Athene, honored again by United Way, sets a high bar in community involvement, philanthropy
For the fourth year in a row, United Way has honored Athene with its Spirit of Central Iowa award, further cementing the retirement services company’s status as a corporate leader in community involvement and philanthropy.
West Des Moines-based Athene is a relative newcomer to the metro; its purchase of Aviva USA closed in October 2013. Yet Athene is a six-time winner of the Spirit of Central Iowa award, bestowed for “exceptional commitment to our community” through giving, advocating and volunteering.
The United Way of Central Iowa presented the award last week at its annual Live United luncheon, where Athene was praised for its 2023 United Way campaign total of $2.5 million in donations, a 30% increase over 2022, with 90% of employees participating. In addition, 374 staffers volunteered at nonprofits during United Way’s Day of Action.
Athene employees also collect books for United Way’s annual Stuff the Bus drive, donating 92,426 books for preschool and elementary-age children since 2018. This year’s drive continues through the end of the week, and Grant Kvalheim, CEO and president of Athene USA, predicts the cumulative total will top 105,000 books.
But that’s just one aspect of the company’s community giving, as evidenced by a flurry of activity in the past few weeks:
On Thursday, Kvalheim was on hand for dedication of the Athene North Shore Recreation Area, at Polk County Conservation’s Easter Lake Park, in southeastern Des Moines. Athene contributed $1 million as the lead donor to help finance one of the most universally accessible parks in the country.
In late April, Athene announced a $500,000 gift to Greater Des Moines Habitat for Humanity for its capital campaign, which, among other initiatives, will help finance construction of two housing developments. Athene employees have volunteered hundreds of hours on Habitat for Humanity building projects.
For the fourth year, Athene partnered with the West Des Moines Chamber of Commerce on the Athene Black & Brown Business Summit, April 18 and 19, which focused on the challenges and opportunities faced by minority entrepreneurs and featured a pitch competition.
And another prominent example of the company’s philanthropy in its hometown of West Des Moines is scheduled to open this fall: the Athene Pedestrian Bridge, which will cross the Raccoon River, connecting Raccoon River Park and Walnut Woods State Park. Athene donated $750,000 toward the project.
The needs of children and families in central Iowa are growing
The United Way of Central Iowa’s annual luncheon each year highlights inspiring examples of individuals, nonprofits and companies that are doing great work to help our neighbors.
But the program also includes presentation of sobering data from the organization’s annual community report. According to this year’s report, for example, 41% of central Iowa renters are considered “housing-burdened,” spending over 30% of their income on rent. Another startling finding: 57% of youth in Iowa don’t receive the mental health services they need.
And some key trend lines are moving in the wrong direction, the report found:
As the Register’s reporting has documented, use of metro food pantries has set all-time highs in the past year. Among central Iowa children under 18, 8.9%, or nearly 15,000, are considered food insecure, and 27% of those children aren’t eligible for nutrition assistance.
The readiness for kindergarten of central Iowa children has dropped 14% in the past six years.
The percentage of central Iowa youth who report having a caring adult in their life has declined from 90% to 75% since 2014.
Athene employees 'find an extra gear' to help the community
These growing challenges make individual and corporate community engagement all the more critical.
In a phone interview Friday, Kvalheim praised the Des Moines metro as “a community that really tries to pull together and create opportunities for everyone.” And with 1,500 Athene employees who live and work here, “I feel like we have a responsibility to try to do our part to make Des Moines even better.”
Athene, the country's largest annuities provider, focuses its philanthropy on foundational areas such as education, environmental sustainability, human services and health and well-being. Among other major initiatives: It has provided $1.875 million to the Great Outdoors Foundation to support water quality and habitat restoration, and $1 million will support the ICON Water Trails project. It’s also committed $1 million over three years to ChildServe, which is planning a new facility to increase the number of children it can help.
As for community involvement, Kvalheim is quick to credit his employees for their commitment to local causes and their near-exponential growth in voluntarism.
“I think we’ve got a great team of employees that work hard on behalf of the company every day,” he said. “But they seem to find an extra gear when it’s doing things in the community, and I think that’s a great part of our culture.”
Kvalheim says Athene has grown its community involvement in part by helping employees find and pursue their own passions. He’s personally drawn to supporting early childhood education, motivated by the research showing that a child who’s proficient at reading by third grade has a much better chance of graduating from high school. He’s also appreciative of Athene’s “incredibly active veterans group,” which conducts semiannual veterans cemetery cleanups.
But he described Athene at Work, a partnership with Easterseals to hire neurodiverse individuals, as “the single program that I’m most proud of.” The first phase of the program involves intense training, and then participants are placed in professional roles.
“I think that’s a totally unique program in the state of Iowa,” he said, and it underscores Athene’s commitment to inclusive hiring.
At the United Way’s luncheon this year and last, he’s joked (kind of) that he wants another company to step up its efforts and win the Spirit of Central Iowa award next year. But he doesn’t sound ready to cede Athene’s community leadership role anytime soon. The company’s three United Way campaign co-chairs already have put together their plan for this summer, and it’s “kind of next level,” he said. “I’m pretty excited to see what we can do this year.”
The gauntlet is thrown. I hope many central Iowa companies will take up his challenge, for our community’s sake.
Carol Hunter is the Register’s executive editor. She wants to hear your questions, story ideas or concerns at 515-284-8545, chunter@registermedia.com, or on Twitter: @carolhunter.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: What drives Athene's employee and corporate community involvement?
