OtterCares Foundation Interview Part Two: Inspiring Students To Give Back

Commemorating 15 Years of Impact!
To honor their 15-year anniversary, the OtterCares Foundation created a special initiative, Philanthropy Tool Kits, with one geared towards families and one for teachers. Their primary focus is on education and encouraging young people to discover philanthropy early on by providing opportunities for kids to get involved in causes they care about in age-appropriate ways. They are also engaged with education, providing significant support for schools and educators. To see their Philanthropy Tool Kit, watch a short video.

About Your Philanthropy

Can you tell us about a time when you were able to see the impact of your giving?
For our 10th anniversary, we awarded larger-than-normal grants to Colorado State to develop a pathway for youth entrepreneurship at the college level. Additionally, we funded the JA Rocky Mountain’s Northern Colorado region to expand its work into southern Wyoming. Both grantees were able to grow their programs significantly and have today established strong, sustainable programs to continue their impactful work. Today, both grantees are working in collaboration with several other nonprofits (Youth Biz, Young Entrepreneurs Tournament, and Generation Schools Network) to create an ecosystem in Northern Colorado, Eastern Colorado, and Southern Wyoming. Each organization is leveraging its strengths to create a larger collaboration and opportunities for educators and students.

Do you work with other grantors, foundations or nonprofits to drive specific projects forward?
The OtterCares Foundation partners with the Northern Colorado Foundation to manage employee-donated funds that support our Innovation Station grants. As the corporate foundation of OtterBox/OtterProducts, we host an annual employee giving campaign, inviting Otter employees to contribute to the Innovation Station Fund. This fund helps create and sustain hands-on makerspaces in K–12 schools across Larimer and Weld counties. The Northern Colorado Foundation securely holds and administers these funds on our behalf.

In celebration of our 15th anniversary, we made two significant pledges to nonprofit organizations we’ve proudly supported over the years. The first is Global Leaders, a service-learning organization that empowers teens in Larimer County. Each year, Global Leaders students travel to Guatemala to build clean cookstoves for local communities. The second is Engineering Brightness, an initiative started by a schoolteacher that engages middle school students in designing, 3D printing, and soldering solar lanterns. These lanterns are then sent to communities in the Dominican Republic and Uganda, bringing light and opportunity to areas in need.

About Your Foundation

How do you engage employees in your foundation?

We engage with our Otter employees in a variety of ways including:

• We send out a weekly email with volunteering opportunities.
• We have a group of employees who apply to be ambassadors for a year in their department within the company, and we train them to cascade Voluntary Time Off (VTO) opportunities or to set up group opportunities with favorite local nonprofits.
• We work hard to get to know employees and help them identify their passions, then connect them with organizations that align with those passions.
• We share information on the company’s TV channel, featuring data, stories, and videos.
• We discuss giving moments in department meetings that share the data on the hours volunteered, or even those who have used all 24 volunteer hours given by the company. They also spotlight an employee or group opportunity to inspire and create awareness.
• Story Tell! This is where employees share a give-back moment or story.

What is one long-term goal for your foundation?
We want to create a movement of philanthropy in the next generation!

Do you have any advice for people looking to start or grow their own corporate foundation?
Establish strong communication channels and key personnel within each department to effectively cascade opportunities with nonprofits, as well as current data on monthly engagement toward quarterly and yearly goals. It’s also important to have leadership buy-in and support, as well as provide the opportunity for employees to take time off work to engage in volunteering or record hours volunteered, if not in the payroll system. Competition between departments is also effective, as well as beginning meetings regularly with a “Give Back Moment or Story”!

Is there a unique foundation feature that has helped you pursue your mission?
By prioritizing relationship-based grantmaking, we can build strong, lasting partnerships with our grantees. This approach allows us to serve not only as a funder but also as a connector within our community. When a teacher has a big idea or needs support to implement a program, we can often connect them with another educator who has faced similar challenges, helping spark collaboration and innovation. Additionally, by engaging employees from OtterBox and OtterProducts, we can provide volunteer support to many organizations we fund, further strengthening our impact and community ties.

What was the worst mistake you made? How did you solve it?
Working with new organizations or organizations with new ideas and not creating a Memorandum of Agreement to give money out in phases or when milestones were reached, especially if the grant is a larger grant. We learned that committing to a larger amount was acceptable, but phasing the grant helped yield better results and more impactful work.

Working with Foundation Source

How does Foundation Source help to simplify your company’s charitable giving?
Foundation Source and their Impactfully platform has been an invaluable tool in streamlining our grantmaking process. The application wizard makes it simple to create user-friendly, easy-to-navigate forms for applicants. Matching grants with their corresponding outcome reports has significantly improved our ability to track long-term impact. Additionally, the built-in charity database and support from the charity research team save us considerable time and effort, ensuring our funding goes to the right organizations.

Can you tell us a little about your experience working with the Foundation Source team?
Working with the team at Foundation Source has been a truly positive experience. Not only do they provide exceptional customer service, but they also take our user feedback seriously, often implementing suggestions that enhance the platform. Our Private Client Advisor is consistently responsive and thorough when communicating. One of the highlights has been the opportunity to meet quarterly with the software development team. These sessions allow me to learn about new features in Foundation Source and explore how to apply them to further our mission of igniting tomorrow, today.

How was the process of getting your corporate foundation set up or transitioned to Foundation Source?
The process was very smooth, and I believe OtterCares has used Foundation Source since its establishment as a private foundation.

Thank you to the OtterCares Foundation for sharing their story with us! To learn more, visit ottercares.org.

Have a Foundation Source story you’d like to share?
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Want to learn more about the ways we support private foundations?
Whether you are looking for support for your existing foundation or want to create a private foundation, our philanthropic specialists are here to help. To learn more, schedule a call with us or reach us at 800-839-0054. Together, let’s #begiving.