With the holidays on the horizon, it is officially the season of giving and philanthropy. How do businesses build partnerships with organizations? What is “trust philanthropy”? And how does it benefit nonprofits? Join us to hear how Central Ohio businesses are helping the community. Erin Shannon, corporate relations manager of White Castle, and Christina Brown, regional director of community philanthropy and engagement at Huntington Bank, join our host Scott Light to share how they are putting their passions into practice helping others.
With the holidays on the horizon, it is officially the season of giving and philanthropy. How do businesses build partnerships with organizations? What is “trust philanthropy”? And how does it benefit nonprofits? Join us to hear how Central Ohio businesses are helping the community. Erin Shannon, corporate relations manager of White Castle, and Christina Brown, regional director of community philanthropy and engagement at Huntington Bank, join our host Scott Light to share how they are putting their passions into practice helping others.
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the wellbeing podcast. We know the research is unequivocal in that when people give of themselves, it lifts them, it lifts other people, organizations, communities, and sometimes entire countries. Our theme today is giving. So to our guests, a quick fill in the blank to start us off today, Aaron, the power of giving is blank.
Aaron Shannon:Supporting.
Scott Light:Christina to you the power of giving is?
Christina Brown:from the heart.
Scott Light:I love that. And with that, let me introduce to you the voices that you just heard. Aaron Shannon is Corporate Relations Manager of White Castle. And also let me mention a fourth generation family member as well. Erin, welcome to you. Thank you. It's good to have you here. Christina Brown is the central Ohio Director of Community philanthropy and engagement at Huntington Bank. Christina, it's good to have you hear.
Christina Brown:Thanks for having me.
Scott Light:This podcast series is brought to you by Boundless. Boundless is a nonprofit that provides residential support, autism services, primary health care, day programs, counseling and a whole lot more to children and adults. Our mission is to build a world that realizes the boundless potential of all people. And hey, if you like what you're hearing, give us a great review. Wherever you listen to our episodes. I'm your host, Scott light. We're distributing this episode the week before giving Tuesday. And let's be honest, that is a great calendar hook. Because Giving Tuesday is now a worldwide movement. And I'm going to share some factoids about giving Tuesday as we go here. Christina, would you talk about that spirit of giving at Huntington?
Christina Brown:Absolutely. You know, Huntington has been around for over 150 years. And community is built into anything and everything that we do. It is a constant conversation piece, whether it be business meetings, internally or externally. So when I think about the way that Huntington as a financial institution, that we look at ourselves in the community, it's our job to look out for people. And so often people assume that a financial institution is just going to be looking out for your money. But we're so blessed that, you know, we have the opportunity to look out for an entire community. If a community is not vibrant and moving and growing and healthy, financially or otherwise, then there's not really good things in the future. So it is a part of everything that we do to look out for people.
Scott Light:Aaron, same to you White Castle's commitment, I love it. When we have guests that have history, going back to three figures here more than 100 years, White Castle's commitment to the community goes back as well, more than 100 years. Talk about that, that spirit of giving at White Castle.
Aaron Shannon:when our founder Billy Ingram, his philosophy has always been, if people are going to come to me to support my organization, then I need to help support theirs as well. And that philosophy has flowed through four generations of family members, as well as over 10,000 team members. And this started when he started the Ingram-White Castle Foundation in 1949. It was just dollars that he had personally that he started up the foundation in order to support the community.
Scott Light:I want to share a short paragraph from the Giving Tuesday website it goes like this, Giving Tuesday reimagines a world built upon shared humanity and generosity, whether it's making someone smile, helping a neighbor, or stranger, showing up for an issue, or for people we care about, or giving some of what we have to those who need our help. Every act of generosity counts, and everyone has something to give, could I ask each of you to reflect on those words and what they mean to you?
Aaron Shannon:They mean giving back to the community and supporting in all different ways. For example, we just started a new program during the pandemic where we were doing a round up program, and we asked our team members, what they felt of our corporate giving. And they wanted to have more of a say in our corporate giving. And through this, we were able to connect up with 48 different charities to support across the system. And then from there, we've also piggybacked another program, where we're calling it 100 hours of giving back to the community. So we want our team members not only to give monetarily, but also with their hearts and hands. So each team member, well each region, gives back 100 hours as well as team members in our home offices to support.
Scott Light:That's tremendous. Christina, what are those words from giving Tuesday mean to you?
