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2026 Honored Companies
Legacy Honoree: Piper Sandler
Piper Sandler’s commitment to giving back dates to the firm’s founding in Minneapolis in 1895, and it has been part of the Minnesota Keystone Program for all 50 years. What began as a Minnesota tradition now reaches communities across the country. In 2025, the firm and its employees gave $8 million to nearly 2,000 nonprofits, including $1.6 million to 353 Minnesota organizations.
Employees are at the center of that giving. More than 80% take part in matching gifts, and the firm turns employees’ volunteer hours and nonprofit board service into grants for the causes they care about. Since 2022, employees from across the firm have also helped decide where Foundation grants go. That giving focuses on education and opportunity, and it’s built on long-term relationships. Since 2010, Piper Sandler employees have mentored more than 400 students through Best Prep. The firm’s partnership with the Greenwood Project has grown into a true talent pipeline, with several scholars going on to intern at the firm.
Piper Sandler also celebrates employees who give back through its Bobby & Tad Piper Community Service Award. When the firm recently moved the award from an annual to a quarterly honor, Tad Piper had just one request: that it consider increasing the grant amount. After five decades in Keystone, it’s a fitting picture of a company where generosity is passed from one generation of leaders to the next.
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Large Company Honoree: Sunrise Banks
Sunrise Banks and its commitment to community dates back to 1985, when David Reiling and his father, William, bought their first Twin Cities banks and made giving back part of the business from day one. In 2013, they brought those banks together under one name and one mission: to be a force for good. Today the St. Paul-based bank is a certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) and a Certified B Corporation, and it has been part of the Minnesota Keystone Program for 28 years.
Sunrise Banks focuses its giving on low to moderate income communities. It offers general operating support without heavy grant paperwork and works to keep funding past partners year after year, so nonprofits can count on it. Nonprofit partners can also use the bank’s community space for free. Employees get up to 40 hours of paid volunteer time each year and gave more than 2,000 hours in 2025. They also organize charitable giving events for employees, with virtual bingo, a silent auction and eggroll and cookie sales. Even customers pitch in: “pay what you can” coffee shops in two branches send their proceeds to a different nonprofit each month.
Sunrise Banks also puts its banking business to work for the community. Customers can direct their deposits toward affordable housing, small businesses and community projects. At last year’s Fiesta Latina with CLUES, the bank gave away new school supplies to local families. For Sunrise Banks, banking and giving back are two parts of the same mission.
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Medium Company Honoree: Versique
Community has been one of Versique’s core values since the firm opened in 2013. Its longest-running commitment is a 14-year partnership with Dress for Success Twin Cities, which helps women build confidence and economic independence through career coaching and professional resources.
This year’s Versique Gives event brought together more than 230 clients, candidates and partners and raised over $132,000 for the cause, with team members from every practice helping plan it, line up donors and volunteer on the night of the event.
Versique’s people drive the rest of its giving. An employee-led volunteer committee meets monthly to plan team service, and many of the company’s partnerships began as ideas from team members. So far in 2026, the 52-person team has given 382 volunteer hours with organizations like Second Harvest Heartland, Best Prep and Simon Says Give, plus an annual Earth Week cleanup.
Employees also share their recruiting expertise by speaking at local colleges, mentoring early-career professionals and serving on nonprofit boards. Versique even talks about community involvement during hiring, because it wants teammates who share a passion for serving others. That commitment earned the firm a Minnesota Business Magazine Community Impact Award, and it’s a big part of why Versique is consistently named a Star Tribune Top Workplace.
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Small Company Honoree: IN Food Marketing & Design
For IN Food Marketing & Design, giving back starts at the table. Founded in 1995 by Anita Nelson, the Minneapolis agency helps food brands launch and grow, and it gives 5% of its profits each year to organizations fighting hunger. That focus took shape in 2011 with Click for L.U.N.C.H., a social media campaign that raised funds for kids at risk of going hungry over the summer.
In 2019, the team realized it could do more good by going deeper with one partner, and Food for All was born. Each year, employees review applications, visit finalists and choose one nonprofit partner. That partner receives a cash gift, pro bono marketing from the full team and hands-on volunteer time from every employee. The work has included a storytelling video for a community food shelf, a rebrand for a suburban food shelf and a brand for a new coalition working to preserve SNAP benefits. Volunteers have also sorted food, picked vegetables at a community garden and delivered meals to seniors.
IN Food’s reach extends through its network, too. Anita founded Food Connections, a group of more than 50 food industry professionals. When one member launched an effort to install mini food pantries around the Twin Cities, the agency designed its logo pro bono. For a nine-person team, it’s a model of how a small business can give back by sharing what it does best.
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Sole Proprietor Honoree: ShelettaMakesMeLaugh
Advocate. Entrepreneur. Philanthropist.
Sheletta Brundidge is a hyphenate, no one word defines Boss Lady or her business.
In 2020, after two decades in broadcast news, she founded her marketing company ShelettaMakesMeLaugh.com to spotlight diverse voices. Today she oversees a proprietary podcast platform that produces weekly shows reaching thousands of listeners.
The production portion of her boutique media business creates award-winning multimedia content, viral social media videos and public service announcements.
Sheletta wants to lift as she climbs. Her initiatives serve the community as well as her corporate partners.
She conceived and hosted Black Entrepreneurs Day at the Capitol to help African American businesses access political, social and financial capital. When statistics showed Black women experienced disproportionate unemployment, she created a job fair to connect them to employers. When she learned that Tubman's shelter lacked adequate bedding for domestic abuse survivors, she created an MLK Day of Service that raised $20,000 and 700 pieces of donated bedding. When the Hallie Q. Brown Center needed thousands of paper bags for food pantry recipients, she partnered with Hy-Vee to fill the gap.
As mother to three autistic children, she advocates for families with children on the spectrum. Through her national Spread Love with Locks campaign, she's purchased more than 1,000 interior combination door locks and traveled the country to donate them to low income families.
Sheletta’s company gives 10% of its profits to causes she embraces. She demonstrates how much good one person can do when they use their blessings to bless others.
