We’re excited to announce the support and partnership of The Redwoods Group, a leader in providing risk management services, property and casualty insurance and claims management to YMCAs and Jewish community organizations throughout the nation.

With a mission “to protect and improve the quality of life in the communities we serve” and a motto to “Serve Others®,” Redwoods is pushing the envelope of corporate social responsibility; while many progressive corporations have integrated a social mission into their profit model, Redwoods has made it the driving factor of its bottom line.

“We strongly believe that business can and should be a powerful force for positive social change,” said Kevin A. Trapani, president and chief executive officer of the company he founded in 1997. “In our view, too much emphasis on profit compromises our ability to fulfill our obligations to our many stakeholders,” Trapani said. “We’re investing in sustainability by positioning ourselves for long-term success, rather than short-term profitability.”

Through insurance products and services, Redwoods helps its customers transfer risk and reduce the likelihood of injury to members and program participants at YMCAs and JCOs. Statistics show that through the training and influence of The Redwoods Group staff, deaths by drowning in the Y Movement over the last two years are down over 75 percent from 1998-2003, the incidents of abuse per Redwoods-insured YMCAs have dropped by 57 percent since 2005 and 96 percent of Ys and Js insured by Redwoods eliminated the use of 12- and 15-seat passenger vans known to be unstable and inadequately crash resistant.

Redwoods commits to contributing a minimum of 10 percent of pre-tax income to charity every year, without exception. During the last three years, the firm contributed over 50 percent of its pre-tax profits to nonprofit organizations throughout the world.

And, by educating and engaging employees on the human condition, the company strives to develop committed citizens of the world. Redwoods employees spend 40 hours of their work time each year in service to the community, building houses for the working poor, tutoring children in homeless shelters, serving meals at soup kitchens…and, now as strategic advisors and volunteers with The Purpose Project, sharing their skills and experiences to help inspire others to serve.

“We believe that we can be supportive and nurturing of our employees, a trusted advisor for our customers and generous with our community – all while providing a reasonable return for our shareholders,” Trapani said.  We have important work to do: partnering with others, we have to change the world.”

Redwoods recently created a separate, private foundation. In its partnership with The Purpose Project, The Redwoods Group Foundation has made a generous pledge of $30,000 to support our shared mission to inspire a younger generation of social leaders. Redwoods employees also have offered to serve as advisors, partners and volunteers in our efforts.

The next portion of the Redwoods grant is now functioning as a $1 for $1 challenge (the next $10,000 we raise will be matched by the next $10,000 of the Foundation’s pledge), so this is a perfect time to make a tax-deductible contribution to The Purpose Project.  We are very grateful for Redwoods support and excited about the prospect of what we will be able to accomplish together.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 15th, 2009 at 9:18 am and is filed under Progress, Redwoods. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.