A Decade Of Strengthening Our Communities
Dating back to Kraus-Anderson’s origins, we have been active in the communities in which we work and play. Giving back to the community has been the heart of KA.
This year, we’re proud to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Kraus-Anderson Community Foundation, a milestone born from years of grassroots efforts across our regional offices. What began as local initiatives soon grew into something much bigger.
While our corporate giving programs are decades in the making, the heart of our story begins in Bemidji, MN. This was where the first ever Kraus-Anderson Walleye Classic took off in 2005. That spirit of community support expanded to the Duluth office with the launch of the Kraus-Anderson Bike Duluth Festival in 2014. The success of these events, along with others held across our offices, sparked a larger conversation: how could we sustain and grow this impact?
In response, the Kraus-Anderson Community Foundation was officially formed on May 16, 2015. The organization began to take on the operation of the Kraus-Anderson Walleye Classic and the Kraus-Anderson Bike Duluth Festival. As these events grew in scale and popularity, local partners stepped in to help: The Knights of Columbus began managing the Walleye Classic in 2015, and the Duluth Harbortown Rotary Charitable Foundation took over the Bike Duluth Festival in 2023.
In 2024, the Foundation reached another exciting milestone: hosting its first-ever Twin Cities event—the KA Sporting Change Pickleball Tournament, benefiting the LIVIN Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to mental health awareness and suicide prevention.
Giving Before the Foundation
Back before the Kraus-Anderson Community Foundation was created, Kraus-Anderson would donate labor and materials to fix up homes for another nonprofit that KA has worked with since 1999, Hearts and Hammers, which refurbishes the houses of the elderly, veterans and those with disabilities.
As one of the founding members of KA’s Corporate Initiatives Committee, Corporate Secretary Emeritus Rose Manthe has been involved in many of these events. One thing each of the members of that committee had to do was to think up ideas to allow KA employees to team up to give back to the community.
“I very much enjoyed gathering KAers together to give back to the communities where we lived and worked and was able to contribute to the discussions of forming the Kraus-Anderson Community Foundation,” Manthe said.
When it comes to charities to support for an event, they usually align with Kraus-Anderson’s core purpose: “Together, Strengthening the Communities We Serve”. For instance, Sporting Change is focused on mental health and preventing suicide, bringing awareness of how these affect the construction workforce.
“Construction builds physical structures and infrastructure, and volunteerism builds social infrastructure, supporting the well-being, safety, education and vibrancy of those same communities,” said Kraus-Anderson’s Community and Corporate Engagement Coordinator Nicole Malone. “By volunteering, employees extend KA’s impact beyond the job site, showing clients and the public that the company invests in both physical and social development.”
From fishing to biking to pickleball, one thing remains constant: the KA Community Foundation is driven by a commitment to strengthen the places we call home—together.
“KA’s culture isn’t only community-driven, we’re also employee driven,” added Malone. “Volunteerism and giving are part of our employee culture, fostering pride and a sense of shared purpose across job sites and offices.”
CATEGORY: Construction