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Sweet marketing music

Tanner Montague came to town from Seattle having never owned his own music venue before. He’s a musician himself, so he has a pretty good sense of good music, but he also wandered into a crowded music scene filled with concert venues large and small.But the owner of Green Room thinks he found a void in the market. It’s lacking, he says, in places serving between 200 and 500 people, a sweet spot he thinks could be a draw for both some national acts not quite big enough yet for arena gigs and local acts looking for a launching pad.“I felt that size would do well in the city to offer more options,” he says. “My goal was to A, bring another option for national acts but then, B, have a great spot for local bands to start.”Right or wrong, something seems to be working, he says. He’s got a full calendar of concerts booked out several months. How did he, as a newcomer to the market in an industry filled with competition, get the attention of the local concertgoer?

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by Andrew Tellijohn
December 2008

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Best Practices: Community Impact

Derick Dahlen
Avant Energy:

612.349.6868
derick.dahlen@avantenergy.com
www.avantenergy.com

Michelle Morey
Magnetic Products and Services Inc.:

800.447.1277
mmorey@mpsinc.org
www.mpsinc.org

Brigid O’Malley
Reiling Construction Co. Inc.:

651.690.2366
www.reilingconstruction.com

Todd Polifka
Vision Remodeling:

763.425.6003
todd@vision-remodeling.com
www.vision-remodeling.com

Nicolas Thomley
Pinnacle Services Inc.:

612.977.3100
nicolas.thomley@pinnacle.org
www.pinnacle.org

Causes to believe in fuel
five finalist companies

by Sarah Brouillard

FINALISTS FOR BEST BRACTICES in Community Impact have incorporated corporate outreach into their everyday operations. Some have donated elbow grease and the sweat of their brow to existing nonprofits; others have used their connections and resources to create new funds to help the causes they hold dear.

Reaching out
Avant Energy, a Minneapolis-based energy management company, knew it was dealing with an uphill battle when it was named the designer and construction manager for a new electric power-generating plant in Faribault.

“Many communities are skeptical about any power plant coming to their community,” says Derick Dahlen, president. “They wonder about emissions, noise, water use and even unsightliness.”

Only 50 percent of these projects get off the ground, usually due to NIMBYs, those “not-in-my-backyard” critics.

Although the odds weren’t exactly in the company’s favor, it nevertheless managed to complete the energy plant in 2007. The entire project ultimately cost $180 million to build, but perhaps more importantly, says Dahlen, Avant Energy built up goodwill among the residents of Faribault by answering their questions directly and being transparent with its entire process.

“From day one we had it in our mind the idea of a partnership with the community, not just a place to put a power plant.”

The company held multiple meetings with community organizations, and didn’t hesitate to answer any and all questions. Half the battle was putting together an attractive building plan.

Without a doubt, designing a facility with clean-burning natural gas was a popular feature that generated enthusiasm, Dahlen says. A heat-recovery steam generator produces additional power from the main turbine’s waste heat. Next year, a wind turbine will likely be added. The company also incorporated continuing education; a “working classroom” allows school children and other visitors the chance to learn about energy efficiency and renewable energy onsite.

Avant Energy also has an eye for aesthetics. The facility was built to look like an Italian villa, and includes a park-like recreation area where people can go to relax and fish in ponds.

Naming the plant after the community was another popular gesture. More than 5,000 residents attended Faribault Energy Park’s grand opening, Dahlen says.

Personal cause
Michelle Morey had logged almost 15 years at Magnetic Products and Services Inc., her family-owned, Brooklyn Park-based distributor of computer backup tapes, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

After four surgeries and eight rounds of chemotherapy, and three months missed from work, Morey returned part time. Then two months later she returned full time.

“I was fortunate that I worked for my family business and I was in aposition that I could take the time off that I needed to get healthy,”says Morey, president. “But I wondered what happened to women whoweren’t in that position.”

The sad reality was revealed to her when she made a donation toNorth Memorial Medical Center, the Robbinsdale-based hospital where shereceived treatments.

The nurse administering the funds called Morey to tell her that the money had gone to turn a patient’s water back on.

“I had never expected it to be that extreme,” says Morey.

Tapping into her entrepreneurial drive, Morey established the Pay ItForward Fund, which assists women cancer patients (breast, ovarian anduterine) undergoing treatment at North Memorial’s Hubert HumphreyCancer Center.

Donations go toward payment of basic living expenses, such as rentand utilities, up to $1,500 per patient. Her company is one of thefund’s largest sponsors.

