Despite the challenges of the pandemic, our people made a big difference in their communities in 2021.
When Jacqueline Payne (London) and Scott Lawson (Chicago) became co-chairs last year of HOK’s philanthropic arm, HOK Impact, they started with a straightforward goal: develop a system to monitor HOK’s volunteer and charitable giving across the firm. Now, for the first time in HOK Impact’s 11-year history, we know the true measure of our collective giving. The results are impressive.
Despite the challenges of the pandemic, our people accomplished the following in 2021 through HOK Impact:
- Collectively volunteered 1,734 hours
- Collectively donated more than $108,387 USD
- Benefitted more than 40 charities and organizations in a dozen-plus cities across three continents
- 918 of us volunteered or made financial contributions in 2021 through HOK Impact
“As we collected the data for 2021, we were inspired by more than just the number of hours volunteered and the amount of money donated,” said Lawson, speaking on behalf of the co-chairs. “The stories behind the giving were equally inspiring.”
HOK Impact encompasses three areas of giving: 1) professional services, such as pro-bono design and consulting, 2) volunteer labor and 3) charitable donations. Inspiring HOK Impact stories from 2021 included:
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Our LA colleagues created hygiene kits for people experiencing homelessness and wrote letters to nursing home residents shut off from the world due to COVID.
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Our Atlanta team paid for and packed 500 meal kits on MLK Day for people experiencing homelessness.
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Our San Francisco team provided pro-bono design work and volunteer labor for a new community park.
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Our St. Louis team built bicycles for needy children and raised nearly $30,000 for the United Way.
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Our Toronto studio raised nearly $25,000 CAD for renovations to a women’s shelter and provided 260 hours of pro-bono design for the project.
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Our London team provided pro-bono medical planning services for a maternity center in Uganda.
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Members of our Houston studio purchased and delivered food and health supplies to Hurricane Ida victims.
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Our Chicago, Seattle and San Francisco offices collaborated to raise $2,800 for the Exodus program that assists families relocating from Afghanistan. Our teams helped a single mother of five and a family of three start their lives in Chicago with a fully stocked apartment of food, toiletries, kitchen supplies and bedding.
Already in 2022 our people are actively giving back to their communities. We look forward to even more opportunities for giving when we fully return to the office in coming months.