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Good teachers know that to learn new concepts, students need to make connections that feel personal and meaningful — and in order to do that, they need access to the right tools. When district funding isn’t enough, many teachers turn to DonorsChoose to get the learning resources their students need to make those meaningful connections. In fact, teachers at 89% of all public schools in the United States have requested materials through DonorsChoose.
The mission of Power Home Remodeling (POWER) is to realize the potential in every home, person, and community. Power for Good Foundation, POWER’s philanthropic arm, gave $500,000 and engaged thousands of employees to support 1,780 DonorsChoose projects. To get there, it took a commitment to democratizing giving to create meaningful connections, whether it was employee to employee, company to community, or donor to classroom.
The Challenge: Unite employees across 22 locations through meaningful and impactful philanthropic work
As an exterior home remodeling company specializing in energy efficiency, POWER is dedicated to the communities where their customers and employees live and work. With 22 locations across the US, the majority of POWER employees are out in the field; the regions they serve are diverse, from Detroit to Phoenix, Long Island to Las Vegas. With such a dispersed workforce, it can be a real challenge to find a cause that engages employees at scale.
In order to activate their nearly 4,000 employees, POWER needed an issue that everyone could connect to, with a clear benefit to the neighborhoods they live in and serve every day.
The Approach: Spotlight the experiences of former teachers-turned-POWER colleagues, inspiring support for local DonorsChoose classrooms
Power for Good Foundation saw an opportunity to put POWER employees in the driver’s seat while filling local classrooms with essential learning materials through DonorsChoose. To bring that idea to life, POWER leveraged their monthly virtual town hall meeting. Their aim? Make a clear connection between DonorsChoose classrooms and POWER communities, and inspire employees to take action for positive change. They accomplished this with a three-pronged approach.
1. Empathy Through Storytelling
At the virtual company town hall meeting in April, POWER screened a video they’d produced featuring former teachers currently working at POWER. These passionate employees talked to their coworkers about their former time spent in classrooms, emphasizing the impact of having access to the right learning resources.
2: Everyone Has A Voice
Then, in a company-wide democratic process, employees voted in real time for the resources they wanted to give local classrooms. Sports equipment, pencils, highlighters, new books: everything was on the table, and each vote unlocked a $150 donation to a local DonorsChoose project requesting that resource. POWER employees shared how they felt about supporting their communities in a word cloud.
3. Participation Makes A (Proven) Difference
Once the voting was finished, POWER funded local DonorsChoose projects based on employees’ votes. Here’s how employees voted to distribute the funding:
- 27% to sports & lab equipment
- 25% to food, clothing & hygiene
- 20% to classroom basics & art supplies
- 16% to books, educational kits & games
- 11% to computers, tablets & tech
Employees could easily make the connection between their participation and its effects on their own communities, bringing everyone together through the power of giving.
The Impact: One big, happy POWER team… and $500,000 donated to projects in POWER communities
At the end of the company town hall, POWER was left looking at some pretty impressive results. 80% of all employees participated in the town hall voting, achieving POWER’s employee engagement goals. The event ensured that Power for Good’s $500,000 donation supported classroom resources employees knew would help students in their community.
A teacher who had a project funded spoke with POWER about what it meant for her class to be funded. POWER created video celebrating the campaign's impact and shared it company-wide, strengthening the connection for employees between their participation and their proven impact.
After students had the opportunity to use their new resources, they wrote thank-you notes to POWER. DonorsChoose curated and shipped 525 thank-you notes, which were displayed in every POWER office across the US to remind employees of the impact they have on students every time they see them.
Engaging employees for a day of giving is a huge accomplishment in and of itself. And at the end of the day, it’s the connections that make the most difference: connections between employees, connections between students and community members, and connections between teachers and companies like POWER that want to invest in their classrooms. Those connections will have lasting impact, and we’re so grateful to our partners at POWER for their ongoing support of learning in local communities!
Visit our Partner Center to reach out to our team and learn more about working with DonorsChoose.
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