Ace Hardware and The Trevor Project Honored With 2022 “Golden Halo”' for Best-in-Class Corporate Social Impact Efforts

December 14, 2021 /3BL Media/ - Engage for Good has named Ace Hardware and The Trevor Project its 2022 Golden Halo Award winners, the group’s highest honor for companies and causes that engage in activities designed to build a better world and the bottom line.

Accepting the honors at the Engage for Good conference in Atlanta, GA on May 17-19, 2022 will be Amanda Ryan-Smith, Chief Development Officer of The Trevor Project and Kane Calamari, President of the Ace Foundation and Chief Human Resources Officer for Ace Hardware.

This marks the 20th time the Golden Halo Awards have been presented to a business and a nonprofit for their outstanding achievements in the field of corporate social impact.

“As we celebrate our 20th anniversary, we’re thrilled to honor two organizations that exemplify how companies and causes can work together to create positive corporate social impact,” said Engage for Good President David Hessekiel. “Ace Hardware has been a leader in applying high-tech and high-touch strategies to increase point-of-sale fundraising for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. The Trevor Project has employed a holistic model to co-create corporate alliances yielding revenue and capabilities that have dramatically expanded its ability to serve LGBTQ youth with crisis intervention and suicide prevention services.”

2022 Golden Halo Award Winner (Corporate): Ace Hardware

Ace Hardware has over 5,000 stores around the world, with the majority of those stores independently owned and operated by local families. These families are part of the fabric of their local communities and that includes not only meeting their hardware needs, but also supporting them in times of need. Ace stores take great pride in giving back in many ways, supporting tens of thousands of local charities each year – from schools and little leagues to scout troops and veterans’ groups.

While Ace stores support thousands of different hyperlocal charities, there’s one charity that the entire Ace family comes together to support – Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. At Ace, you’ll often hear the phrase “Stronger Together, Together we are Ace” and nothing speaks louder to that than Ace’s 30-year partnership with Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. From the retail stores to Ace Hardware’s corporate offices, Retail Support Centers and Care Center, it is the heart of the company and the mission is beloved by all: to help local kids and families when they need it most.

Since 1991, Ace has raised over $150 million for local CMN Hospitals through the support of its store owners, customers, vendor partners and corporate team members – raising a record $17.9 million in 2020 alone. Beyond dollars, Ace prides itself in helping raise awareness through advertising, social media and in-store signage of the amazing work that these hospitals do, and the support needed for them – especially in the past two years.

While many companies had to cut their charitable efforts when COVID hit, Ace was blessed to be considered an essential business and thus used the record-breaking year of sales as a springboard to give back. As a leader in point-of-sale fundraising, Ace raised a record $7.1 million via the Round Up function in 2020, with many store owners matching or adding to their customers donations. And while COVID safety precautions changed Ace’s annual golf outings, they still successfully and safely hosted their three signature vendor fundraising golf events – which raised over $5 million for CMN Hospitals.

From in-store fundraising programs to celebrity golf events, the Ace Hardware Foundation, the official charitable arm of Ace Hardware, provides support and opportunities for the Ace community to give back not only in support of Children's Miracle Network Hospitals but also to the American Red Cross during disaster relief efforts. The Foundation team also oversees the growing volunteer program at Ace which allows employees to take 20 hours each year to donate their time and talent to help local charities.

While Ace is passionate about helping others – they also believe strongly in helping members of the Ace team when they need it most. Therefore, through the Ace Foundation, they have the Ace Helpful Fund - an employee emergency assistance fund available to qualified Ace team members who are facing financial hardship due to unforeseen circumstances. In the past 3 years alone, this Fund has assisted over 175 Ace employees during times of need.

“Our purpose is simple at Ace Hardware - we exist to help others. And this starts with a purpose-driven culture and a strong belief in the power of local,” said Kane Calamari, President of the Ace Foundation and Chief Human Resources Officer for Ace Hardware. “Giving back and helping others is in the DNA of our company and is something we are extremely proud of; therefore we are honored to be recognized as the 2022 Golden Halo for Business recipient.”