Employees get involved by attending or volunteering at MagneticProducts’ annual casino night and outdoor concert at Lake Minnetonka,both fundraisers.

Morey herself spends as much as 50 percent of her work weekpersonally raising funds and promoting the fund during certain times ofthe year.

“I always remind our committee that we’re planning a fundraiser thatfeels like a party, not a party that happens to be a fundraiser.” Theemphasis is always on the bottom line, she says.

Her experience fighting cancer also inspired Morey to secure life and disability insurance policies for all 29 of her employees.

Civil rights issue
Forty years ago persons with intellectual or developmental disabilitieswere shunted to institutions, where they lived out their lives inrelative seclusion. But then a sort of civil rights movement took hold,says Nicolas Thomley, CEO of Pinnacle Services Inc., an employment andsocial services agency based in Minneapolis.

These people became regarded as potential employees. So-calledshelter workshops cropped up to provide minimum-wage, assembly-linework for bused-in individuals. Companies contracted for the cheaplabor, and never interacted with the workers.

In Thomley’s mind, that wasn’t good enough. Eight years ago helaunched his own nonprofit, which provides meaningful and competitiveemployment, financial-management services and housing programs topersons with intellectual disabilities, allowing them to live asindependently as possible.

The model Thomley uses, called Supported Employment Services, workswith both employers and individuals to provide the right match foremployment, often based on the interests of the individual. Thomley andhis staff then work hand in hand with newly hired workers and theirmanagers to achieve a smooth transition into the workforce. The modelis a contrast to some of his competitors, which provide similarservices “but in a way that keeps this group of people occupied, yetseparate from the mainstream.”

The best practice has resulted not only in a higher level of selfworth in workers, but it has also shown even the largest companies thatthe company’s clients are valuable, desirable employees, says Thomley.

His favorite stories are those of workers who thrived in theirposition and even earned a promotion. One person with autism earned thetitle of lead supervisor of the maintenance division at a local RainbowFoods store.

“Every civil rights movement is going to take time. We truly, firmlybelieve at our organization that we are part of the movement to getpeople employed competitively in the community – like everyone else.”

Home for a veteran
Brigid O’Malley, CEO of Reiling Construction Co. Inc., a generalcontracting firm that provides labor and materials to constructionsites, incorporated a new twist in her business plan at the beginningof 2008.

“We said, what kind of projects do we want to take on this year? And with the economy piece, we really thought we wanted to cover whatwe could call basic needs: shelter, clothing, food.”

The company’s overarching philosophy has been to give back to its own immediate community, where employees live and work.

In the spring, her company tackled a project that fit all thecriteria. She and her employees general contracted and built a home fora veteran of the Iraq War who had been injured and his family. To getthe job done, Reiling brought in more than 60 companies that donatedtheir time or materials. The veteran received the home free-of-charge.

Reiling is also on the lookout for strapped nonprofits that may nothave the resources for upkeep of their physical space. One St.Paul-based organization approached the company for assistance, havingbeen written up by the city for code violations in its building.Reiling helped get the organization back on track and assisted in itsexpansion by bringing in a team of HVAC technicians, plumbers andelectricians.

O’Malley says she takes every effort to the process. “Fun is good,” she says.

100 hours of work
Vision Remodeling’s approach to philanthropy has involved partneringwith a nonprofit. Since September 2007 the Little Canada-based companyhas provided pro-bono work to build and repair homes for militarypersonnel.

One family, in particular, was in dire need due to a quirk of fate.A blended family of 11 had recently moved into an old farmhouse. Thefather had begun gutting the home when he was called for duty in Iraq.

“During that time the family was kind of disheveled so to speak andthey were in a home that wasn’t real safe for them,” says Todd Polifka,CEO.

Vision Remodeling provided general-contractor services, design andproject management, and large companies such as Kmart and Sears came onboard with $50,000 in cash and $5,000 worth of appliances.

Sixty non-skilled laborers tore down the interior to its studs.After clearing it out, 30 skilled employees were then brought in torebuild. The company personally donated more than 100 hours of work.The project, which would have normally taken six months, was completedit half that time.

The remodeled home has an estimated value of between $300,000 and $400,000.

Polifka knew his company had made a difference when he received aletter from the owner of the house, sent from Iraq. In it, the manexplained how appreciative he was that his family was being taken care.In fact, his whole company benefited because he could now focus on hisduties, rather than be distracted by stress and worry, says Polifka.