Christina Brown:Sure. So I think it goes back to the simplicity of the statement, looking out for people, each of us has an opportunity to make a difference that can happen in your everyday job, it can happen because you've purposely made the decision to do something for someone and you know, when I think about taking care of others, I think about the word accessibility. So often, you know, we we look at people that maybe are marginalized or don't have as much as someone else. And we say, hey, you know, that's where the help is needed or that is where we can go and make a difference when all reality, yes, the help is needed there. And yes, there's opportunity to help in those ways. But there's also opportunity to help in pretty much anything and everything you do, you just never know what somebody's going through or what shoes they've walked in. So again, kind of thinking through everyone having something to give, we all have something to give. And quite honestly, we probably all could use a little bit of love ourselves, I always say it takes a village to raise children. And it also takes a village to raise adults. So we all have an opportunity to be a part of that.
Scott Light:And speaking of helping, and being out in the community organizations like yours, often partner with local nonprofits to match maybe a shared mission or a shared passion. Christina, can you give us a sense of how those partnerships come about at Huntington?
Christina Brown:Sure, partnerships can show up in any way shape or form. We're a bank. So we have plenty of customers, whether that be individuals or businesses, or even nonprofits here locally. So sometimes partnerships show up from the business side of the house, because we're already doing business with them. Other times, we may have people that will approach us to say, hey, there's a specific need in the community in which you're serving, how can you help? There are also times that we're proactive, we may see something that's going on or in need in a particular area in one of our communities. And we want to raise our hand to say, hey, you haven't come to us yet. But what we have available to you, how can we help? You know, we've got giving areas that we focus on like many organizations do. And we follow those. We also recently released a Community Plan, which is a five year plan that really hones in on those specific areas that we want to pay extra attention to. We released the latest community plan in 2021. And so what it did was it gave us an opportunity to go above and beyond those already established giving areas. And again, back to partnerships, say you know what, we're going to really hone in at this time of such uncertainty in the world that we live in and look at some of the basics, things that maybe you wouldn't see in those called out in those four original kind of giving areas that we have things like food insecurity and workforce development and racial and social equity. I mean, that conversation is so important as well. And again, accessibility, how can we be the best partner, whether it's from a business perspective, or community partnership perspective?
Scott Light:Aaron, what about those partnerships, especially with local nonprofits at White Castle?
Aaron Shannon:Our partnerships we use as a resource, the Columbus Foundation, they are so great on researching different organizations and letting us know about what's up and coming. And then from there, I have meetings with all of our directors and above, to find out what they're passionate about. It's like a brainstorming meeting with them. And then we try to get them placed on boards in order to help support then usually the directors and above will take their teams out to volunteer with them and start getting all of White Castle to hear about what's going on.
Scott Light:Let's talk about a couple of specifics here because once those partnerships form once they bond and really execute the impacts can be tremendous. Aaron the Ingram-White Castle Foundation, for example, donated dollars to help Boundless build an indoor playground for kids in the Newark area. Tell us why that cause spoke to White Castle.
Aaron Shannon:The Ingram-White Castle Foundation's mission is feeding the souls of community and team members to share just one value. That is why we supported the playground in Newark, we believe in nourishing people and providing physical, educational and emotional and spiritual support.
Scott Light:Christina, let me come to you. And this one's fairly recent because Huntington's generosity is already helping people get Primary Health Care here at Boundless, Huntington donated$300,000 to Boundless health, we had the big ribbon cutting just a few weeks ago, talk about why that was such a good fit for Huntington when it comes to Boundless health.
Christina Brown:Sure. So, you know, Boundless is looking at the potential of all people. And I mentioned earlier the word accessibility, it's necessary that anyone in our community has accessibility to health care, no matter what your situation is, we found that for boundless and we have a lot of different spokes to our relationship with Boundless, we're not new partners with Boundless, we've got a board member, you know, they are absolutely one of our customers from a banking perspective. But more importantly, them being able to provide the accessibility to health care, especially for a population that maybe has struggled to find that accessibility or equality in the healthcare system was an automatic, yes, we need to be a part of this. And let's figure out how we can make the most impact in doing so.
Scott Light:Let me ask you both about COVID. Go back a little bit, maybe a two parter here in terms of asking from a personal standpoint, and then also from your positions as executives in your respective organizations? How did COVID change you?
