We are thrilled to unveil the 2025 Halo Award Finalists, celebrating the most outstanding partnerships between for-profit companies and nonprofit organizations that are driving meaningful impact on the cause and the business. These awards honor innovative, purpose-driven initiatives that go beyond traditional corporate philanthropy, demonstrating the power of collaboration in solving some of society’s most pressing challenges.
This year’s finalists represent groundbreaking work across 16 categories, showcasing efforts in advocacy, disaster relief, employee engagement, sustainability, and more. Each finalist exemplifies the best in corporate social impact—proving what is possible when businesses and nonprofits join forces to create lasting change.
2025 Halo Award
Finalists by Category
These awards spotlight exceptional initiatives born from the collaboration of for-profit and nonprofit organizations. They celebrate programs that weave together business goals and resources with social purpose, resulting in measurable positive change for people and/or the planet. Across 16 distinct categories and one “Best-of-the-Best” winner, these initiatives exemplify the power of partnership and innovation to address critical social issues.
Recognizes initiatives where a product or service is intrinsically linked to a social cause. This includes products specifically designed to generate social impact (e.g., a clothing line made from recycled materials that provides fair-wage jobs), or where a portion of proceeds is directly donated to support a cause (e.g., a percentage of sales from a coffee blend goes to support rainforest conservation).
- Wilson Sporting Goods & Autism Speaks: Love the Moment
- Athletic Brewing Company & 180+ Partners: Two For The Trails
- Satiated Artists: Satiating Artists
- Justin Alexander & VOW for Girls: Thanks & Goodluck: Cause Marketing Partnership
- Starbucks & World Central Kitchen: Odyssey Blend & Humanitarian Relief Support
- IKEA Canada & Rainbow Railroad: Helping LGBTQI+ Refugees Find Home
Recognizes initiatives that leverage the power of marketing and communications to drive positive social change. This includes campaigns that creatively integrate cause-related messaging into marketing strategies, build strong partnerships between brands and nonprofits to amplify their message, and engage consumers in social impact through compelling storytelling, activations, and calls to action.
- American Express & U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation: Small Business Hurricane Recovery Grant Program
- Activision (Microsoft) & Call of Duty Endowment: #CODEUAVChallenge
- Argent & When We All Vote: #VotingSuitsYou Campaign
- Macy’s & Big Brothers Big Sisters: Give Love. Give Back. Holiday Campaign
Recognizes initiatives that empower consumers to contribute to a social cause. This includes campaigns that facilitate donations at the point of sale (e.g., rounding up purchases), through online platforms, text-to-give campaigns, or by encouraging actions that trigger donations (e.g., donating a set amount for every social media share). This award celebrates initiatives that make giving easy and accessible, mobilizing consumer generosity to create meaningful social impact.
- Walgreens & Susan G. Komen, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society: Oncology Partnership
- Tropical Smoothie Cafe & No Kid Hungry: Sip Sunshine, Spread Sunshine
- Food Lion & Feeding America: Holidays Without Hunger
- Tractor Supply Company & National 4-H Council: Paper Clover Campaign
Recognizes initiatives focused on a social issue such as sheltering the houseless, providing food for children, mental health support, or training rescue dogs in a manner consistent with the company’s business goals.
- Buffalo Wild Wings & Boys & Girls Clubs of America: ALL STARS
- Subaru & Operation Warm: Subaru Loves to Help
- Adidas & U.S. Soccer Foundation: Just Ball
- American Family Insurance & Habitat for Humanity: Life’s Better Under Our Roof
- Subaru & ASPCA: Subaru Loves Pets® Program
Recognizes initiatives that focus on the lives of people within the disability community. This includes campaigns that increase access to resources, raise visibility for challenges the community faces, change policies and systems to serve people with disabilities better, and more.
- Easterseals & Sponsors including Sony Pictures, Disney, Netflix, Dell, IMDb, Amazon MGM Studios: Easterseals Disability Film Challenge
- NBCUniversal & Challenged Athletes Foundation: Adaptive Sports and Inclusion Initiative
- Wilson Sporting Goods & Autism Speaks: Love the Moment
Recognizes initiatives that incorporate DEIB values into their company, campaign, and partnerships. This includes DEIB programs that offer opportunities and resources to equity-seeking communities, internal process/policy changes for equity and inclusion, or an innovative DEIB approach to an old problem or cause.
- Motorola: Indigenous Languages Digital Inclusion Initiative
- Qualcomm & STEM Next Opportunity Fund: Million Girls Moonshot
- IAC: The IAC Fellows Program
- Elite Media & Teachers College Community School: The Schoolys
Recognizes initiatives that strive to improve educational outcomes for individuals and communities. This includes campaigns that increase access to quality education, support innovative learning approaches, address educational inequities, and empower learners of all ages.
- Penguin Random House & Save the Children: Global Book Donation
- Pacers Sports and Entertainment & Lilly Foundation: Math Hoops Initiative
- Discovery Education & Multiple Partners: STEM Careers Coalition
- Applied Materials & Last Mile Education Fund: Momentum Fund for Women Engineers
Recognizes initiatives that respond to an immediate emergency, crisis, or disaster, develop a long-term initiative to support a disaster-affected community, or efforts to prevent emergencies from happening.
