Ace dealers share ‘miracle’ stories
For years, customers at Ace Hardware stores have donated their loose change and bought Miracle Buckets and chocolate bars to raise money for charity.
Last year, they did it all with extra enthusiasm, helping the Ace Foundation raise a record $20.8 million. That smashes the previous record of $18.7 million from 2020. The main recipient of the generosity has been the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. And during Ace’s 31-year partnership with CMN, donations have totaled some $170 million.
That kind of fund-raising doesn’t just happen. It feeds on the enthusiasm and culture of the stores and team members at the front lines.
During the recent Ace Convention in Las Vegas, HBSDealer spoke with three Ace dealers who are passionate about CMN and giving back to their communities. They all lean heavily on the Round Up program, which allows the store to automatically accept a donation of the customers’ loose change. They all appreciate the significance of supporting a local hospital, which in many cases employs store customers, or treats children of customers, or children of friends of customers.
And they all feel strongly that playing a major role as a local community fundraiser is not only good for the community, it’s good for the business.
Here are the comments in the words of the retailers (mildly edited):
• Mark Schulein
President of Crown Ace Hardware
Huntington Beach, Calif. (20 stores)
A lot of what we do as Ace retailers is community-centric, and that’s just core to who we are, and ingrained in what we do.
One of the things that I have found to be so powerful is that a lot of the people who work for us aren't in a position to give their own money. But through our relationship with CMN, they get to be super active and engaged in fundraising, and they can be part of our greater drive to really make an impact. And that's really powerful and valuable for us. I love that part of it.
The Round Up program is a partnership with the community. It’s not our money. And we have made it easy on both sides of the counter. It's easy for the customers. They like to say ‘yes,’ and they don't feel bad if they say ‘no.’ And for the team members, it's become part of their daily routine. The ability to really leverage Round Up has been transformational, I think, for the Ace Foundation.
There's probably no more significant time in history when people care about the businesses where they shop. And not only do they care, they scrutinize and they vet and they want to make sure they know what we stand for. When we ask customers to contribute to the local hospital or the local organization, the response is usually outstanding. And whenever we post on social media with the donation dollars raised, that post gets by far our biggest response every time.
• Dawn Gregg
Owner of Ash & Rowan Ace Hardware
Spokane, Wash. (3 stores)
People need to know that you're supporting their community. And rounding up at the point of sale is such an easy way to do it. You're there, you're supporting the kids, you're supporting the healthcare workers. And in our market, the hospital is one of the biggest employers.
That's the magic. We have customers that come into the store and when they’re asked if they want to Round Up, they say, “I don't want to just Round Up. I want to give an extra $5 because my granddaughter just came home from the hospital." Or, they’ll say, "Yeah, my kids were born there. I'm going to help." It's the power of local.
We have a poster in our window behind the registers that says how much we Round Up. Cashiers also have little ribbons that say how much they collected through Round Up. And it's like their badge of honor. There's competition between stores, people ask “did you get $500 yet, did you get $1,000?” It’s a great morale-builder and it’s just awesome.
The pandemic was such a negative event, and our staff really wanted to get behind something positive. And raising money for the community was something they could really get behind. With all the negativity and anger that was going on in the world, they could do some good. And it helped raise $94,000. That’s a lot money.
How to raise $20 million
The Ace Foundation’s record year of fundraising in 2021 was the result of a variety of donation streams. The big one is the Round Up program, in which some 2,000 Ace stores participate. Through a point-of-sale software (donated by Epicor), the stores can easily track spare change contributions.
Stores and communities also collaborate through the sales of Miracle Buckets. Under this program, which usually runs as a limited-time event, customers typically donate $5 to the Ace Foundation for a chance to load a bucket with merchandise, and then buy the merchandise at a 20 percent discount.
Stores also sell World’s Finest Chocolate bars at the checkout, with 48 cents per chocolate bar given to charity.
According to Chris Doucet, director of the Ace Foundation, a friendly fund-raising competition has developed among stores and groups of stores. “The employees, the owners, the communities—They all get behind it,” she said. And the local focus of the charities — whether its Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals (the main charity), the Red Cross responding to a disaster in the community or some other local cause — has another community building advantage: “The money stays where it’s raised,” she said.
Vendors play a significant role in fundraising: For instance, Duracell for 15 years has been offering a special event donation package, with $1 of each purchase going to CMN hospitals. At Milwaukee Tools, Brian Barbour explained his company’s involvement in the Foundation’s events: “Partnering with Ace adds to our team’s feeling that we’re a part of something meaningful,” he said.
There are just things you do because they are the right things to do. And the fundraising also helps our business.
• Zach Jablonowski
Co-owner, Jabo’s Ace Hardware
Keller, Texas (5 stores)
We put a bulk of our energy into Children's Miracle Network at our stores. We leave Round Up on all year and customers will come in and thank us. I have customers who say: "Hey, don't ask me to Round Up, just do it because they saved my child's life." We get that kind of comment on a regular basis.
And it is awesome to hear that the funds that we were able to raise actually helped kids in our specific city. Our cashiers don't ask, "Do you want to Round Up for the Children's Miracle Network?" They ask specifically: "Do you want to Round Up to Cook Children's in Fort Worth? Do you want to Round Up to Children's Health in Dallas?"
Our donations increased dramatically during the pandemic. People wanted to support their frontline workers, including health workers at our CMN hospitals. So for us, it was really important to make sure that we contribute at a higher level during the pandemic.
It's only continued to grow since. The community loves it, supports it. And during these crazy times, you want to focus on the community.
Implementing the Round Up system is virtually no work for us. It’s a flip of a switch on the back end, and it’s one sentence that we ask the customers at the registers. And yet, it’s raising all of this money for CMN. It's honestly the least you can do if you're in retail.
You expect your community to come in and shop your store. So, what are you doing for your community that's outside of your four walls? Helpful does not end at the doors. And that's what we really want to focus on with our partnership with CMN. We're going to be helpful in our stores, outside of our stores and in our entire community.
So if you're not sure if it's going to make a difference in your community, just do a test. Post a photo of an employee holding a hammer, then post a photo of an employee with a local child that’s getting help. You'll immediately see the impressions and the amount of comments is tenfold. If you don't call that advertising, I don't know what you call advertising.
