Bank employees describe on video what they do with their charitable contributions.

An example of a bank that gets its employees to talk on video about their good deeds is Bell State Bank and Trust (assets: $2.9 billion) in Fargo, N.D., which started the "Pay It Forward" project a few years ago. The bank annually gives each full-time employee $1,000 and tells them to spend or allocate it anyway they wish but to document an explanation of the contribution on video. The stories, told by employees, frequently straight into the camera, are evidence that banks are the good guys.

I have followed the project as an interested observer over the years. I'm not a customer and they're not a client, but I forward the video links to many friends because the stories are moving. One woman whose husband died of cancer bought a car load of DVD players, movies and games for the oncology department of a local children's hospital. Another contributed to a pioneering treatment facility that teaches kids with diseases such as cerebral palsy how to ride horses. Another group of employees built a ramp and deck for a young family with a wheelchair-bound toddler, and completed it in a day. When the child came home from daycare and rolled up the ramp, her mother burst into tears.

--Merrie Spaeth

Through a program called Pay It Forward, Bell State Bank and Trust, Fargo, N.D., annually gives $1,000 to each full-time employee and requests that they give it to a person in need or a charity. A...