Sammons Financial Group’s approach to charitable giving is a little different than that of most large corporations. The West Des Moines-based financial services company is employee-owned and supports organizations its employees are active in and passionate about. The On With Life Foundation is fortunate to have received nearly $30,000 from Sammons Financial Group in the past two years.
“Over the years, multiple employees have had family members who received compassionate care at On With Life,” says Tom Nucaro, vice president and chief tax officer. “This past year alone, two of our employees’ families felt the impact of On With Life. The organization’s work is life changing and a huge blessing to many families.”
Tom, who also chairs the Community Involvement Committee at Sammons Financial Group, explained that the company usually requires having an employee serving in the role of “internal champion” for an organization to be considered for funding. The committee meets once a month
to review requests made by internal champions. Sammons Financial Group also has an annual Community Outreach Program where all employees may nominate their favorite charities to receive grant dollars.
Through this program, assigned teams are given a budget each year to allocate to up to three
charitable organizations. The teams decide how they will gather nominations, conduct the voting process and allocate the funds they are responsible to provide.
“We have some very creative employees, and they’ve made the process fun and engaging,” Tom said. “Often our employees, or their family or friends, have received services from the organizations nominated.”
Once the teams have selected their charities, they are presented to the Community Involvement Committee. In the five years since the program was launched, over 60 organizations have received
funding. Approximately half of those had not previously been supported by the company but were identified because of an employee’s passion for the organization’s cause. On With Life has been blessed by this program two years in a row.
“Our community is grateful to have a world-class facility like On With Life to help families cope with the often stressful and lengthy rehabilitation process associated with brain injuries,” says Tom. “I encourage the community to learn more about this wonderful organization.”