Christina Brown:Wow. I mean, a few different ways. I would say personally, and I think for so many others, were all reminded that there's 24 hours in a day again, when you are locked down and rules are given that you're not used to and you're having to change the way that you live your life, both professionally and personally. Those 24 hours take on a different meaning. And, you know, I would say that that also really came into the professional side of the house. I mean, Huntington doesn't just want to write checks, it's important for us to get our hands dirty. We want to be in classrooms, we want to be teaching seniors about being financially smart and not being taken advantage of we want to be painting walls and, and helping to feed hungry people. And with the shutdown that made us along with the rest of the world, figure out how can we still be impactful, but in a way where it's a touch through a computer screen, or a video screen or a phone. So, you know, I would say, for us, we were really, really quick to move a lot of our programs to virtual. And again, like the rest of the world, we just met internally to dig down deep to figure out how best to do that. But always trying to press the envelope just a little bit from when the moment was right for us to come back together. We wanted to be ready and in place in person ready to go back to those same ways that we have delivered in the past. So I think that again, awareness around 24 hours was definitely a big aha, how we're spending our time, how our colleagues are spending their time, volunteerism, and recruitment and board leadership, all those things have kind of changed. But not necessarily in a bad way. I think that it allows us to be more intentional and more thoughtful about what we're doing. And you know, when people are giving their time and their efforts, or their three T's, buddy, they mean it because they know that there's 24 hours left in a day, and if they're going to be committing it to you or any other organization, it must be important to what they're trying to do.
Aaron Shannon:Personally, I would say COVID Crazy. Professionally, I would say we turned COVID into being creative. So we really had to step up and, you know, do things virtually, like Christina was mentioning, and making sure that our team members were still volunteering and giving back whether it was making homebound cards for the homeless that were you know, stuck in homebound situations and making sure that people still knew about them, and people were still caring about them. Other things that we did, were trying to just do things on your own, and then send them in or, you know, put together care packages for an organization where it was a toothbrush and toothpaste and stuff and just really stepping it up and being creative in that aspect. So that we were prepared and ready to turn it around, when we could start being in person.
Scott Light:Let me ask a two parter about COVID In this respect, because it certainly exposed gaps in America's social safety net and our health care system. And then those gaps, put downward pressure on nonprofits like Boundless that provide these critical services out there. So does that exposure, so to speak, does that then alter your philanthropic and societal efforts moving forward? Do you then look at those, Christina to your point those five year plans, and then do you go and say, oh, boy, we may need to make some adjustments?
Christina Brown:No, absolutely. If anything, it brought me back to one of my favorite books. Since being in corporate America and it's Who Moved My Cheese, I think it's the reality of you have to be prepared for things that are hard to be prepared for and the unknown and be flexible or as in that book, keep your tennis shoes on and be ready to chase the cheese, find the cheese, fix the cheese, whatever that means for you. It's just being willing to say, hey, life can change like this, in the snap of a finger. You know, what are you able to do? What are you prepared to do in order to be ready to swivel if needed.
Aaron Shannon:From our side of things with the Ingram-White Castle Foundation specifically, it was actually interesting because we always have like pre meetings before the grant cycles. So we actually had a pre meeting the week before the shutdown. And we have two grant cycles a year. And so with the Ingram-White Castle Foundation, when you put in for a grant, it's you have to have programming or it has to be based around something specific. So I probably had more meetings with the Columbus foundation during the pandemic to say, okay, all bets are off. Now at this point, it's not restricted funds, just get this money to the organizations to make sure that they can be supported in however they need it because the whole world has completely changed. So then from that point on, we've been looking at things like normally we would not support something for position to be hired on as for a non for profit, but the labor market is horrible right now. I mean, we're having problems with it. Everybody's having problems with it. So we've kind of had to change gears and just be more flexible, and be more open and willing to listen to what what their needs are.
Scott Light:I want to pick up on what you said about being flexible, because I'm getting the sense that you both really dialed in on being more flexible and being more nimble.
Aaron Shannon:You put your heart into it and you see that the needs of what the community needs. It was very, it was a
Christina Brown:You know, I agree, Aaron, I think that you very easy step. have to almost teach yourself to be nimble. You know, in philanthropy, it is about Identifying need and helping to find solution for that need, whether that's dollar base, whether that's people based resource base. I think that what's really interesting, though, about this is the fact that, yes, you have to be nimble, but at the same time, the need is there, and you have to be quick. So you don't have a lot of time to think you have to, again, figure it out. In philanthropy, yes, we're helping a lot of people. But there's often the need to follow different processes. As Aaron has mentioned, to request funds, or different guidelines, you know, every organization has guidelines, as a bank, we have different regulations that we have to follow. So even during that time, as COVID was coming, you know it to be, we were not only trying to figure things out on our own, but having to listen and watch at the top of the house from a government perspective on what they expected of us as well. And there was shifting in that too. So a lot of kind of backing off of expectations that maybe we would have had was very similar to what we felt as well at Huntington, you know, where we maybe were looking to fund an event where there were no events. So you just give the dollars to the organization and you say go, and there's you know, I will tell you that's carried over. There is now this sense of trust philanthropy, this is a very hot topic in the world that we live in. Because there was a time there, especially as you were in the mid 2000s, where there was a change in philanthropy where the expectation was, hey, less, let's just write a check to be at a table or a gala, and more programmatic support or focus, you had a lot of organizations and funders that were asking for nonprofits to work together to make sure that we knew where our dollars were going from a programmatic-you wanted the outcomes, right, you wanted to know what the impact was. There's kind of this sense, I want to say it's flip flopping a little bit in the sense that there's an expectation that when funders are giving to nonprofits, we should trust that what they're going to do with the dollars is what they need to do. So again, kind of, it's a push back against the traditional, oh, this is our process, this is what you have to follow. So it's a really interesting kind of movement, if you will, an expectation that now you're starting to hear throughout the philanthropic world, and then organizations like my own with Huntington, when you have regulation that ties to your giving, it's a really interesting kind of a teeter totter that you have to ride on to make sure that you're still meeting your expectations from a government perspective, but still allowing flexibility and trust in these nonprofits that you need and want to support them in the way that they need and want to be supported.
