Communities received $11.5M from Alliant Energy in 2021

To support customers and communities in Iowa and Wisconsin, our employees, retirees and charitable foundation collectively contributed $11.5 million and volunteered over 75,000 hours in 2021.

“At Alliant Energy, our purpose is to serve customers and build stronger communities,” said Aimee Davis, vice president marketing and communications of Alliant Energy. “We are proud to support many local and regional nonprofit organizations through our foundation giving and our employees’ and retirees’ commitment to volunteering. It takes everyone working together to build stronger communities and we are proud to be part of the team.”

Here are some of the ways we helped in 2021:   

Impact Grants
We awarded Impact Grants in the four key areas of hunger and housing; workforce readiness; environmental stewardship; and diversity, safety and well-being. More than $1.9 million was awarded to 40 organizations across Iowa and Wisconsin in 2021. See what was funded.

Hometown Care Energy Fund
We donated $4 million to our Hometown Care Energy Fund in 2021. The pandemic created financial hardship for many customers last year. We doubled our contribution to the fund to help people stay on track during these difficult times. Learn more about Hometown Care Energy Fund. 

Tree restoration
Many of the communities we serve are impacted by severe storms and suffer tree canopy loss each year. In 2021, we created the One Million Trees initiative. We will donate and help plant more than 1 million trees — approximately one tree for each utility customer — by the end of 2030. Trees have already been planted in communities including Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Learn more about the One Million Trees initiative.

Fight against hunger
Gifts to fight hunger generated enough money for nearly 2 million meals. Our annual Drive Out Hunger golf event raised $400,000 and supplied 1.2 million meals to seven food banks. During Hunger Action Month in September, six Wisconsin-based nonprofit organizations received $75,000 and two Iowa-based nonprofit organizations received $60,000 to fight hunger and food insecurity.

Employee giving and volunteering
We encourage employees and retirees to donate to local organizations. Through the company’s Matching Gifts program, Alliant Energy employees, retirees and charitable foundation donated nearly $2.2 million to nonprofits in 2021. They continued to find safe ways to volunteer their time during the pandemic by restoring native prairies, helping build Habitat for Humanity homes, distributing food boxes and much more. Together, employees and retirees volunteered over 75,000 hours last year.

Scholarships
In 2021, nearly 100 high school and college-bound students received scholarships from Alliant Energy, totaling more than $120,000. These scholarships ease the financial burden for students going to college and contribute to a stronger workforce for local communities. Learn more about our scholarship programs.

“We have always taken an intentional approach to helping those in need,” said Julie Bauer, executive director of the Alliant Energy Foundation. “We work directly with exceptional non-profit organizations across our service area that are integral in the communities we serve. These partnerships are critical in identifying specific and timely needs we can assist with. The collaborative, high-impact projects maximize resources and help build stronger communities.”

For more details about gifts, communities and the partner organizations, visit alliantenergy.com/foundation.