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GREENSBORO — As soon as American Express announced it was moving most of its call center jobs out of the Triad,

local nonprofits began measuring the loss in money and volunteer hours.

“It will take dozens of small business and giving efforts to even equal what an American Express has provided,” said Keith Barsuhn of the United Way of Greater Greensboro .

In an e-mail to community leaders Wednesday morning, Robert Garinger , American Express’ general manager of the Greensboro center, said the company will maintain its support for two years at the level it contributed last year.

“In 2013, we will begin a gradual phase-down until our overall level of support is commensurate with our employee presence in the community,” Garinger wrote. “We’re reaching out to the major recipients of our philanthropic and community support to notify them of our level of support over the next few years.”

At Junior Achievement of Central North Carolina, 50 of 350 volunteers come from American Express — a void that will have to be filled, said Cyndy Hayworth, the group’s president.

“Without the volunteers, we don’t exist because they deliver our services and our programs into the school,” she said.

The Rev. Mike Aiken, executive director of the Greensboro Urban Ministry, the largest provider of shelter in the area , said the city is covered in the charitable deeds of American Express workers.

“That will be a huge loss to us individually as a nonprofit, but more importantly, American Express has been a partner with nonprofits throughout the area,” he said.

The company also made the city stronger by influencing attitudes, said Walker Sanders, president of the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro .

“They have a culture of acceptance,” Sanders said. “They practiced what they preached in encouraging openness, in encouraging diversity.”

In 2003, when the International Civil Rights Center and Museum was still in the planning stage, the company pledged $500,000, which at the time was one of the largest philanthropic gifts ever made to one of its service center locations.

The company also loaned a senior vice president to the museum’s board of directors.

“Their entire leadership team are active volunteers on critical agency boards,” Barsuhn said. “They mean a lot to this community — great jobs, but they do so much in giving back to the community.”

More than 90 percent of the company’s employees contributed to the United Way’s most recent annual campaign, which provides money for nonprofits ranging from Hospice to Family and Children’s Services of the Piedmont.

It is the highest percentage of United Way giving out of all the company’s call centers, Barsuhn said.

The company is the local United Way’s 15th largest corporate contributor, with the annual employee campaign alone having raised $1 million over the past five years.

“What’s been great about what they have done is that they have matched the employee’s gift dollar for dollar — not many do that,” Barsuhn said of the company.

The impact on employee pledges to nonprofits like the United Way is unclear.

The lesson for nonprofits is how easily an American Express can disappear or lose a significant number of full-time jobs locally — and how important it is to cultivate giving among individuals and small companies, Aiken said.

“The only good thing I see in this is that we all realize that we are all in the same boat, and people digging deeper in their pockets because they can identify with the need,” he said.

Contact Nancy McLaughlin at 373-7049 or nancy.mclaughlin@news-record.com