Aaron Shannon:Oh, I just agree with everything she said. I mean, you really have to see the need that they have. And just take away all the guidelines that you may have to follow.
Scott Light:As we start to wrap up our conversation here, I want to share one more factoid about giving Tuesday. This movement is just 10 years old, it started in New York. Now it's spread worldwide. As I mentioned just a few minutes ago, it spread worldwide since 2012. So to our guests, I asked you to pull out your crystal ball for this one. What do the next 10 years look like in the world of philanthropy, and generosity?
Aaron Shannon:I believe that, especially since the pandemic has happened, the next 10 years are going to be definitely evolving and changing. I always tell everyone with non for profits, the best resource that we could possibly have in Columbus is the Columbus Foundation. They are constantly pulling research, finding new trends, we really, really, really support all of the efforts that they have. And always look to them to see what's next.
Scott Light:Christina?
Christina Brown:There's definitely no lack of need. And I think that we live in a world that we've all gotten very used to having things personalized to us. So I think the next 10 years, it's going to be about experience. So how do we meet the needs of the community and again, still be able to show outcome and impact, but allow flexibility or addressing those needs as they come. But change is a word that comes to mind. Flexibility is a word that comes to mind. And you know what good old patience, because goodness knows that in times of wild change. That's not always something that is given. So I think the world of philanthropy is a space where again, as people are looking at their 24 hours in the day, whether they're in the philanthropy space or not. It's, you know, an opportunity for us to give them options on ways to give back what makes their heart jump. How do we connect the need with the jumping of the heart of each of our colleagues and community partners and just find ways to be most impactful?
Scott Light:One of the things that I learned in COVID And I think over the last couple of years in those 24 hours, I have to find just maybe it's just a couple of minutes in the day for my brain to slow down. Do you two need that?
Aaron Shannon:Oh, absolutely.
Scott Light:I would imagine with your jobs you have to have that.
Christina Brown:It is necessary. I'm also a working mom of three and and they are very active children. So you do you have to pause. And you know, I think so often for folks that aren't maybe in philanthropy on a day to day basis, you know, it's easy to take a look at the role and say, Oh, look, they're the people that get to go to galas and luncheons, and handout money, which, yes, those are definitely things that we get to do. But it's really only a sliver of what we're doing. You know, just like any other role, any other job in the community. Our job, again, is to at its simplest form, identify need and help find solutions for those needs. And sometimes that happens within our own walls. Sometimes it's going outside of our walls and partnering with others. So it's definitely a blessing, but definitely necessary as an individual to take a moment to slow down for a second, and actually enjoy and reflect on what a blessing it is to be in a role like this.
Aaron Shannon:I would agree with that. And a lot of the times I because you know, a lot of people do say, Oh, you get to go to all these events, but I love going don't get me wrong, but it is you know, you have to get yourself going and get there. And then once you get there, it's like okay, I'll just stay for a little bit because I do have to go home to my kids and my husband. But a lot of the times too, I find myself going for a run and just kind of taking that time to think about everything that's going on and seeing other ways that I can I do a lot of brainstorming on runs to see how I can figure out how to partner up with people or do different things and do brainstorming.
Christina Brown:I also do that when I'm working out. I'm absolutely a thinker when working out.
Scott Light:Aaron Shannon Christina brown thank you both for being here. This has been a good conversation it's been great having you here thank you both for being part of generous organizations and being generous humans as well. To our listeners we thank you too you can be part of episodes to come email us your questions or comments at podcastatIamBoundless.org and again don't forget to give us a review that's yet another way we want to hear from you. This is the well being podcast brought to you by Boundless.