Nine years. $2.75 million in donations and services. 13,000 volunteer hours. Those are the latest tallies from KBE Building Corporation’s “50 Ways to Make A Difference” corporate philanthropy program. The initiative was established 10 years ago to celebrate the firm’s ownership change, name change and five decades in business.
“That first year, we offered a total of 50 grants, one for each year of our history, to each of Connecticut’s 169 towns,” explains Robert G. Dunn, general counsel and a principal owner of the 120-member construction services firm headquartered in Farmington, Connecticut.
Those grants, which ranged from $500 to $1,500, were earmarked for municipal projects that benefitted children and seniors and enabled the firm’s staff to pitch in.
“After that first year, the response from our employees was phenomenal,” Dunn says. “We saw so much energy and excitement and passion around the entire program that we decided to make this a core part of our company culture.”
Since then, KBE has provided more than .75 million in corporate and staff donations, along with more than 13,000 staff volunteer hours, to charitable causes and agencies benefiting children, seniors and military veterans in Connecticut and Maryland. Several charitable programs have emerged as KBE signature events because they mean a great deal to staff.
For example, the Gift of Gobble Thanksgiving program has racked up some impressive numbers: 1,700 meals feeding an estimated 10,200 people and engaging between 50 to 60 of the firm’s employees and their families on the meal assembly day.
Through the newer Connecticut Technical High School Scholarship program, KBE has awarded $36,000 in scholarships to technical high school students pursuing post-secondary education in the trades, construction management, architecture or engineering.
KBE keeps its employees engaged in corporate philanthropy in several other ways, including staff being allowed to dress down on Fridays in exchange for a small monetary donation, which the firm then matches. Those donations, which total $500 to $700 each month, are then given to charities recommended by the firm’s staff. KBE also offers every employee four paid hours of volunteer time annually to use outside of company-sponsored activities.
While KBE’s efforts are certainly helping neighbors in need, employees also cite the 50 Ways program as one of the key things that provides them with work satisfaction and pride of ownership.
“On the recruitment front, prospective employees say our philanthropic focus has made us an employer of choice for them,” Dunn says. “I know how much this program means to me on a personal level, and I’m proud to have KBE known as a company that cares.”
