Engineering Inc - July/August 2019 - 39

DEEP IMPACT
Over the past seven years, the RETTEW Charitable
Foundation has awarded $72,000 in grants.
Year

Amount

Charitable
Organization

Purpose

2012

$10,000

Schuylkill
Headwaters
Association

Tree planting

2012

$6,000

Canine Partners
for Life

Pavilion and play
yard construction

2014

$5,000

Various Charities

Holiday giving

2015

$7,500

Milagro House

Support for GED
school

2015

$5,500

Church of the
Brethren Youth
Services

Funding for autism
and language
delays class

2015

$500

Ronald McDonald
House Charities of
Central PA

Video game system
for playroom

2015

$500

Wish for Wheels

Bikes and helmets
for children

2016

$5,000

Little Lehigh
Chapter of Trout
Unlimited

Creek restoration
project

2016

$5,000

North Museum of
Nature and Science

STEM Sisters
program

2016

$3,500

Various Charities

Holiday giving

2017

$5,000

Lancaster Science
Factory

Support for
P.A.S.T.E. pre-K
science program

2017

$5,000

Leg Up Farm

Support for
Leading Change
program

2017

$3,500

Various Charities

Holiday giving

2018

$3,500

CASA Board Volunteer Association

Backpacks full of
necessities for
children in need

2018

$2,500

Archie's Math

Funding for
traveling math lab

2018

$4,000

Various Charities

Holiday giving

RETTEW supports the Garden Spot Relay
for Life annual walk and fundraiser.

viewed as a very charitable company that steps up to the plate
in terms of social responsibility,
and employees appreciate knowing that their company is not
just about the bottom line. That
means a lot to people."
COMPANYWIDE
GIVING CAMPAIGNS

"It is important

Occasionally, RETTEW employees unite across regions to raise
to me personally,
money for a single cause. According to Barron, the firm has orga- and it is
nized this sort of companywide
important to our
giving probably longer than
anything else. However, the firm staff to be
did not begin tracking donations engaged in our
until the company formed its
community."
foundation in 2010. Since that
time, RETTEW employees have
JAKE WILBURN
donated $67,000 to organizaREGIONAL VICE
tions such as the American Red
PRESIDENT
Cross and the United Way. Most
RETTEW
recently, RETTEW employees
banded together to support the
American Red Cross's work in the wake of Hurricane Harvey in
2017, raising $8,500.
Even in these large fundraising campaigns, RETTEW tries to
involve employees in hands-on volunteer work. As part of the
campaign for the American Red Cross, employees helped distribute smoke detectors to people living in low-income housing. "It is
not just raising money," Barron says. "It is activities as well."
According to Fahnestock, the employee philanthropy team
and RETTEW's senior leadership help decide when to launch a
new giving campaign and which charities to support.
"We try to balance it with what offices are doing in their
regions," Fahnestock says. "We look to the year ahead, and then
we select what we think is going to be the best time of year to
revisit it. We do not always necessarily do a corporate campaign,
especially if there is already a lot of activity in individual offices."
While regional community service initiatives provide a bonding experience within individual offices, Fahnestock says, the
companywide campaigns are an opportunity to
unite the entire firm.
"We are spread out throughout all
these different offices in all our different
regions," she says. "Sometimes we do
not get an opportunity to interact. It is
great when we have a common goal,
and we can work together to reach that
goal and give back to the communities
where we work." ■
Calvin Hennick is a business,
technology and travel writer based in
Milton, Massachusetts.

JULY / AUGUST 2019

ENGINEERING INC.

Engineering Inc - July/August 2019

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