Giving Back to Your Community
Stewart’s Shops/Dake Family has a goal to donate $12 million annually. Stewart’s Shops and the two related family foundations will each donate $4 million to thousands of local charities. This total includes the corporate match to the Holiday Match Program. Also, as a good corporate citizen, we support a local charity at many of our new shop openings.
How does it work?
It is never a question of whether we’ll give, but rather to whom. Our selection of organizations is based on the following considerations:
- We support organizations within our market area that focus on meeting the changing needs of their recipients rather than perpetuating the status quo.
- Our charitable focus is health, education, children’s recreation, and the arts.
- We value organizations with extensive volunteer support and minimum fund-raising costs, avoiding organizations that are already tax supported or have a large amount of overhead.
- Please note that we do not fund travel outside our market area.
We try to be as generous as possible to a large number of organizations but are committed to making the maximum positive impact in the categories we consider a priority. We avoid cause-related and religious organizations*, as we feel they are a matter for an individual’s preference and conscience. Our communities have more than enough specific needs, so we give to those providing a service, as opposed to those supporting a cause. We reserve our contribution dollars for people versus animals and therefor do not support animal welfare organizations. We support local organizations that may not have as broad a base of funding or the wide-spread emotional appeal of national health organizations. We refrain from secondary giving in which we give to someone, so they can in-turn give to someone else. We do not donate directly to individuals or benefits for individuals, and we do not support adult recreation groups.
Let us share with the community how Stewart’s Shops donations have helped your organization or event. Please send pictures to photo@stewartsshops.com (.jpg or .png files preferred).
In recent years, we’ve experienced a tremendous increase in the volume of donation requests. It is important to understand that while Stewart’s Shops will do its best to accommodate donation requests, we cannot guarantee that a request will be fulfilled, even if there is a prior history of giving. We want to be transparent in our giving process so that all who reach out understand that funding is limited, and we must make difficult decisions to best serve our communities. While we may not be able to honor all requests due to volume or other factors, rest assured we carefully review each submission and do our best to accommodate whenever possible.
Ways We Give
We provide gift certificates, product donations, or monetary support for various charitable groups. To request a donation, please use our online donation request form, or you can call our Donation Line at (518) 581-1201, ext. 2190 . If we haven’t worked with your organization in the past, you may be asked to send us more information so that we can get to know your group and its mission. All requests must be made at least three weeks prior to your event date to ensure delivery. We accept donation requests year-round. Please call to follow up if you do not receive a confirmation email after submitting the online donation request form.
Products
We donate our own Stewart’s brand products to help with the success of your event or fundraiser. Products available for donations include our full line of dairy items including our fresh & local, high quality milk, and award-winning ice cream, Refresher juices and teas, soda, hot dogs, buns and more. Unfortunately, we do not offer donations of individually wrapped products. For a full list of available items please click here.
Gift Certificates/Money Cards
We can also help with Stewart’s gift certificates. We donate coffee, cones, milkshakes, make your own sundaes, half gallon ice cream, pint ice cream and gelato, half gallon and gallon milk, Make Your Own Sundae party packs, Boxes of Coffee, and eggs. Stewart’s certificates are sure to be a big hit. All Stewart’s certificates and Money Cards may be used at any of our Stewart’s Shops locations. There are no fees associated and no expiration date. Stewart’s Fuel Cards can be used to buy any type of fuel available at the shop.
Monetary Donations
Stewart’s Shops provides monetary support to many local community partners. To request a monetary donation please fill out the online donation request form. Larger requests will require additional information and a formal written proposal to be mailed to PO Box 435, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866. Please make sure the best contact information is provided and accurate.
In addition to this reasonably structured program, we also have funds reserved for those unusual opportunities that may have an especially positive impact on our communities. We cannot support these special needs on a continual basis without hurting the overall program but can provide one-time funding so they can get back on their feet.
Also, we offer a Matching Gift Campaign towards those projects we find worthy of a community push. The campaign can be for one week in two shops or two weeks in one shop, where we match customers’ contributions for a particular project up to $5,000. An example of this would be to help a community playground build. This is just another way We Are Closer To You.
* If you are requesting a significant monetary donation and have not received funding on a yearly basis, a follow up phone call is necessary approximately three weeks following your written letter of request. Due to the high volume of donation requests, we are unable to send acknowledgments that we have received your written request.
To better meet your needs, we ask that you please contact us with your request at least three weeks in advance of your event or deadline. We will review each request as quickly as possible. Thank you for your patience.
