Umbrella Roofing founder and president Trevor Cannon was so impressed by the Patagonia company’s 1% for the Planet philanthropic endeavor that he started a Roaring Fork Valley variation in 2011 called 1% Close to Home.
It was a challenging time to be pledging hefty charitable giving. The Roaring Fork Valley was emerging from the Great Recession. The construction industry saw a significant number of businesses go under in 2010.
“2011 was a rough year for almost every contractor,” Cannon said. “It was pretty ugly. This was a little bit of a ‘OK, I’m doing this because I want to and I think this is a good idea but it’s a little bit scary saying out loud how you’re going to commit to it.’”
Umbrella Roofing not only survived but thrived after the recession. Annual sales have steadily climbed along with the charitable donations.
“We get a lot of asks and I do turn some down,” he said. “We are very specifically (targeting) local organizations helping people. English in Action is one of our biggest gives. Youth Entity — love those guys, they just crush it.”
Over the years the Basalt-based company has contributed 1% of its gross sales to charitable causes that benefit people of the valley. “At the end of 2023, we were at $1,039,000 given,” he said.
Despite the milestone, Cannon is thinking bigger. He envisions 1% Close to Home becoming its own entity, separate from Umbrella Roofing. It would be an independent, third-party organization that would monitor and certify that participating companies were actually giving contributions equal to 1% of their gross revenues. The participants would retain autonomy in selecting what organizations they contribute to, they’d just have to prove they were actually giving.
Umbrella’s work vehicles have a sticker identifying the 1% Close to Home program. He said a sticker for the broader program could be like a badge of honor for the participating companies.
“Wouldn’t it be cool to see those on contractor trucks all over the valley?” Cannon asked. “The amount of money going to local organizations would be insane.”
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