Visit one of the many offices of Strategic Wealth Designers (SWD) during the Christmas season, and you’ll see employees mobilizing for the financial planning firm’s annual Operation Gifts of Goodness initiative. The initiative, one of many the company conducts through its SWD Cares program, brings together its employees to serve their communities during Christmas.
“We started Operation Gifts of Goodness three years ago in an effort to directly give back to those in our communities that need it most,” explains Matthew Dicken, Founder and CEO of Strategic Wealth Designers. “Gifts of Goodness allocates a budget to each office to adopt families, support a specific organization, or make a donation to provide support during the holidays to those in need. It provides an opportunity for our employees to come together, shop for families and organizations, and, in many cases, volunteer. We’ve supported dozens of organizations through the operation and have been able to provide the gift of Christmas to so many across our footprint.”
Operation Gifts of Goodness is just one example of how SWD, through SWD Cares, is turning its local offices into community hubs that create positive, lasting change by serving and supporting others.
SWD Cares strives to make a lasting impact through its charitable efforts
Dicken launched SWD Cares to formalize the numerous charitable efforts he, his wife, and SWD were involved in. His goal was to have a charity initiative that could maintain a sustained effort in the communities where SWD provided its financial planning services.
Through SWD Cares, the company was able to have events each quarter in each of the markets where it had offices. But Dicken soon challenged his team to find ways to make a lasting impact in the communities they serve. It was at that point that the initiative began to grow.
“We had done some events that resulted in those with needs in our community being fed for a day, or even a week,” Dicken says. “But I asked the team to try and come up with ways we could reduce the number of needy and hungry people permanently. That inspired some really impactful programs, such as one in which we support schools in high-risk areas where student accountability and attendance are a struggle. We paid for some things the schools needed, like iPads and other items, and we funded rewards as incentives for better attendance, punctuality, and other positive behavior.”
SWD Cares currently focuses its efforts on organizations that support what Dicken calls its “four core pillars”: children, animals, veterans, and the medical space. It also strives to establish partnerships with other organizations, especially when those organizations are near and dear to clients or employees.
SWD focuses its efforts on the communities its employees call home
While SWD Cares has supported initiatives that have a global scale, its primary goal is investing in the 19 cities spread across 11 states where SWD’s employees live and work. Its community-centered vision ensures that those who are doing the work get to see the benefits of their efforts.
But SWD employees aren’t the only ones who bring SWD Cares projects to life. SWD clients also play a role.
“We love to find opportunities to get our clients involved,” Dicken shares. “Marketing opportunities to our clients not only gets more volunteers out in our communities, but also brings additional awareness to the organizations we’re supporting.”
SWD Cares provides hands-on support to those in need
Financial support is just a part of the charitable work SWD Cares provides to those in need. It also strives to identify opportunities to donate time and energy to causes that help the community.
“When we donate to Ronald McDonald House, we also send a team to the local house to cook a meal and spend time with the families at the house,” Dicken says. “We take the same approach with Wish For Wheels, a non-profit that provides bikes for second graders at Title I schools. We buy the materials to build the bikes, then spend a day building them, and finally present the bikes to the children and actually teach them how to ride. Being hands-on with the projects makes them that much more inspiring and enjoyable.”
While Dicken is encouraged by the growth he’s seen SWD Cares experience, he has a vision for it to spread beyond his own company. He’d love to see the service his employees offer to their communities inspire other organizations to launch similar programs, creating an ever-growing number of community hubs committed to having a positive and sustained impact.
“When a company is successful, I believe it has a responsibility to give back to the communities that have given it so much support,” Dicken says. “We are striving to set a good corporate example that other companies can emulate and follow, showing that, regardless of your size, you can still make a meaningful impact in your community.”