At Ace Hardware, helpful isn’t just a word, it’s a way of life. The team at Ace Hardware takes great pride in being “the helpful folks” – and that extends beyond the walls of their stores and into the communities they serve.

2022 Golden Halo Award Winner (Nonprofit): The Trevor Project

The Trevor Project believes that long-term, dynamic corporate partnerships are imperative to its work of providing suicide prevention and crisis intervention services for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) young people.

Trevor partners with companies that not only provide the necessary funds to support their programs, but go further to identify how their business can offer other assets (expertise, technology, platforms, etc.) to make a bigger impact. This holistic corporate partnership model has increased Trevor’s corporate revenue by over 500% in just four years with donations from over 1,400 companies.

Trevor works with a variety of sectors ranging from retail, fashion, and gaming, to technology and commercial airlines. For example, Trevor works closely with Puma to increase inclusion for LGBTQ youth in sports, as well as companies like Abercrombie & Fitch and United Airlines, who have strategically partnered with Trevor to demonstrate an authentic commitment to diversity and inclusion both internally and externally.

Other notable partnerships include Trevor’s work with PwC Foundation and Google.org to scale and expand Trevor’s crisis service operations using innovative technologies such as AI and Machine Learning, allowing Trevor to serve a higher volume of young people in crisis. Other significant supporters of The Trevor Project include Procter & Gamble, Williams Sonoma, Macy’s and Harry’s among others.

“It is through our deeply collaborative efforts with corporations that we are able to carry out our work to build a safer, more supportive world for LGBTQ young people,” said Amanda Ryan-Smith, Chief Development Officer of The Trevor Project. “We see tremendous value in seeking out companies that share our vision to build a world where every LGBTQ young person feels safe, affirmed and never alone. We strategically work with partners across a variety of industry sectors to reach more LGBTQ young people, grow our volunteer base, advance our innovative technology efforts and set the standard for other corporations to be more inclusive and accepting of LGBTQ young people. The Trevor Project is honored to accept the 2022 Golden Halo Award (Nonprofit) and we are grateful to our corporate partners that show relentless support of The Trevor Project’s mission.”

The Trevor Project was founded in 1988 by the creators of the Academy Award-winning movie Trevor (1994), a short film about a thirteen-year-old boy who, when rejected by friends because of his sexuality, makes an attempt to take his own life.

Fast forward 23 years and The Trevor Project has since transformed into the world’s largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) young people. Through The Trevor Project’s critical research, the organization estimates that, in the U.S., more than 1.8 million LGBTQ young people between the ages of 13 and 24 consider suicide each year. Every 45 seconds there is an LGBTQ young person attempting suicide in the U.S. As a result, Trevor’s mission is to end suicide among all LGBTQ young people by ensuring they have the support they deserve to feel accepted and affirmed.

In order to make that mission a reality, The Trevor Project:

• Offers free, confidential, 24/7 crisis intervention programs through phone, text and chat (TrevorLifeline, TrevorText and TrevorChat)
• Goes beyond crisis intervention to build a more welcoming and affirming world for LGBTQ young people.
• Provides the world’s largest safe space social networking site for LGBTQ young people (TrevorSpace)
• Leads impactful advocacy efforts to protect LGBTQ young people from laws that harm them
• Offers an innovative education program for youth-serving adults to create more LGBTQ-affirming spaces
• Conducts groundbreaking research to surface critical data on the experience of diverse LGBTQ young people

About Engage for Good
Engage for Good is a professional development organization that helps social impact leaders at businesses and nonprofits access the resources and community they need in order to build a better world and the bottom line. While best known for its annual conference and the Halo Awards, Engage for Good provides year-round resources, trainings and events to help corporate social impact professionals advance their careers, their campaigns and their organizations. Learn more at http://www.engageforgood.com/.