Corporate Leadership: Allianz Life Insurance Co. of North America
Driving past Minnesota United FC’s St. Paul stadium on I-94, you can’t miss the “Allianz” name and logo. But the Golden Valley-based insurer wants its presence in the Twin Cities to be known for something else as well.
“We didn’t just want to have our name on the stadium,” says Kenna Poppler, Allianz Life’s director of community engagement. “We wanted to make sure we were investing in a broader community.” That investment includes “partnering with the Midway neighborhood,” where the stadium is located.
Last year, Allianz Life launched a strategy built around “how we help ensure the future of the community,” Poppler says. Along with the company’s traditional grantmaking and other philanthropic endeavors, “we also want to dig in and create really tight partnerships and make larger multiyear contributions, which we know are really valuable to nonprofits. And then we get into lockstep with them and say, ‘What else can we support you with? Do you need some help with your marketing? How can we collaborate and really come together to support you and your participants in reaching that next step, whatever that may be?’ ”
One partnership Allianz Life established last year was with the Neighborhood Development Center (NDC). Allianz made a three-year, $450,000 investment to help the Midway nonprofit create an entrepreneurship development program focused on an often-underserved group of business founders. “[NDC] noticed that Black and Latino women in particular are having a hard time either finishing their business plans or getting their businesses off the ground as a full-time deal instead of a sort of side hustle,” Poppler says.
With Allianz Life’s support, NDC established the Black and Latina Opportunity Connect (BLOC) program. The program’s inaugural cohort of 14 women entrepreneurs received one-on-one training and mentoring on all aspects of growing and owning a successful business, including accounting, finance, credit applications, marketing, operations, and general management.
“One thing we want to make sure that we’re doing is supporting investment—education as well as capital—for entrepreneurs,” Poppler says. “Partnering with NDC, we were able to do that.”
In 2022, Allianz also provided a three-year, $450,000 grant to Midway-area nonprofit Keystone Community Services, whose offerings to neighborhood residents include youth and senior programs, food shelves, and crisis assistance. Allianz’s grant is allowing Keystone to expand to meet those needs. Its efforts include a new community food site within a mile of Allianz Field.
Allianz has been partnering with Keystone since 2010, before the stadium opened. In addition to funding, the company has provided volunteers who help with food distribution; an Allianz executive also serves on Keystone’s board.
“It’s a wonderful model for how corporations and nonprofit organizations can work together effectively,” says Keystone president and CEO Mary McKeown. “Allianz does this not just through grants, but also through volunteerism and sponsorship—working together to understand the needs in the community and what the best strategies are to meet those needs.”
