Thruline All Company Day of Service at Harvesters
When it comes to corporate culture, Thruline Marketing has been a leader among Kansas City ad agencies for decades. Since we began as Plattform Advertising in 1989, we’ve maintained a bold and independent company environment that continues to make Thruline one of the Best Places to Work in Kansas City. There are many company values that set us apart from other marketing firms in KC, and while they are all worth mentioning, this month seems like a great time to highlight our dedication to charitable giving.
This November 6, we joined together to embark upon our second annual all-company day of service at Harvester’s KC, organized by Thruline’s philanthropic arm Team Phil. By working together in a shared day of giving back to our community, we not only got a break from the office, but we got the chance to renew our spirits and hone our focus to align with our values as we enter this year’s holiday season.
A key aspect of cultivating a workplace culture that engages employees is based upon having a set of shared values. One of these common values is to make a mark. As individuals, we each strive to use our talents in a way that matters. As a company, we provide the resources to make that happen on a large scale.
We make our mark by thinking big and bold, and by sharing our time and talents to make our community a better place.
Community improvement is a key tenant of our culture at Thruline. CEO Mike McHugh states that “At its core, our mission is about helping people. We focus on careers and education, but any way we can help people as a company, that is a good thing. Philanthropic efforts are a way for us to directly impact our community helping people.”
At Thruline, we don’t just encourage our employees to give back to the community, we provide our employees with the means to do so. Historically, each employee is given a charity PTO day annually, to be used for volunteer activities at a charitable organization of choice.
Our employees have been making our community better for decades, with teams using the PTO day to organize charity outings. This day off has been used at KC area humane shelters, educational institutions, food banks, Habitat for Humanity builds, and other favorite charities in the area.
We have made our mark with annual events like our Paws for a Cause day and week long Cystic Fibrosis fundraiser. We have contributed through our Foundation fund to natural disaster relief efforts and educational programs across the globe. Our employees educate and engage with high school students and early childhood learners across the Kansas City metro. Our employees have donated goods, services, time and talent to dozens of KC area charities over the years, proving that our corporate culture of giving is not just a buzzword, but a lived value.
Given the evolution of our company, it is no surprise that a few years back, McHugh expressed his desire to make an even bigger mark with Thruline’s community service efforts. Team Phil was tasked with arranging an all company charity day during the month of November to engage all employees in a day of service, together as a group. McHugh wanted to expand upon the team bonding experience, noting that “…while lots of different departments and individuals participate in philanthropic efforts, getting to work alongside people that you don’t normally engage with outside of work really brings people together.”
Since then, we have engaged in a day of giving each year to give back to our KC community. As a company, we have provided dozens of meals to Ronald McDonald house, distributed thousands of holiday gifts with Della Lamb, and most recently have addressed community hunger by volunteering at Harvesters KC for the last two years.
When it comes to corporate philanthropy, Thruline not only sets the bar high-- we reach it and raise it higher it every year.
Making the community a better place is a value we apply not only to our work for clients and students, but to our employee engagement and company sponsored events. Thruline's focus on our internally operated philanthropic arm, Team Phil, remains one of the most celebrated facets of our company culture.
In the 2017 alone, Thruline employees provided over 700 hours of volunteer time, gave over $3,100 in direct charitable contributions and donated numerous gifts of time and talent to our Kansas City community.
So far, in 2018 we have already exceeded our previous year’s giving, attesting to McHugh’s belief that the more often people participate in charity projects the more often they keep looking for community service opportunities to participate in. He hopes activities like the all company day of service will continue to motivate the entire Thruline team to look for more charity projects they can be involved with. Because ultimately, the goal at Thruline is based on improving the community, and “the stronger KC is, the better off we all are.”
Shanna Shafer, Marketing/Campaign Manager
