting increases to our cost of borrowing and adverse effects on our cost of funds, liquidity, competitive position and access to capital markets; (vii) our Financial Products segment's risks associated with the financial services industry; (viii) changes in interest rates or market liquidity conditions; (ix) an increase in delinquencies, repossessions or net losses of Cat Financial's customers; (x) new regulations or changes in financial services regulations; (xi) a failure to realize, or a delay in realizing, all of the anticipated benefits of our acquisitions, joint ventures or divestitures; (xii) international trade policies and their impact on demand for our products and our competitive position; (xiii) our ability to develop, produce and market quality products that meet our customers' needs; (xiv) the impact of the highly competitive environment in which we operate on our sales and pricing; (xv) failure to realize all of the anticipated benefits from initiatives to increase our productivity, efficiency and cash flow and to reduce costs; (xvi) additional restructuring costs or a failure to realize anticipated savings or benefits from past or future cost reduction actions; (xvii) inventory management decisions and sourcing practices of our dealers and our OEM customers; (xviii) compliance with environmental laws and regulations; (xix) alleged or actual violations of trade or anti-corruption laws and regulations; (xx) additional tax expense or exposure; (xxi) currency fluctuations; (xxii) our or Cat Financial's compliance with financial covenants; (xxiii) increased pension plan funding obligations; (xxiv) union disputes or other employee relations issues; (xxv) significant legal proceedings, claims, lawsuits or government investigations; (xxvi) changes in accounting standards; (xxvii) failure or breach of IT security; (xxviii) adverse effects of unexpected events including natural disasters; and (xxix) other factors described in more detail under "Item 1A. Risk Factors" in our Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 16, 2016 for the year ended December 31, 2015.

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SOURCE Caterpillar Inc.