One of my favorite awards events in Austin is the Austin Gives Awards luncheon.

In case you’re not aware, Austin Gives is a community program to honor and recognize business philanthropy. Organizations sign a pledge that they will donate 1% or more of pre-tax earnings to philanthropy (including monetary gifts, volunteering and donated products or services) and, throughout the year, they will be recognized in the Austin Gives e-newsletter, at networking mixers, on social media, on the Austin Gives website and at the annual awards luncheon. There is no cost for businesses to join.

To give credit where credit is due, the idea for Austin Gives resulted from a Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce best practices intercity trip to Minneapolis just over 10 years ago. The 100+ member leadership team learned about the Keystone Program, the Twin Cities business philanthropy program that had then been in existence for over 30 years. They found that a key element of increasing overall giving was to annually recognize businesses that contribute a minimum percentage of earnings to their community.

Austin’s version of this concept was then developed, after surveying local businesses for their input, through a collaboration among the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, United Way for Greater Austin and the Entrepreneurs Foundation among others.

The first Austin Gives awards luncheon was held in 2013 with Roy Spence of GSD&M as the keynote speaker talking about the importance of purpose and giving back.

The annual awards luncheon is coming up on August 29^that the Four Seasons from 11am to 1pm. I hope you’ll join us!I am always inspired by the amazing community work the award winners are doing, no less the keynote speaker is invariably motivational as well. John Paul DeJoria, the keynote speaker at the second annual luncheon, said it well, “Success unshared is failure.”

We are so lucky to live in Austin where we have so many generous businesses!

Debbie Johnson is the CEO of Successful Giving which helps businesses determine their highest and best philanthropy including what to give, how to involve employees, how to make giving decisions, and how to measure impact. She serves on the 2023 Austin Gives Steering Committee.