Social Commitment Makes Sundt a Winner at Spirit of Enterprise Awards

 |  Sundt Foundation, Sundt People
Spirit of Enterprise
Sundt employee-owners Jeff Perelman, Kevin Burnett and Ryan Abbott accept the Spirit of Enterprise Award from Sidnee Peck from Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business.

When Sundt starts a project, the company often commits to much more than the job at hand. The company and its employee-owners make significant investments in cities and towns where they work by contributing to the Sundt Foundation and volunteering on projects to improve communities.

That commitment earned a Spirit of Enterprise Award for Sundt in the Social Impact category from Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business last month. It was the first time the award was given in the event’s 19-year history.

To win the Spirit of Enterprise Award, a company must have demonstrated significant impact on Arizona communities as a core part of business operations.

Sundt employee-owners give back to the communities where they live and work through the Sundt Foundation, which awards grants that improve the lives of disadvantaged children and adults. The Foundation also supports volunteer efforts by employee-owners to collect food for families, repair homes and raise money through fundraising events. The Foundation has awarded more than $7 million in grants mostly to charities across the Southwest in its 16-year history.

As part of our work on the Pima County Public Service Center in Tucson, our team built a raised concrete planter for students at John B. Wright Elementary, a Tucson Unified School District facility, to help kids learn about growing vegetables and the benefits of healthy eating.

Our employee-owners created a pathway to improve drainage at Tucson’s Pima Animal Care Center. Before that work, volunteers who walked dogs that are kept at the Center had to trudge through mud and wet grounds during the summer rainy season. The better drainage features alleviated that issue and made volunteers’ jobs more enjoyable.