By Gregg Wartgow, Special to AEM --
A community grant program launched in 2021 continues to evolve bigger and better, helping AEM member company Kubota Tractor Corporation and its dealers forge deep ties in the communities they serve.
“The Kubota Hometown Proud® grant program has grown from several hundred applications that first year to several thousand now,” said Christa Lander, brand communications manager at Kubota Tractor Corporation. “The program picked up steam quickly. There was really nothing like it in terms of connecting corporate dollars to local funding, while also ensuring that those dollars would impact local communities in projects that mattered most to them.”
Any 501(c)(3) nonprofit doing a project where Kubota equipment can make a difference can apply. Past winners and finalists have included townships, schools, community gardens, parks and trails, food banks, rodeo arenas, and many other types of nonprofits.
There will be 10 Kubota Hometown Proud grant recipients this year, one from each of Kubota’s 10 operating districts throughout the country. Each recipient will receive $25,000 cash and a $25,000 Kubota equipment voucher. This year’s recipients are scheduled to be announced on Sept. 3.
The AEM Manufacturing Express was proud to make a stop at Kubota on Aug. 8. For more information and to follow along with the tour, visit manufacturingexpress.org.
“We’ve established criteria as to how the applications should be evaluated,” said Theresa Duncan, director of marketing & advertising at Kubota Tractor Corporation. “We have a team of reviewers that makes sure every application meets the criteria before it’s able to move onto the next round. There are actually a few rounds of judging before we work with our district managers and other Kubota personnel to identify the top applications. It’s a pretty rigorous process.”
With thousands of applications to choose from, how does one make it to the finalist round?
“Applicants must articulate the impact their project will have on their entire community, not just their individual organization,” Lander said. “When they can articulate their vision and how their use of Kubota equipment will allow them to execute that vision and grow, their applications immediately rise to the top. It has to be more than simply expressing a need for funding. This year in particular, we saw many applications that had a lot of heart—projects that were clearly near and dear to people’s hearts.”
Local Dealers Drive the Outreach
Kubota Hometown Proud was born out of the desire to help Kubota dealers become more involved in their communities. To that end, one caveat of the program is that in order to be selected for one of the grants, the project itself must be within a 50-mile radius of an authorized Kubota dealer.
“Our dealers play a central role in all of this,” said Alex Woods, president of Kubota Tractor Corporation. “Yes, our dealers are there to help the grant recipients select the right equipment for their projects, and to provide ongoing service and support. But additionally, our dealers do a lot of their own local promotional work to supplement what Kubota is doing on a national level. Our dealers have gotten more and more involved every year.”
One of those dealers is Bentleys Equipment in western New York. The winning project in their territory in 2022 was Homesteads for Hope, a 55-acre community farm and future housing village that gives adults of varying abilities the opportunity to learn job skills. Homesteads for Hope won an initial $100,000 grant, followed by another $100,000 Kubota Community Choice grant awarded through public voting, which was a component of the program in 2022.
“We already had a modest working relationship with Homesteads for Hope when they told us they were awarded that first $100,000 grant,” said Laura Bentley, president and sales manager of Bentleys Equipment, which operates two locations in Albion and Brockport, N.Y. “Then, for the second grant that would be determined through online polling, we partnered up to head out into the community to spread the message to help them garner as many votes as possible. They ended up winning, and now our modest working relationship has turned into a really strong one. They’ve bought a lot of additional equipment from us, and we’ve also donated some smaller items like tractor attachments.”
As Kubota Hometown Proud has grown over the past five years, the dealer-community connection has grown along with it. Program organizers have taken steps to capitalize on that.
“Something new we did this year was require a short video as part of the application process,” Lander said. “Applicants went to Kubota dealerships, took out their phones, and talked to the dealers. They talked about their projects and asked the dealers what the best equipment would be. They also had the dealers endorse the project and organization. So, this year more than any other, the application process was very reciprocal. Organizations reached out to dealers, but dealers also reached out to organizations. That kind of collaboration has been really great to see.”
Pride Is Contagious
With so much emphasis on helping local nonprofits, it’s also been important to have a consumer-facing aspect to the Kubota Hometown Proud program. There has been a consumer sweepstakes component every year, but that has also evolved.
“This year we’re calling it the Win & Give Sweepstakes,” Duncan said. “Consumers nationwide have their own opportunity to participate in the program by entering themselves for a chance to win either a Kubota zero-turn mower or a BX tractor. Additionally, and it’s new this year, sweepstakes winners also receive a mini-grant of $1,000 they can give to a local nonprofit of their choice. We felt like it made perfect sense to give consumers the chance to give back to their communities as well.”
According to Lander, it’s hard to not feel inspired when seeing the passion surrounding these grant applications. That has had a positive impact on how the general public views the Kubota brand, as well as the employees who work for the company. Kubota Hometown Proud has also helped foster pride among dealership teams.
“I’m the fourth generation of a family-owned dealership, and it’s very important to me that we continue to give back to our communities as much as we can,” Bentley said. “We have taken days as a staff to volunteer our time at Homesteads for Hope, helping weed fields, pick crops, or do whatever work needs to get done. It’s been great because it helps build camaraderie among our staff, and also gives our staff the ability to see me in a different light.”
“Kubota Hometown Proud has definitely created a halo effect,” Lander added. “Kubota employees feel a lot of pride in being connected to a dealer, that dealer’s district manager, and their entire team. So, the positive employee engagement this program has created has been another benefit.”
Needless to say, Kubota Tractor Corporation is proud to continue Kubota Hometown Proud for hopefully many years to come.
