Philanthropy Policy
One of our core goals is to shift focus away from the bottom line and towards building real community. To achieve that goal, we do a blend of giving away our time and skills for free and donating a chunk of our income.
Most of our efforts are at the local level, so our communities in central Kentucky know we value them. We’ve also made efforts to give in communities where our team members come from and to organizations whose missions we strongly believe in.
Most of our efforts are at the local level, so our communities in central Kentucky know we value them. We’ve also made efforts to give in communities where our team members come from and to organizations whose missions we strongly believe in.
Where We Give
- In 2020, our efforts were primarily focused on COVID-19-related efforts, fighting racial inequity, and organizations that champion democracy.
- In 2021, we focused on our local Lexington, Kentucky and Appalachian communities, as well as organizations led by women of color.
- In 2022, our contributions went towards reproductive rights, immigrant worker justice, environmental disaster relief, mental health, and gun safety.
- Starting in 2023, our priority is making sure we can support each team member in volunteering at least 4 paid hours per month with organizations that they're passionate about.
When making monetary donations, we do the following:
- Verify the recipient is legitimate by cross-referencing its claims against at least two sources (social media, news coverage, established presence in the community, activity from prominent individuals associated with the organization, etc.).
- Confirm the recipient's values are in line with our own. We don't have to agree on everything, but we'll hit pause if they don't align with our stated values.
- Ask ourselves if there's room in this month's philanthropy budget, or if we'll need to return to this recipient in future months.
- Add the contribution to our record of donations.
- Set a reminder to follow up with the recipient in 3 months and learn how (or if) they felt our donation impacted their operations. This follow-up may be with a human contact (smaller/local recipients) or a review out outward-facing updates on websites or social media (larger/national recipients).
- Share this feedback with our team on an internal thread under our record of donations.