LEADERSHIP
BEST BUSINESS FOR SUPPORTING CHARITIES
As one of the region’s biggest private companies and biggest employers, Gold winner Hallmark Cards is to corporate philanthropy in Kansas City what it is to the personal expressions business sector: A market leader. In addition to the power of financial contributions through United Way, Children’s Mercy Hospital and other causes, Hallmark embraces a culture of volunteer service: Putting up seasonal decorations in public areas at neighboring Children’s Mercy, tending a company garden to raise produce for families staying at Ronald McDonald House, supporting Harvesters’ BackSnack program, collecting and gift-wrapping thousands of toys for the Salvation Army, donating cards to health departments in 29 states to encourage immunization efforts in newborns and children.
A sterling Silver commitment to community betterment originates at J.E. Dunn Construction, which operates in much the same way: With a robust employee engagement effort that generates direct financial contributions, volunteer hours and board service for area non-profits, as well as through the Dunn Family Foundation, with its focus on educational programs. And the company’s commitment to donating 10 percent of its pretax earnings—emphasis on pretax—sets a high bar for other philanthropic-minded companies in the region.
Burns & McDonnell, the engineering giant, is our Bronze winner, embracing a strategic philanthropic model through its corporate foundation, with volunteering and grant programs primarily directed at educational outreach, environmental responsibility, human services, and arts and culture. More than 200 non-profit groups benefit from those contributions.
BEST BUSINESS-FRIENDLY CITY/COUNTY GOVERNMENT
What constitutes a business-friendly city? A piece of that culture originates in City Hall, with policies designed to encourage business start-ups, business attraction and business retention. Some comes from state policies that dovetail with the city’s to provide a more comprehensive package for achieving those same goals. And some of it is demographics. Take education, for example.
In Overland Park, designed by our readers as Gold winner for having the most business-friendly local governmental structure, more than half of the adult residents—56 percent—hold bachelor’s degrees. The national average? Just 30.4 percent. And 97 percent of adults living there have finished high school—fully 8 points higher than the national figure.
Combine an educated work force with city property tax abatements for capital investment and economic impact, plus state tax credits for business attraction, work-force training and relocation, job creation and other factors, and you see why Overland Park has become an economic powerhouse in its own right.
Silver winner Lenexa, bordering Overland Park on the west, provides many of the same qualities. Its rise to nearly 50,000 in population has been shaped by city policies that for decades have encouraged business growth and attraction as a means to spread property taxes across the widest base possible. Result? It is home to major companies like BATS Global Markets, Kiewit Power, Select Brands, Quest Diagnostics and more.
And the Bronze doesn’t stray far: It goes to Overland Park’s eastern neighbor, Leawood. The development of the College Boulevard Corridor, which runs through all three communities, has been a powerful influence on Johnson County business growth, particularly within the financial services and professional services sectors.
BEST NOT-FOR-PROFIT ORGANIZATION
Kansas City long ago established its reputation as an unusually philanthropic community, and one reason for that is the ROI that donors realize with their contributions to efficiently-run programs.
Few have the national profile or local impact of our Gold-winning selection, Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics. For decades, it has been the premier venue for treatment of children’s illnesses and injuries. Over the 20-year watch of CEO Rand O’Donnell, the hospital’s influence has mushroomed. With two major hospital facilities, on Hospital Hill Downtown and in Johnson County, and clinics across the metro area and now in Wichita, St. Joseph and Joplin, the hospital draws patients from well beyond the two-state area. And its emerging influence in pediatric research, including drug reformulation, has drawn national attention.
The Silver award this year goes to the Girl Scouts. The global organization is represented locally by the Girls Scouts of Northeast Kansas and Northwest Missouri, which counts among its young charges 34,000 girls. It serves a 47-county area around Kansas City, and is supported by 9,000 adult volunteers and the contributions from hundreds of businesses and thousands of individual donors.
Sharing Bronze honors this year are two social-service organizations: Operation Breakthrough and City Union Mission. The largest single-site early education childcare and social services facility in Missouri, Operation Breakthrough serves more than 400 children every day, most from the city’s urban core. It also provides referral services, advocacy and emergency aid to their families. City Union Mission, founded in 1924, provides a refuge for thousands of impoverished residents every year. On any given day, more than 450 people will sleep there, and nearly 760 daily meals are served.
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