Brewing Benevolence is a series of articles and interviews with breweries that are committed to more than just brewing beer in their communities. In this edition, I talked to Chris with Stone Brewing in Escondido, California. Read on to learn more about Stone’s Anniversary Celebration and why you might see some of their employees with green hair (all for a good cause, of course.)
Stone’s most notable charity event is the annual anniversary celebration. What is the mission of this event and how has it changed over the years?
The “mission” started to celebrate our anniversary and do so with our fans…as an “open house” so to speak. It just evolved from there to one of the largest single day beer festivals on the West Coast. Being that a brewery can’t pull an ABC license for an event of that nature, we partnered with the Surfrider Foundation from the beginning and have added additional charities since.
Stone also has a history of hair-dying events for charity. Can you provide a little background on this event, including the inspiration for it?
Ever dye your hair? Ever participate in a “walk-a-thon”? Well, the concept was part of both – our CEO, Greg Koch, wanted to incorporate something fun into the Anniversary Celebration, wanted to raise more money for charity, and wanted to dye his hair green. So participants get pledges to dye their hair a color of our choice for at least one week, and the event coincides with our Anniversary every other year.
Other than the ways we discussed, what other ways has Stone become involved with local charities or community initiatives?
That would take WAY too long to explain. Let’s just say that we support nearly 100 different groups annually.
What are Stone’s favorite charities to support and why?
Depends…we don’t discriminate in that regard. If someone sends us a request, it’s legal and legit, fits with our ethos, we’re going to support them!
How has Stone chosen which organizations to support? What attributes do you look for in a charitable organization?
See above…but they MUST be a 501c3 or 501c6 registered non-profit organization for Stone (or any brewery in CA) to legally donate beer for their events. And also have to comply with the normal ABC laws as well.
Does Stone prefer to support only local, community based charities or have you supported larger, national charities as well?
We have indeed supported both, but with the “national” organizations it is often a request from their local or regional chapter. (American Cancer Society, etc…)
Has Stone recognized any benefits from supporting these organizations (other than a warm, fuzzy feeling)? Specifically, have there been any recognized or measurable benefits to Stone’s bottom lines?
Absolutely…100 percent. When you get involved with people from charities and non-profits the first thing you realize is how passionate they are about their cause. They in turn become passionate about the people or companies that support them, especially if you (we, Stone) can support them on a regular or annual basis.
Stone is looking into opening a brewery in Europe. Has Stone been engaging communities abroad and if so, how?
Yes, we are looking into that and the process of a Request For Proposal (RFP) is being drafted by us. Once that is ready we’ll send it out to the interested European Communities and see what their response is, and go from there. Currently the “word is out” that we’re interested and we have heard from a few countries already.
Why is it important for Stone to support its community
To me that seems like a silly question – why would we not? I often tell people that we certainly would not be where we’re at without the support of the community, and it only makes sense to give back. I also tell people that a business can merely reside in a community, or can actually be a part of the community, and we would much prefer to be a part of it!
Thanks again to Chris and the rest of the crew at Stone.
