than 1,155 tons of hand sanitizer to critical
frontline workers in 48 states and to the public
via community giveaways.
“Within the first few days of announcing pro-
duction, thousands of organizations reached out
to us in need,” says Taylor Berry, vice president
of brand marketing at Tito’s. “We would call, tell
them we could get them whatever they needed,
and then we’d hear joy and relief on the other end
of the line. It was extremely meaningful for our
entire team to be able to help in that way.”
In addition to a plunge into hand sanitizer
production, the company donated millions of
dollars to nonprofit organizations, like Children of
Restaurant Employees (CORE), the United States
Bartenders’ Guild, Southern Smoke, World Central
Kitchen, and the National Restaurant Association
Educational Foundation, that provided assistance
to service industry workers as well as hundreds of
local nonprofits in communities across the coun-
try assisting with COVID-19 relief efforts.
Tito’s donated $1 million to the Baylor College
of Medicine to research a low-cost, global vaccine
for COVID-19, which is currently in phase II of
safety trials in India; gave a $2.5 million grant to
the University of Texas at Austin COVID-19 Model-
ing Consortium, which is working to help map the
spread of COVID-19 and improve preparedness for
future pandemic threats; and put $400,000 toward
funding the development and production of 500ventilators for immediate use in
Central Texas.
Another firm that made a
significant impact in 2020 is
Wesley Financial Group, LLC,
a Franklin, Tenn.–based con-
sumer advocate that special-
izes in timeshare cancellation
and timeshare debt elimination
for individuals and families.
Founder and CEO Chuck
McDowell named the company
for John Wesley, the founder
of the Methodist Church, after
one of his quotes stuck with
him: “Do all the good you can,
by all the means you can, in
all the ways you can, in all the
places you can, at all the times
you can, to all the people you
can, as long as ever you can.”
“That quote is pretty much
how and why we do what we
do,” McDowell says. “It’s a
personal thing for me, and I try
to make it a personal thing for
all of our employees too.”
Putting those words into action, in 2020
McDowell personally donated more than half
a million dollars directly to families and local
churches in Tennessee. And he set an example for
the rest of the company; employees managed to
raise tens of thousands of dollars for local chari-
ties and people in need through individual efforts
and corporate initiatives. Wesley Financial Group
also stepped up its charitable work significantly
in the wake of the pandemic. The firm took on pro
bono cases for 114 families to help them get out
of timeshare commitments they could no longer
afford. They increased their support of nonprofits
like the Jason Foundation, Inc., which is dedicated
to the prevention of youth suicide. According
to McDowell, supporting the organization was
even more important this year because of the
widespread depression that has resulted from job
loss and isolation. McDowell is also establishing
a foundation that will raise money to help small
businesses weather this economic storm, with a
jump-start from a personal donation of $500,000.
The global pandemic created an opportunity
for companies to put their core values on display
for the world to see, and much of corporate
America stepped up to the challenge. Now, as
we continue to create a path forward, it’s clear
that the purposeful leadership spurred by the
pandemic is here to stay. ■SPONSORED CONTENT7 in 10
U.S.
corporate
funders
increased
their
charitable
contributions
in response
to the
coronavirus
pandemic.RIGHT: Volunteers
from Wesley Financial
Group delivered food
and t o y s a t t he annual
“Christmas on Monroe”
event in Nashville—a
community hit hard
by tornadoes and the
pandemic last year.