Educational resources to support small business growth Our global network of Customer Care Professionals is just one way we have our customers’ backs. Small and mid-size firms often lack the time, tools, and resources to pursue business growth opportunities or gain new skills and expertise. Business Advocacy programs such as Business Class address this need through lifestyle-like content and experiences, including articles, events, video series, Instagram Live content, and more—all available to business owners at no cost. In 2021, we debuted the first season of a new video series called Business Class: The Series that takes viewers around the world and across industries to learn real-life lessons from fellow entrepreneurs. Episodes explore different ways to approach everyday business challenges including leadership, finance, marketing, strategy, and managing growth. We made learning interactive with two new seasons of “Office Hours”—casual and informative conversations taking place live on Instagram, where entrepreneurs and experts answer business owners’ questions and offer advice. To help thousands of small businesses owners network and grow their capital and customers budgets, we hosted our annual free, Business Class LIVE event, where they virtually connected with and learned from leading thinkers, business executives, and entrepreneurs. Our powerful backing for the restaurant community In 2019 we acquired the restaurant booking platform Resy and together we help restaurant businesses thrive. Throughout the pandemic, we supported independent restaurants by providing fee relief and digital tools to help them run their businesses, data-based insights to help restaurants plan smarter, marketing and programming to back the restaurant community, and incentives for Card Members to order take out. As the impacts of the pandemic continued in 2021, American Express and Resy responded with a series of initiatives to drive customers to small independent restaurants to help with their recovery and long-term growth. In February 2021, we launched the Order In, Help Out campaign that encouraged consumers to make #TakeoutTuesday a weekly occurrence and introduced new dining offers on certain American Express Cards. In 2022, we followed up with “Every Resy Counts,” a reservation drive as part of the Shop Small campaign that encouraged millions of people across the country to dine at independent restaurants in March 2022. The “Every Resy Counts” initiative is part of our broader “Let’s Grab a Table” Shop Small marketing campaign which was focused on bringing attention and support to independent restaurants throughout the United States. To help these restaurants rally their customers, we created complimentary toolkits with content, social media posts, signage, and more, as well as specially curated offers, and videos and articles from industry experts to help them grow and manage their businesses. “ The industry is starting to see the effect of the past two years. And that’s when companies like Amex and Resy step up huge to say, this has to change. We have to be there for the industry.” – CHRIS SHEPHERD, JAMES BEARD AWARD-WINNING CHEF AND CO-FOUNDER OF SOUTHERN SMOKE Learn more about how we are supporting restaurants in Backing Small for Underrepresented and Economically Vulnerable Small Business Owners. INTRODUCTION PROMOTING DE&I ADVANCING CLIMATE SOLUTIONS BUILDING FINANCIAL CONFIDENCE OUR ESG GOVERNANCE & OPERATING RESPONSIBLY SUPPORTING DATA OUR COMMITMENT TO ESG 64