How Sundt upped employee volunteering by 300% and doubled grant applications

Sundt is a construction company deeply rooted in community. As a 100% employee-owned company, Sundt’s purpose is “to build environments where our clients, employee-owners and communities prosper.” 

Community grants offered by Sundt Foundation and employee volunteer programs are a key part of fulfilling this purpose. 

A grants management system that lacked efficiency

For years, Sundt Foundation has offered two to three million dollars in community grants annually—all powered by donations from employee-owners and matched by the company. The grants are hyper-local, spanning the 12 different communities around the country where Sundt has an office, and reviewed by local employee committees. 

To handle it all, Savannah Health, Community Relations Specialist at Sundt, and the team were using a dedicated grant management system. But they were facing some challenges. 

The first was with ineligible applications. Without the ability to pre-screen for eligibility, Savannah estimates that about a third of the applications she received were ineligible. This was not only a drain on her time, but it meant that the applicant had spent unnecessary time as well. 

Savannah had also received feedback from applicants that the portal was “not that easy.’” 

Finally, because she had to run each application independently, every time she wanted to make a change, such as adding or rewording a question, she had to do it 12 different times, because they needed every application worded exactly the same. “It was a lot,” she says. 

Together, these hassles spurred the team to find a new solution. 

The switch to Submittable is “a game changer”

Once the team switched to Submittable, Savannah’s team became more efficient, improved applicant and reviewer experiences, and ultimately made a bigger impact. 

Fewer ineligible applications

On Submittable, applicants go through an eligibility quiz (which they can even access before they create an account). Savannah estimates that they’ve reduced ineligible applications by about 40%. That’s not just time saved for her and the team—it also means that the applicants don’t have to expend energy seeking funding they aren’t qualified for. As a company which practices trust-based philanthropy, this kind of transparency is a way that Sundt also shows their community organizations respect.

Greater visibility

Beyond a higher percentage of eligible applications, Savannah now also sees a higher number of total applications in general, up from about 400 per quarter to more than 700. Overall , the team has seen a more than 100% increase in eligible applications—a testament to improved visibility in the communities they serve. 

Savannah attributes this increase to an improved applicant experience. Now with Submittable, she says, “It’s very simple. It’s very hard to get lost on it, so it’s very easy…for even people who are not tech savvy to understand.” 

Why does it matter?  “We really need the application to be easy for organizations to apply so we can help the people doing great work,” Savannah says. By prioritizing a positive applicant experience, Sundt is able to show up the way that they want to in their communities—and be sure that a clunky application process never stands in the way of supporting mission-aligned nonprofits.   

One-time updates for immediate results

Although you can duplicate an application on Submittable, Savannah and the team prefer to run a single application across 12 locations because it offers a few advantages for their workflow. Because the applications are completely identical, she loves that she only has to update it once to make a change that impacts each location. Savannah gushes, “It has been a game changer, it has just been so great for us to have a one-stop shop.”

Automated reviewer routing

A key reason Sundt is able to operate 12 hyper-local grants with one application is due to Submittable's intelligent automated review routing. As Savannah explains, “Now we just have one form that then can be dispersed to each of the 12 committees just from one place. One of my favorite things…is the ability to filter applications based on location, so only the committee in that area is getting their own applications. It’s all automated.” Eliminating the need to assign the correct review teams to each application, plus the efficiency gained in making updates to the application form has been a huge win for Savannah’s team. “It’s saved us a lot of time.”   

Effortless for reviewers

Each of those 12 review committees can include as many as 20 people across the United States. It’s Savannah’s job to make sure that they are all successful, which is a tall order. Fortunately, Submittable makes it easy. 

“This platform was really advantageous for us…it’s super user-friendly,” Savannah explains. “We don’t have any issues…even with people who aren’t really tech savvy.” Once, Savannah was invited to a 30-minute meeting to teach a reviewer how to use the platform. “Five minutes in, they were like, ‘Oh, that’s it? Great. That’s not hard,’” she recalls with a smile.

Investing in volunteerism

When it comes to volunteering, previously, Sundt wasn’t using any system at all. With such a community-oriented employee base, they had still managed to log 3,500 hours, all manually. They knew an easy-to-use, dedicated platform could grow that impact and engagement, so the team decided to invest in Submittable’s volunteer platform.

An employee-led volunteer program

Sundt takes a grassroots approach to its volunteer programs, whereby employees in the local communities (not just her or leadership) can not only participate in, but identify and plan new opportunities.

Decentralized by design

Empowering employees to seek out and invite their colleagues to these events not only relieves the burden on Savannah, it ensures those events will resonate in the local office communities. “We want employees to make their own events and lead them. That way it’s decentralized, it’s not just me, they’re not just waiting on me to plan events for them all over the country, when I don’t know anything about their organizations,” Savannah explains. 

Easy-to-use means more engagement

With Submittable, it’s easy for any employee to make a new event and log their hours. “It really shows that the platform is very easy to use, and it’s a great place for people to go and find events and log their hours.” The investment is working. “People are using it a lot,”Savannah says.

The proof is in the numbers. Whereas before, 9.1% of employees logged hours, in their first year with Submittable that number jumped to 26.4%, nearly tripling participation, and logging 15,000 hours—over a 300% increase. “It’s pretty awesome to see the growth in volunteerism,” Savannah shares. “I love it. I’m so excited.” Beloved by everyone, including leadership

It was important for Savannah and her team to find a solution that even company leaders would use. That’s what they’ve found in Submittable. “We always get great feedback, even from leaders,” Savannah says. Leadership at Sundt is actively using the platform to log volunteer hours, such as board service. 

Doubling down on employee-led

Sundt will soon also be introducing a new Volunteer Ambassador program. Savannah explains, “We want to have ambassadors in every office, and so we’re really excited to have those people who are passionate about volunteering and want to get events happening in their area.” She’s set a goal of 15,000 hours for the year, and with the fiscal year only four months in, they’re already almost halfway there, on track to surpass their goal substantially. 

Community is the ultimate ROI

Service is one of Sundt’s core values. For Savannah, ROI is not only participation numbers. It’s measured by making the communities where they live and work better. 

As Savannah articulates, “We’re a construction company, so we build, and improve infrastructure, but we don’t want to just do that and dip out. We want it to be a great community for everyone who is living there, and so we want to support the organizations on the ground who are helping make that happen, and make the community better for generations to come. We really take pride in that, and not not just doing our work and leaving.” 

What’s next for Sundt? First of all, in 2026, they’ll be upping their annual giving to $3.3 million. Between that and the new Volunteer Ambassador Program, they plan to continue to expand their impact. As Savannah says, “Hopefully with that kind of person in every office, we’ll just continue to grow.”