Community service key aspect of Baird culture
For the past 10 years, Baird has organized an event that encourages employees to volunteer with community organizations during a set week.
Last May, almost 2,200 employees participated in the annual Baird Gives Back Week, spending time tutoring students, preparing and serving food, building homes and doing maintenance work.
The event is one example of Baird’s commitment to the communities where its employees work.
“It’s just a way to demonstrate Baird’s strong commitment to giving back and that we want our associates to be involved in the communities where they live and work,” said Audrey Warner, director of Baird Foundation.
Baird is receiving the 2019 Deloitte Wisconsin 75’s Distinguished Performer Community Award.
Baird Gives Back Week enables employees to learn about a nonprofit organization that they may not have been aware of, Warner said. And it often leads to their becoming involved with the organizations.
Every employee is given two days a year of paid time to volunteer with a community organization, and managers can approve requests for commitments that require much more time.
Every employee also is eligible to receive a matching contribution, ranging from $500 to $1,000 each year, made to eligible nonprofit organizations. The Baird Foundation matched more than $1 million in contributions in 2018.
In all, Baird Foundation gave $4.1 million that year to nonprofit organizations in education, the arts, health and human services across the country.