Innovation is a guiding principle at Hallmark, and that includes the innovative use of philanthropy. One example of creative thinking in 2010 was Hallmark’s financial support for Kansas City Public Television, which in turn helped raise awareness of local nonprofit organizations working to better our community.

Hallmark funding helped underwrite production costs for a series of short films titled Spotlight Difference Makers, which debuted last year on KCPT’s popular weekly program The Local Show.  According to Michael Zeller, KCPT’s chief development officer, this support was a creative way for Hallmark to give area nonprofits much-needed public exposure.

“A healthy metropolitan area needs to know itself, its leaders, its movers and shakers,” Zeller says.  “Our community has a number of nonprofits doing heroic work out there, and The Local Show is an introduction to these organizations.”

One of the Difference Makers films funded by Hallmark featured Operation Breakthrough, Missouri's largest low-income day-care facility, providing nearly 700 area children with services that include medical and dental clinics.

“With Hallmark’s support,” Zeller explains, “as many as one hundred and fifty thousand viewers got a chance to meet Sister Berta”—a co-founder of Operation Breakthrough—“and to see the enormous good her organization is doing for this community.”

Another Difference Maker featured was Mattie Rhodes Center. Andréa Gomez, who sits on its board of directors, explains that Mattie Rhodes Center offers mental health and family services to a growing Hispanic population in the area, with a special focus on arts programs.

“Mattie Rhodes provides a great way to connect our employees to the Hispanic community and help them learn more about the culture,” says Gomez, a senior engineer at Hallmark headquarters.

Besides airing on KCPT, the short films produced with funding from Hallmark can also be used by local nonprofits as promotional and training films. The growing interest in fresh, locally produced food was given a boost with another Difference Maker film featuring the Kansas City Center for Urban Agriculture. For Emily Akins, a Hallmark Editorial Director and volunteer in the local food and community agriculture movement, it was especially gratifying to know that Hallmark was helping to get the word out.

“Hallmark really encourages every employee to find her own personal niche for getting involved,” she says. “You’d be hard-pressed to find an area of the Kansas City metro that hasn’t been impacted by Hallmark and Hallmark volunteers.”