Ledcor has a long history of giving back to the communities in which they work, and the current Ledcor Cares campaign has been in place since 2013. They wanted to create a unique opportunity, and they were willing to take on some manual work and administration of the program to do just that.
In 10 years, Ledcor Cares has donated $200M to more than 200 charities. Most recently, Ledcor supported children and families in need with a $400,000 donation to food banks in Canada and the US in May 2020. $90,000 of which was donated to the GVFB.
Ledcor’s philanthropic focus is children’s health-related charities that focus on medical facilities, enhancements, disabilities and life-threatening illnesses. Their annual campaign kicks off each October for 3 weeks, and employees can make one-time donations to their chosen charity, or sign up for the payroll deduction program. Ledcor encourages employees to launch a fundraising campaign to support their chosen charity during the campaign launch, to drive participation. This is an ideal time of year to focus on giving, as most CPP and EI contributions have capped out and employees have a little extra discretionary income.
The list of 150 – 200 charities in the program focuses on Ledcor’s philanthropic mission. Employees can request that a charity be added if it is a philanthropic fit, if it is a registered charity or non-profit community service organization, and if it operates in a community where Ledcor does business.
Ledcor Cares is an extremely powerful way for employees to support an organization, because Ledcor matches all employee donations to the chosen charities. Actually, Ledcor goes beyond that commitment: if an employee makes a donation to a charity that is not a part of the Ledcor Cares campaign, they can submit their tax receipt and Ledcor will make a matching donation to one of the charities that is a part of their campaign.
What would you tell other companies considering such a program? Nickie Scott, Manager of Governance & Administration and Manager of Employee Giving, says that to Ledcor, the extra time and effort required to run a manual campaign, and administrate their own dispersals annually is worth it. They have looked at corporate giving software, but it’s not flexible enough for them. They run the program for 18 pay periods, with the launch upfront and time to gather totals and make their matching donations at the end. Comments Nickie hears from new employees are often along the lines of, “I’ve never seen anything like this, anywhere I’ve ever worked”.
Charities can provide up to date profiles and media that Nickie adds to the Ledcor Cares internal portal, so employees can make informed choices with the latest news and accomplishments from the charities on their list.
A program like this carries a powerful engagement punch, and knowing that they spend a little extra time and effort to keep it true to their mission makes it even more remarkable.
To Nickie for her dedicated work, and to all of the Ledcor employees who contribute to Ledcor Cares across North America, thank you for taking care of your communities!
