My answer is always the same, “our people”… I truly believe we have the best team! However, a close second is our commitment to the communities we live in and our culture of stewardship (or more simply put: giving back).
Our Founder, Mark Watkins, has always believed we have an obligation to be stewards of our community, and he provides ample resources to ensure we can all contribute in making a difference.
We’re committed to community reinvestment year-round, but three years ago we formed our Holiday Giving Committee to laser focus our efforts of helping those in need specifically during the holiday season. Some of the programs we're passionate about and strongly support are:
Pay it Forward is a program completely facilitated by Geneva Capital. The company allots a set amount of dollars to each employee to in turn give to a local family or organization in need. We encourage our team to choose a recipient(s) that's near and dear to their heart with their families...making it as hands-on and meaningful to them as possible.
Through Pay it Forward this holiday season, we've been able to help:
13 Single parents get through the holiday season
10 School "giving" programs with their funding
9 Families navigate medical or employment related hardships
3 Schools provide financial assistants to their students
20+ Students (and their families) with necessities and Christmas gifts
11 Social programs fund their outreach efforts
Want to tug your heart-strings, watch the Pinky Swear Story. (Tip: make sure you've got tissues handy.) Pinky Swear is a GREAT organization with a cause that hits home for us. Funds contributed to the Pinky Swear Foundation help bring some cheer to children (and their families) who are battling childhood cancer. Pinky Swear also helps these families year-round, but like us, they love to "double-down" over the holidays.
"We are truly humbled by your extreme generosity and thoughtfulness this holiday season. Your gifts and gift cards make a tremendous difference for kids with cancer. You've brought joy, smiles, and hope at a time when it's needed most - right now. Thank you!"
- Erica Campbell, Executive Director, Pinky Swear Foundation
For the past few years, the Holiday Giving Committee has communicated with staff from each of our local public and parochial elementary, middle, and high schools to discover and address need among their families. Names and details are 100% anonymous, and we're able to help the nominated students and their families by adding a little extra magic to their holiday season in the form of gifts or gift cards.
The hope of our Holiday Giving campaign is that it motivates our employees to continue the holiday spirit at home, year-round, and actively work to instill those values in their children. We also try to remind our team that giving back doesn't always need to be monetary or be a reactionary response to hardships. We can also give our time and talents in hopes of setting our community up for greater success down the road.
I truly believe that our company's commitment to stewardship has helped make our already amazing team of people even better. Hopefully our care for this community will inspire other local businesses to give back...each of us playing a small part in making our community stronger, healthier, and happier.
One person can do a lot...
imagine what we can accomplish if we all work together!
For more information on our Community Reinvestment or Holiday Giving Committees, or to submit a request please email: crc@gogc.com.