Mueller Communications, a Milwaukee-based public relations firm, has allowed each of its employees to provide 12 hours of donated professional services time to a nonprofit.
In recent years, the firm allowed employees to donate an additional 12 hours to participate in activities that promote social justice and equality in the community. Since 2019, this has resulted in more than 7,250 hours of in-kind service donated to local organizations such as Sherman Phoenix, Discovery World, King Drive Business Improvement District and Teens Grow Greens. Last year alone, Mueller Communications donated more than 1,250 hours of civic time worth more than $325,000.
Additionally, Mueller encourages all of its employees to serve in board positions for organizations that are making a difference in the Milwaukee community.
Members of Mueller’s team serve on boards across the city, including the Alzheimer’s Association of Southeastern Wisconsin, Coalition for Children, Youth & Families, Discovery World, Jewish Community Center, Literacy Services of Wisconsin, Milwaukee Press Club, Near West Side Partners and St. Charles Youth & Family Services. Among many other board roles, firm CEOs James Madlom and Lori Richards serve as board chairs for Wellpoint Care Network and TEMPO, respectively.
“We feel so fortunate as a group to be in a position to be able to help support those organizations.”
– James Madlom, CEO, Mueller Communications
Finalists:
Bader Rutter
Milwaukee-based advertising and marketing agency Bader Rutter recently facilitated a brand transformation of Courage MKE into Courage+.
The six-figure investment helped redefine the organization’s mission and shift its comprehensive strategy, verbal and visual identity and digital assets. The rebrand also helped Courage+ complete an updated multi-year business plan to best align with its new mission: to provide safety, support and opportunity for LGBTQ+ youth.
Bader Rutter promotes corporate giving and volunteerism by emphasizing social impact in its mission as an advertising company. From the beginning of Bader Rutter’s project with Courage+, the agency aligned its teams with Courage+’s new mission. Employees from Bader’s strategy, creative, digital and media departments volunteered time, talent and ideas demonstrating how corporate volunteerism can be both skill-based and meaningful.
“For what we believe will be decades to come, Courage+ will reach LGBTQ+ youth across the country, not just Wisconsin,” said Alisha Hart, director of programming at Courage+. “That will be because Bader Rutter saw our mission, saw our vision, truly saw us, and poured themselves into our incredible rebrand.”
Garland Alliance Inc.
Garland Alliance, a Kenosha-based landscape design firm, has donated its time, expertise and resources to support local projects and causes including ElderGarten, a senior community garden in downtown Kenosha, the preservation of Kenosha’s Southport Park historic beach house, the Sculpture Walk at HarborPark, and Green Ridge Cemetery.
Garland Alliance’s contributions include a full range of services such as landscape design and planning, project management, site preparation, installation and maintenance.
At ElderGarten, GAI helped curate more than 40 raised garden beds that promote health and well-being through gardening and social interaction in a park-like setting. GAI contributed to the preservation of Kenosha’s Southport Park historic beach house by installing foundation evergreen trees and shrubs. At Green Ridge Cemetery, GAI helped enhance ecological sustainability, which aided the cemetery in achieving Level 1 ArbNet Accreditation from the Morton Arboretum.
Additionally, GAI serves on the board of the Sculpture Walk at HarborPark, supporting public art and fostering cultural engagement within the community.
Several of GAI’s in-kind projects are part of a multi-year commitment to upkeeping the landscape at their respective locations.
iLevel Media
iLevel Media, a Milwaukee-based video production company, has provided professional video production, graphic design and marketing services for Prevent Blindness Wisconsin for more than a decade. The estimated annual value of iLevel Media’s in-kind services to Prevent Blindness Wisconsin exceeds $35,000.
iLevel Media’s in-kind contributions have strengthened PBW’s ability to fulfill its mission of preventing blindness and preserving sight. Through iLevel’s contributions, PBW has been able to enhance the quality of its trainings, broaden its outreach and scale its programs more effectively.
In particular, iLevel helped curate PBW’s transition to virtual programming during the COVID-19 pandemic. PBW developed multiple digital resources, such as training videos for children’s and adult vision screening.
iLevel Media also helped PBW with its 65th anniversary video, which garnered the support of its partners, donors and stakeholders. The video served as a tool for donor engagement and community education, “capturing the heart of our mission and the lasting difference we have made together,” said Tami Garcia, president and CEO of Prevent Blindness Wisconsin.
