In April 2023, Meals on Wheels America made an exciting announcement – a commitment of over $2.5 million from The Home Depot Foundation to support the expansion of the Helping Homebound Heroes program. This remarkable initiative, which The Home Depot Foundation has been actively involved with since 2015, focuses on providing essential home repairs and modifications for aging veterans. With this boost in funding, Helping Homebound Heroes is set to double its impact, expanding from eight to 16 markets nationwide.

In today’s episode, EFG’s Alli Murphy is joined by Kelly Trimyer, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at Meals on Wheels America, and Sean Vissar, Manager of National Programs and Strategic Partnerships for The Home Depot Foundation.

Now entering its ninth year, the Helping Homebound Heroes program has touched the lives of over 2,000 veterans and the Home Depot Foundation has contributed more than $11 million and countless volunteer hours. While the Meals on Wheels of America’s community and geographic reach is large, the nonprofit has a modest staff of 50 and is working with a large corporate partner. How do they make it work, what makes the Home Depot Foundation renew YOY, and what role do pilots play? We’ll cover all that and more.

In today’s episode, we’ll explore:

• Insightful advice from Kelly and Sean on cultivating impactful partnerships
• The unique strengths and assets each partner brings to the table
• How they co-create and innovate various components of the program
• The advantages of being a small nonprofit when it comes to fostering strong partnerships
• An overview of the Helping Homebound Heroes Program & who it serves
• How to build the capacity of a nonprofit and not push partners beyond their limits

Links & Notes

• Home Depot Foundation Website
• Home Depot Foundation X
• Home Depot Foundation Instagram
• Home Depot Foundation Facebook
• Meals on Wheels America Website
• Meals on Wheels America Facebook
• Meals on Wheels America Instagram
• Meals on Wheels America LinkedIn
• Meals on Wheels America X

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• (00:00) - Welcome to Engage for Good
• (02:19) - Introducing Kelly Trimyer and Sean Vissar
• (04:22) - Helping Homebound Heroes
• (09:46) - Small But Mighty
• (12:32) - Co-Creation
• (16:29) - Storytelling
• (20:37) - Partnership Continuity
• (29:15) - Advice
• (36:58) - Learn More