by Kristina Kuhaupt, Customer Experience Manager
Kristina’s Personal Confession Time: I know when I first became an Owner several years ago, I took my Owner Welcome Packet and tucked it away for safekeeping thinking I would read all the valuable information when I “had time.” Well that never happened, to be completely honest. I got the gist of things, but I did not know all the amazing details. I read some items, but I did not read everything, so when I got to the checkout lanes during that same visit, and a staff member asked me if I wanted to CHIP, I just said, “Sure,” hesitantly and smiled politely. Hopefully, if that has ever happened to you, rest assured you have not been alone. Over time, when I became more comfortable with the process I asked a staff member what that term meant and they nicely explained that it is a 1% donation of your total transaction that day which goes to local community charities. I thought, “Oh that is cool—sure why not!!” However, in saying that, I did not know what all those charities were or the entity that distributed all our collective 1% donations week after week. Now that I am in this role, I wanted to take a moment and explain where your 1% donations go and some of the charities that Community Shares of Wisconsin serves.
What is Community Shares of Wisconsin?
This organization has been around for over 50 years gathering local Wisconsin nonprofits together that support building a safe and sustainable future for us all. In fact, Community Shares was the first-ever social justice fund in the nation! Their approach is a grassroots effort to giving so that philanthropy is not just for the wealthy, but rather for everyone who cares about empowering people with disabilities, fostering civic engagement, supporting women, children, and families, ensuring affordable, accessible housing, working for a just, equitable society and working for the environment, sustainability, food, and farms. WOW! That is a whole lot of support for the community we live in through these almost 70 member nonprofits. For those interested in why your donation is called “CHIP,” it is because in 1971 it was coined in response to “The People’s Tax” as a donation taken at local businesses to help community causes. In 2008, Willy Street Co-op became the sole CHIP partner in our community. Although other organizations make donations to this cause, the Co-op is the only place in Dane County where you can CHIP at registers, and because of that, we especially appreciate your contributions throughout the year.
Highlighting a Few Community Shares Nonprofits
This name may feel familiar especially when you have been at Madison-based festivals during the summer months. You probably are thinking of the tasty Chrysalis Pops that first come to mind. If you have enjoyed their local, organic popsicles but may have not known about their mission, I encourage you to visit their website at: ≈. Chrysalis Pops is a Madison-grown social enterprise that offers opportunities for individuals living with mental health challenges to gain meaningful paid work experience from seed to sales. Participants grow, harvest, produce, and sell delicious local, organic, frozen fruit pops. The Co-op carries a range of their popsicles, so if you get a hankering for their gourmet pops you can easily get them here. My favorite is the Cold Brew Coffee! The flavor is so rich and creamy; it is a favorite treat that I usually pick up after I finish my grocery shopping. Their popsicles are one of several supported programs used to promote mental health and substance use recovery through vocational programs throughout the city.
Sustain Dane was founded in 1999 by a group of Madison community members to help lead programs in business and communities to transform Dane County into a happier, healthier place for everyone to thrive by using the internationally recognized science-based sustainability framework called The Natural Step as their guide. If this name feels familiar to you, it might be due to their many billboards throughout the city encouraging residents to start becoming involved in sustainability projects. Additionally, they offer many networking, sustainable series and programs to spur on your sustainability efforts at: sustaindane.org/sustain-dane-programs/#storytelling. In 2022, they supported 97 projects with their Accelerated Sustainability Workshop, Master Recycler, Restaurant Food Waste Challenge and Water Steward, which reached 30,000+ people. Additionally, they upgraded 100 units of affordable apartments with energy efficiency measures. Lastly, they collected 10,000+ pounds of food scraps at the South and East Farmer’s markets to use to regenerate soil at the Neighborhood Food Solutions farm.
REAP Food Group works on building and sustaining a local food system that supports family farms, promotes sustainable agriculture, and provides access to fresh, healthy food for our community. Although REAP has several programs to meet this mission, one that I found most foundational is their Farm to School program. They are able to bring fresh, local, and sustainably produced foods to children in Madison classrooms through their cafeteria and in-class snack programs. For more information on this program please visit: reapfoodgroup.org/farm-to-school. I could not get over how many schools they have partnered with to provide nutritious food to our children. Here is a link to a fantastic map of who they serve and what they have to offer: reapfoodgroup.org/farm-to-school-programming-20-2019.
Housing Initiatives is a Madison-based nonprofit that for over 25 years has helped end homelessness in our area for over 600 men, women, and veterans who suffer from mental illness by providing them with a permanent home and supportive services such as crisis stabilization and on-site office support. This unique program takes a holistic approach and cares for each individual, thus having a 95% success rate of clients never returning to homelessness. To read some personal success stories, please visit: housinginit.org/our-story/success-stories.
Nuestro Mundo, Inc. started back in 2005 in a grassroots effort to advocate for social justice through quality dual Kindergarten-adult language immersion in the Madison Metropolitan School District. It also serves Nuestro Mundo Community School, a charter school in Monona that prepares its students and families by providing access to cross-cultural educational and leadership opportunities by promoting acceptance and understanding of cultural differences and strengths.
I was only able to cover five of the almost 70 Community Shares member organizations, which is just the tip of the iceberg for a stronger present and future for Dane County; to get a full list of all participating nonprofits, please visit: www.communityshares.com/our-members.
The Big Share®: March 7
Perhaps after reading a bit more about all the good work Community Shares of Wisconsin does each and every day for our community, you might consider supporting them further with a one-time donation on March 7 of this year during their Big Share online giving the drive. If there is a particular cause you feel most personally connected to, the nice thing about this drive is that you can choose which organization(s) you would like to donate to. Additionally, they have some amazing social media resources here if you want to create your personal fundraising campaign to help bolster your efforts. They took out all the work by providing all suggested text and photos to help support this giving day.
Tax Season is Upon Us
Did you know that you can request your 2022 yearly CHIP® donation report at the Customer Service desks at any of our three locations? If not, please take advantage of your tax deduction!! Last calendar year our Owners helped generously donate more than $300,000 to Community Shares—thank you!