- Duke Energy & E4E Relief: Full-Spectrum Disaster Response
- Hy-Vee: Disaster Relief Team (51 Communities in 2024)
- PetSmart & PetSmart Charities: Disaster Response Grant Program
- Partnership With Native Americans & Feeding America: Natives Prepared Project
Recognizes initiatives that meaningfully and measurably engage a company’s employees in a cause-focused initiative to achieve both social and business impact, whether that be through volunteerism or other employee engagement activities.
- Power Home Remodeling & DonorsChoose: Choose for Good
- Whirlpool Foundation & The Washing Machine Project: Employee Engagement Initiative
- Mercedes-Benz USA & Safe Kids Worldwide: Clifford Takes A Ride: Safety Tour
- Edward Jones & Alzheimer’s Association: Invested in a Future Without Alzheimer’s
- Rare Beauty & Rare Impact Fund: Make A Good Call Campaign
Recognizes initiatives that address hunger and food access challenges. This includes campaigns that provide meals or resources to those experiencing food insecurity, raise awareness about the issue, advocate for policy changes, or support sustainable solutions to combat hunger.
- Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) & World Food Program USA: ERASE HUNGER™ – SCHOOL MEALS FEED FUTURES
- Audible & Newark Emergency Services for Families: Newark Working Kitchens
- Starbucks & Feeding America: FoodShare: Supporting Food Banks & Redistribution
- American Family Insurance & Goodr Foundation: Beyond Food Drives: Tech Investment for Hunger Relief
- John Deere & Feeding America: Food Insecurity Initiative
Recognizes initiatives that champion equity and inclusion for people of all genders and sexual orientations by promoting equal access to resources and opportunities, breaking down barriers like stereotypes and bias, and fostering safe and inclusive environments where everyone feels respected, valued, and empowered.
- Deutsche Bank & Outright International: LGBTIQ Inclusion in Humanitarian Settings
- Cadence Design Systems & Break Through Tech: Fem.AI
- LatiNation Media & GLAAD: DÍMELO
- 11:11 Media & Understood.org: Breaking the Silence: Empowering Neurodivergent Women
- IKEA Canada & Rainbow Railroad: Helping LGBTQI+ Refugees Find Home
Recognizes initiatives that take an intersectional approach to their social impact strategy. This includes campaigns that target multiple causes and communities. For example, a campaign that addresses climate change and immigration or a campaign that targets young people of color and parents.
- Buffalo Wild Wings & Local Nonprofits: Team Up for Kids
- UNINTERRUPTED/The SpringHill Company & The Jed Foundation: INVISIBLE GAME
- Open Hand Studio of CannonDesign & The Ladder at One Safe Place: The Success Store
- Nemours Children’s Health & Boys & Girls Club: Community Funding Program
This award recognizes initiatives that prioritize the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities by addressing mental or physical health challenges. This includes providing access to care, supporting research and innovation, addressing health disparities, and developing innovative solutions to improve overall health outcomes.
- Ulta Beauty Charitable Foundation & Big Brothers Big Sisters: Well-being Partnership
- UNINTERRUPTED/The SpringHill Company & The Jed Foundation: INVISIBLE GAME
- Rare Beauty & Rare Impact Fund: Make A Good Call Campaign
- MTV & Active Minds: A.S.K. (Acknowledge, Support, and Keep-in-Touch)
Recognizes initiatives that champion environmental stewardship by promoting sustainable practices across operations and supply chains, conserving natural resources through ecosystem protection and responsible consumption, and raising awareness to inspire collective action toward a more sustainable future.
- Green Heffa Farms: Black Women Regenerative Farming Project
- Procter & Gamble (Tide): #TurnToCold for Sustainability
- Athletic Brewing Company: Two For The Trails
Recognizes initiatives that demonstrate impactful and innovative use of technology to address social challenges, scale NPO programs and impact, driving positive change and sustainable solutions.
- Automation Anywhere & JerseySTEM: Harnessing AI for Humanity
- Relativity & The Washington Lawyers’ Committee: Justice for Change Program
- PagerDuty & TrekMedics, Youth Alive: Impact Accelerator for Crisis Helplines
- Albertsons Companies Foundation & Multiple Partners: Tech-Driven Hunger Relief: SummerEBT.org
Recognizes initiatives that demonstrate excellence in advocacy or policy work, driving positive change by influencing public opinion, legislation, or systematic change.
- Bobbie & Paid Leave For All: Parents Push Harder
- CARE & Pfizer: Supporting Global Frontline Health Workers
- Deutsche Bank & Outright International: Leaving No One Behind Means Starting at the Back of the Line: LGBTIQ Inclusion in Humanitarian Settings
- Relativity & The Washington Lawyers’ Committee: Justice for Change Program
Chosen from across the full spectrum of Halo Award winners and voted on by The Halo Award judges, this award is category-agnostic and recognizes an initiative that best demonstrates outstanding execution of an initiative that engages multiple stakeholders, has a clear impact on business and community, and is innovative in its approach.
These awards spotlight exceptional initiatives born from the collaboration of for-profit and nonprofit organizations. They celebrate programs that weave together business goals and resources with social purpose, resulting in measurable positive change for people and/or the planet. Across 16 distinct categories and one “Best-of-the-Best” winner, these initiatives exemplify the power of partnership and innovation to address critical social issues.
Join Us at #EFG2025 to Celebrate the Winners
The Gold and Silver winners will be announced at the The Halo Awards Gala at the 2025 Engage for Good Conference in April in Palm Springs.
Stay tuned for the full list of winners and more details on their groundbreaking initiatives. Congratulations to all the finalists—your work is shaping the future of corporate social impact!