Spotlighting BT Cares: Our initiative to give back and do good together
Buildertrend’s mission to find a better way is realized through each of the company’s 500+ employees. As a team, they take care of clients through award-winning customer service, developing software that exceeds business needs and bringing a little extra joy to every experience.
They also take care of the community with BT Cares, the companywide initiative to give back. Together, employees participate in donations, sponsorships and volunteering – finding a better way for those who need it most.
During 2020, the company plans to donate at least $75,000 to charitable giving. That’s up from $70,000 and $41,000 in 2019 and 2018 respectively. These totals don’t include individual employee contributions to numerous philanthropic drives hosted at Buildertrend headquarters throughout the year either.
“As the company grows, the impact we can make grows, too” said Danielle Nelson, customer event manager and member of the BT Cares Committee. “We see BT Cares as something that will continue to evolve and become a larger part of our culture.”
To strategically develop the program and focus on opportunities that align with the company values, BT Cares concentrates on four specific giving pillars:
- Housing and basic needs – Buildertrend helps 1 million builders and remodelers with industry-leading construction project management software, so this pillar fits right in with what the company does day in and day out. They support housing needs locally and nationally, from Habitat for Humanity to Building Homes for Heroes, and occasionally provide free Buildertrend subscriptions to construction nonprofits.
- Local impact – Helping the Omaha community as well as the surrounding metro areas is top of mind. In the past year alone, Buildertrend has supported the following local organizations: Teammates Mentoring Program, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Midlands, Food Bank of the Heartland, The Salvation Army and more.
- STEM education and women in tech – The Omaha tech company supports STEM education to foster young minds for future careers in science, technology, engineering and math. Additionally, Buildertrend makes strides to help break the glass ceiling and encourage women to pursue jobs in STEM, too.
- Support for Children – Buildertrend is unique for its millennial workforce, many of them with young families. This includes all three of the co-founders, Dan Houghton, Steve Dugger and Jeff Dugger. That’s why the business is proud to support causes that help children such as Children’s Hospital & Medical Center and Completely KIDS.
“Everyone shows up to work eager to make a difference, and we’re scrappy about accomplishing that. Now translate that attitude to the question of ‘how can we help our community?’,” said Justin Rediger, industry analyst and BT Cares Committee representative. “We’re not afraid to roll-up our sleeves, put on a hard hat and go tear a house down to the studs on behalf of Habitat for Humanity.”
To help transform that can-do attitude into action, Buildertrend offers every employee eight hours of Volunteer Time Off (VTO) per year. This can be used anytime a team member wants to take time away from work to do community service.
“Many people don’t feel like they have the time to volunteer, and it’s just not top of mind in people’s busy day-to-day lives,” Rediger said. “Allowing charitable organizations to come onsite, explain what kind of work they are doing in the community and then giving people the opportunity to take a day off to go volunteer is a great way to make the introduction.”
For 2019, employee gave approximately 800 hours through VTO.
Buildertrend is always looking for new opportunities to give back, too. Both employees and external organizations are welcome to share ideas by emailing BTCares@buildertrend.com.
The committee then carefully reviews all suggestions, seeing which will have the greatest impact and align with at least one of the four giving pillars.
“We really do want employees to express what’s important to them outside of these walls, and then we can incorporate some of these causes into what Buildertrend supports,” Nelson said. “BT Cares gives employees the chance to be a part of something that’s bigger, deeper and socially responsible.”
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