Our Official Commitment to Giving Back: The 10% Giving Promise

6/14/2023
Our 10% Giving Promise is an official commitment to give back to our communities.

We're committed to giving back 10% of our annual pretax earnings to programs that support the communities where our associates live, work and play. Of that money, 9% provides additional funding to support the Opus Foundation's giving, furthering the amount and time the Foundation will be able to continue its work. And 1% is donated directly from The Opus Group to worthy, local causes based on input from our offices across the country that reach beyond the Foundation's focus areas.

Committing to a certain amount of giving has a long history at Opus. In an article in Industry Week magazine in the early 1980s, Gerry Rauenhorst, who founded the business that would become The Opus Group of today, said, “The old idea of a corporation existing just to make a buck for the shareholders…is over. Corporations must…help out in solving social problems…and give some of their talents and profits to the social responsibilities of the country." 

Gerry walked the walk in many ways, including as a charter member of the Minnesota Keystone Program. Part of the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce the program “promotes corporate philanthropy by recognizing and honoring companies that donate at least 2% of their pre-tax earnings to charitable organizations." At the time of the Program's founding, Gerry's business contributed 5%, but that was later increased to 10%.

While philanthropy was always part of our way of business, in 2017 we officially recommitted to giving back 10%. That year we were also named the Minnesota Keystone Honored Company.

Recipients of our 1% giving in 2022 included the following:

  • 30 Days Foundation (Minneapolis)
  • Angels with Paws (Denver)
  • Arizona Builders Alliance (Phoenix)
  • Arizona Helping Hands (Phoenix)
  • ASCE Student Chapter (Minneapolis)
  • Brighter Days Family Grief Center (Minneapolis)
  • Children's Hospital (Denver)
  • Food for Thought (Denver)
  • Fueled for School Corporation (Indianapolis)
  • Girls on the Run (Kansas City)
  • Heartland Animal Shelter (Chicago)
  • Hope for Justice (Des Moines)
  • Inner City Impact (Chicago)
  • Junior Achievement of Greater St Louis
  • KidsTLC, Inc. (Kansas City)
  • Minnesota Architectural Foundation (Minneapolis)
  • Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy (Indianapolis)
  • Peter & Paul Community Service (St Louis)
  • SAVE-Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (Minneapolis)
  • Society of Women Engineers (Denver)
  • St. Mary's Child Center (Indianapolis)
  • Stand & Fight Foundation (Denver)
  • The Down Syndrome Guild (Kansas City)
  • Variety the Children's Charity (Des Moines)
 
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A pillar of our organization's history, giving back to the community is at the core of our organization today and serves as the basis for our values. We give back to the communities where Team Opus members live, work and raise families. We have a strong, long-standing commitment to lending time and expertise to enhance these communities and make them better places to live, work and raise a family. Learn more. ​