A Culture of Action at Distinguished Programs

Distinguished Programs, a New York, N.Y.-headquartered national insurance program manager providing specialized insurance programs to brokers and agents, works to develop a culture of action by giving back to the communities where it operates.

In 2014, the Distinguished Cares Committee was formally created, according to Alison Dadia, president of the Distinguished Cares Committee. The committee’s purpose is to make charity-related service opportunities available to all Distinguished employees.

“Distinguished Cares is a reflection of our culture of collaboration,” Dadia told Insurance Journal. “It serves as a hub for our company’s charitable initiatives, taking the spirit of service that we provide to our brokers, and giving back to the communities where those brokers live.”

Distinguished Cares launches and facilitates projects which are of interest to employees, explores new opportunities for involvement, and provides a forum for those employees interested in becoming active participants in community efforts, Dadia explained.

This year, Distinguished raised money for buying military care package contents, such as socks, nonperishable food and hygienic products through its Military Care Package Party. The entire company then worked to pack care packages for troops all over the world.

The company also ran an emergency fundraiser and was able to raise $5,000 to send to organizations supporting the victims of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. It held its Annual Back to School Drive, in which it donated extra office supplies, computer monitors and additional items to be hand-delivered to various schools.

Each of Distinguished’s hub offices also engages in volunteering for the holiday season through localized efforts to give back to its surrounding communities, among its other charitable initiatives.

“These charity projects came to life because they directly impacted our people and/or their loved ones,” Dadia said.

In the future, Distinguished Cares plans to continue its support of the charities it has donated to in the past, as well as expand its outreach to various other groups that its employees have expressed interest in, such as Habitat for Humanity and disaster relief programs, she added.