Sun King Brewery, one of the leaders of the independent craft beer movement in Indiana, recently shared that it generated more than $1.5 million in total economic impact — including product, time and dollars — to more than 450 Central Indiana-area nonprofit organizations in 2019. Wow.
Since the day Sun King rolled out its first keg, the founders have believed that it’s important to share their success with the community and help enrich the lives of Hoosiers one beer at a time through its Community Partner Program. Through this program, Sun King donates beer, volunteer time and proceeds from a portion of sales to organizations throughout Indiana that fall within four core philanthropies, including people in need, arts and culture, nature and conservation as well as youth development.
To celebrate a decade of community commitment, this year Sun King is planning a variety of economic impact programs to contribute to the Indianapolis community, including plans to develop a Bicentennial beer for the Indy Turns 200 celebration, with a portion of the proceeds benefitting Indy Parks Foundation.
Some of the highlights of Sun King’s Community Partner Program in 2019 included…
Tap Room Events — a portion of proceeds from each night donated to nonprofits:
- Art With A Heart beer and cupcake pairing event
- Indianapolis Symphonic Choir
- Teacher’s Treasures shopping event
- Indiana “Puppies on Patio” event
- Broadway Across America pie baking contest
- Keep Indianapolis Beautiful Beer GardIN program
Community projects or events at which Sun King staff volunteered their time:
- Indianapolis Cultural Trail spring clean
- Boone County Habitat for Humanity House that Beer Built construction day
- Habitat Women Build
- Indy Urban Acres volunteer day
- Keep Indianapolis Beautiful tree-planting day
Pint donations to events:
- Special Olympics Plane Pull Challenge
- Second Helpings Tonic Ball & Corks and Forks
- Indianapolis Zoo Zoobilation
- Heartland International Film Festival
- REV Indy — IndyCar event benefitting IU Health Foundation
Unique collaborations or partnerships where proceeds benefit nonprofits:
Newfields: Sun King has collaborated with Newfields on several special brews in which all proceeds from the sales benefit Newfields. Brews include: Electric Reindeer, brewed the past two years for the Winterlights outdoor holiday light event, and Among the Leaves, brewed during the spring and summer months and served in Newfields’ Beer Garden. Sun King is working on a special brew for Newfields’ 2020 Harvest Festival.
Conner Prairie: Sun King has brewed Ichabrewed Crane beer for Conner Prairie’s Fall Festival for the past two years in which all proceeds from the sales at the event benefit Conner Prairie.
“Since we tapped our first keg 10 years ago, our team members have demonstrated a passion for giving back to the communities in which we serve,” said Sun King Cofounder and Owner Clay Robinson. “Working together with our employees, our guests and our community partners, we hope that we will ultimately help brighten the lives of people throughout Indiana and look forward to another decade of giving back to community organizations throughout the state.”
Over the past decade, Sun King’s Community Partner Program has worked with more than 1,000 community-based organizations throughout Indiana and has helped execute thousands of community-related events that have had a multi-million-dollar impact on their local communities. Habitat for Humanity, Second Helpings, Keep Indianapolis Beautiful and Conner Prairie are a just few community partners that Sun King has collaborated with over the past decade.
Cody Fague says
this is one area where Sun King has consistently excelled, and they owe much of their success to how dedicated they are to the community here.
Cody Fague says
people kind of take it for granted in indy but it is really impressive work.