A construction contractor, a small and large wealth manager, and a pair of accounting firms received top honors at the Business Journal’s third annual Civic 50 event held on Oct. 16 at Hotel Irvine.
“These are companies that have risen above the others,” Neil Bush, chairman of the nonprofit Points of Light and brother of former President George W. Bush, said in a keynote address to the audience of 400. “It’s an honor to be here to applaud the Orange County Civic 50.”
Points of Light is a global nonprofit dedicated to accelerating people-powered change; it has affiliates in 200 cities across 37 countries, and says it engages 5 million volunteers in 14 million hours of service each year.
Collectively, the 50 local civic members honored at the event in the past year volunteered 175,000 hours and donated $19.2 million to social causes in Orange County.
Here’s an overview of the event’s five winners.
Small OC Workforce
Your Wealth Effect, a personal wealth management firm that provides products and services through the Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, won in the category of Small Civic 50.
Co-founder and President Mark Delp has a son with autism and works with local business owners to help break down stereotypes and fears associated with hiring special needs individuals. Your Wealth Effect uses its organizational and fundraising skills to create an after-school tutoring center for at-risk kids in a local elementary school.
The company has been involved with Animal Rescue and Adoption, Autism Speaks, Boy Scouts of America, Girl Scouts of the USA, National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the American Red Cross, among others.
The company pays for 100% of the employee health insurance, offers them flexible schedules and several weeks of paid vacations.
“You cannot have strong families if employees have to choose between staying home with a sick child or being viewed as not committed to the company,” said award presenter Bill Wilhelm, president of Irvine’s R.D. Olson Construction. “They tell all their employees that family comes first and live by that motto.”
Medium OC Workforce
Windes Inc., an accounting and consulting firm with 60 OC employees, won in the category of Medium Civic 50.
“I’d like to thank all my partners, administrators and employees for upholding the culture of community involvement,” Jeff Fields, a partner at Windes, told the audience.
The Irvine office of the company supports the Orange County Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation by sponsoring two of the organization’s largest Orange County events: Beach, Brews and BBQ in Newport Beach and Great Strides in Huntington Beach.
Windes also promotes the University of California-Irvine’s Center for Investment and Wealth Management program to teach under-privileged high school students about financial literacy and college life.
Windes also provides complementary training sessions in Irvine to nonprofit organizations, which covered tax reform and the significant new accounting pronouncements set to impact NPOs in the coming years.
In addition, Windes has a firmwide “Volunteer Day” where they choose an organization to support. This year, it was the Bolsa Chica Conservatory where they participating in a cleanup day at the wetlands in Huntington Beach.
Large OC Workforce
The Irvine office of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, one of the Big 4 Accounting firms, won in the category of Large Civic 50.
It has a strategy, Responsible Business Leadership, which acknowledges that doing something good for the world can also be good for business.
The company, which has 375 employees in Orange County, emphasizes that part of what attracts new hires is engagement in the community. Each new hire last year was given a $25 credit in their giving platform for the charity of their choice.
The company has several programs like Dollars for Doers, Dollars for Racers, Nonprofit board service, paid time off for volunteering. It partners with programs like Big Brothers Big Sisters.
Emerging Company
Irvine-based Casco Contractors won in the category of Emerging Civic 50 OC Award.
“In the last five years, we’ve been geared towards to involve our employees in giving to the community,” owner Cheryl Osborn told the audience. “We’ve involved our supporters, our subcontractors, our network providers and it’s been exponentially successful. There is so much power to that.”
(See separate article, page 28).
Legacy Award
Wealth manager Capital Group Cos., which has an Irvine office with 2,200 employees, won the Legacy Civic 50 OC Award.
“Our core value is around community engagement,” said Hemant Mistry, assistant vice president of the Information Technology Group at Capital Group, told the audience.
The company’s leadership encourages employees of all levels to spend time giving back to the community and it’s been known to pay them to give back during work hours.
