Businesses are learning that giving back to local schools is not only beneficial for students and teachers, but it rewards the businesses themselves by building corporate citizenship and connecting employees with good things going on in their communities.

Klark Jessen, the spokesman for the Des Moines Independent Community School District, says he has seen a number of companies commit time, money and resources to supplement what schools are able to accomplish due to budget challenges.

“It really does make a difference, especially when financial resources are tight,” Jessen said. “It provides a positive outlet for businesses and employees, and each relationship is a little different.”

Jessen said the most common examples of successful business-school partnerships are part of the district’s long-standing program known as Partners for Progress, which pairs each of the district’s 63 schools with a local business or organization for the purpose of enhancing learning and developing new skills and ideas. Less common, he said, are companies making donations to benefit the entire district.

“It’s not that a company comes to us and says, ‘What can I do to help out the 60-plus schools in the district,’” he said. “The relationships that exist between businesses and schools are usually between businesses and individual schools, which often work out well because they are located in the same neighborhoods.”

On rare occasions, companies have broken the norm and made donations to the entire district, such as Regulus Co., which donated paper last year, but these are usually one-time events, he said.

There are also broader initiatives that include the Des Moines schools but are not limited specifically to them. The Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, for example, is beginning the third year of its Teacher Supplement Grant Program, which provides up to $200 for teachers to use toward classroom materials such as books and videos. The funds can also be used toward field trips or anything else that promotes an accurate picture of agriculture, says Melissa Peterson, the leadership programs coordinator for the Iowa Farm Bureau. So far, 34 teachers in Polk County have received these grants.

“We would like teachers to incorporate agriculture into their curriculum, and to do that, we realize that additional resources may be needed,” Peterson said. “We have put together this grant, which is relatively easy to complete, to take some of the burden off of teachers who otherwise might have spent their own money on these supplies.”

Some local businesses make donations to schools as part of promotions, typically based on the frequency or extent to which their customers do business within a certain window of time. One example of this is Valley West Mall’s “Class Cash” program, which just concluded on Thursday with the presentation of $10,000 worth of checks to the area schools that turned in the most cash register receipts during back-to-school shopping. In this program, anybody can turn in receipts for items purchased at Valley West from July 19 to Sept. 14, to the mall’s customer service department and ask that points to be credited to the local school of their choice.

The top three schools receive $3,000, $2,000, or $1,000 to use “however they see fit,” according to Trisha Barton, the mall’s marketing director. The next eight schools receive checks for $500.

Another example of a seasonal promotion, but which involves no additional steps on the part of the customer, is Wells Fargo Bank’s “Team Up For Our Schools” program. Wells Fargo customers earn money for local schools automatically by opening a new Wells Fargo checking package. Last year, the donation to schools in Greater Des Moines totaled $12,000, and this year, the potential donation amount per package has been increased from $30 to $40, according to David Mackaman, the president of Wells Fargo Bank in Des Moines and Central Iowa.

“I think we are all aware of the challenges that face public schools due to budget shortfalls, and because we were able to generate a great deal of cash last year through this program, we wanted to try to do more this year,” Mackaman said.

Another way Mackaman said that Wells Fargo is involved locally is through its Partners for Progress relationship of more than 20 years with Merrill Middle School.

Partners for Progress

“We have some wonderful business partners who have been involved with a partnership with a school in excess of two decades,” Jessen said.

From what he has seen, some of the most valuable partnerships come from the amount of time employers invest in the schools, such as with MidAmerican Energy Co., which has partnered with East High School for 30 years. Jill Downing, MidAmerican’s meetings and special events manager, says the utility company takes its role with East very seriously, contributing in-kind donations such as supplies and printing services, direct donations of food and resources and job-shadowing opportunities.

“The schools are the foundations of the communities we live in, and if the schools aren’t strong, the communities aren’t strong,” Downing said. “It’s our charge as a company to be good corporate citizens and good neighbors to support our schools.”

The partnership goes beyond the fact that many of MidAmerican’s employees are graduates of East or have had students attend the school.

“I personally find the business partner program to be the most pleasurable part of my job,” she said. “We have a joint committee that meets monthly to talk about how we can work together. The school is a delight to work with and very appreciative of what we do for them.”

Another Des Moines high school, Lincoln, has partnered with Principal Financial Group Inc. for more than 30 years. Drew Cannon, a counselor at Lincoln, says Principal’s support has ranged from helping prepare students for the working world by enhancing the school’s technology and educational materials to providing fun things for the students.

“It’s been one of the constants in the support network here at Lincoln High School, and as a result, I think our students have a particularly warm feeling toward the Principal Financial Group, not only as a force in the community but as a potential employer,” Cannon said.

Anderson Erickson Dairy has partnered with Douglas Elementary School – which is now part of the new Brubaker Elementary School – for more than 20 years, and according to Betsy Watson, AE’s marketing director, the relationship is mutually supportive. AE often provides products for special events, has collected clothing for the students and volunteer to read to the students. In return, Brubaker students liven up the dairy with Christmas caroling and decorations and have donated trees and a bench for AE’s employees to enjoy outside the plant.

Communications Data Services Inc. works with McKinley Elementary School, and the two participate in activities together several times during the year, including the school’s relay day, for which CDS employees volunteer. CDS also holds a company-wide book drive, school supply drive, mitten tree and paper drives to generate donations that go directly to the school, according to Linda Carter Lewis, the CDS Cares coordinator.

There are many Partners for Progress success stories to tell, and Vincent Lewis, who is in his second year as principal of North High School, is hoping that his school can soon find a business partner to enrich his school’s capabilities and the lives of its students.

“We’ve been looking for one since I started here,” he said. “I perceive that this relationship would be very mutual and work for the benefit of both. I think it would be very much advantageous to the continued success and the progress of North High School.”