Next Tuesday, at a special virtual event, we will reveal the winners of our Nonprofit & Corporate Citizenship Awards program for 2020. Leading up to the event, we’re profiling all 90+ finalists in the program, one category at a time. Here, we recognize the four companies being recognized for Innovative Collaboration of the Year.
This category honors companies that partner with a nonprofit on process improvements or a specific project initiative.
Now in its third year, the Nonprofit and Corporate Citizenship Awards are presented by D CEO and founding partner Communities Foundation of Texas. All finalists will be featured in our August/September print edition and at a virtual awards event on Aug. 25.
Celanese Corp. and Social Venture Partners
Global chemical and specialty materials company Celanese Corp partnered with Social Venture Partners Dallas to launch the Celanese Community Impact Program to provide high-impact, capacity-building services to North Texas nonprofits. At the same time, Celanese also took nine employees out of their full-time roles and reassigned them to support three North Texas nonprofits: After8toEducate, Bonton Farms, and Miles of Freedom. These leaders fully immersed themselves in the communities, worked with SVP Dallas to ensure projects were effective, and were provided with community and culture related training. Once the projects were wrapped up, nonprofits reported long-term impact and strategic work made possible by Celanese and SVP Dallas, while employees reported life-changing experiences.
Charles Schwab & Co. and Boys & Girls Clubs of America
Since 2004, Charles Schwab’s partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America has helped more than a million youth gain critical money management skills through the Money Matters: Make it Count program. More recently, Charles Schwab and the Boys & Girls Clubs pulled off a major curriculum update to the Money Matters program, modernizing the course for Gen Z and beyond. North Texas was among the metros that piloted the program, allowing local youths to be some of the first members to experience the new platform. The program teaches budgeting, investing, managing credit and debit, financial planning, responsibility, self-confidence, communication, problem solving, and decision making. Through a combination of volunteerism, sponsorships, and grants, Charles Schwab has been able to impact over 32,000 youth across 50 clubs in the DFW area in 2019, and as its North Texas campus expands, its impact has increased as well.
DPR Construction and Carson Leslie Foundation/Children’s Medical Center
The Hoot & Holler benefit concert was started by DPR Construction in 2016 in an effort to give back to the community. DPR hires popular artists—such as Randy Rogers Band, Josh Abbot Band, and Whiskey Myers—to perform at Gilley’s Dallas. Proceeds from sponsorships and ticket sales are split between Women’s Auxiliary to Children’s Medical Center Dallas and the Carson Leslie Foundation. The funds for the Carson Leslie Foundation go toward research of medulloblastoma, the most prevalent malignant brain cancer in children; funds for the Women’s Auxillary to Children’s Medical Center go toward family activities, support for hospital staff, and awareness efforts. To date, the beneficiaries have received $570,000 from the funds raised at the event.
Health Wildcatters’ Health Hacking Crisis Network
The Health Hacking Crisis Network was launched at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic to evaluate new needs and getting personal protection equipment to those on the front lines. Health Wildcatters CEO Hubert Zajicek was a driving force in creating a network around ideas and best practices, with a goal of building a collaborative to maximize impact. Becoming quarantined while on spring break, he started the network as a Facebook group, sourcing friends as volunteers. From there, those in the network went to work to execute on a number of fronts, including mask and face shield projects, a 3D printing project, and a translation initiative. The group spent hundreds of hours coming up with new concepts, optimizing them, working on logistics to get items to where they needed to be, brainstorming new ideas, comparing different PP# models, sourcing materials, finding new collaborators, evaluating purchasing options of finished goods, and more. The projects were geared toward optimizing production, providing PPE for physicians and nurses and other front line workers, and educating ESL speakers.
