We believe that building our communities is good for our business.

We build our community support from a set of core values:
We believe that strong communities benefit all families.
We believe that strong families benefit our communities.
We believe that strengthening access to good education is key to building a stronger future.
We believe that access to quality health care is essential to a family's and a community's well-being.
We believe in equality of opportunity and advancement for every person in the workplace.
We believe that extending a helping hand in a time of need not only benefits the recipient but also the giver.

Based on those values, we give strong financial and volunteer support through recognized charities that have strong presences in our communities, primarily focused on those geographies where we have facilities.

Our giving is focused in three primary areas:

Health Care - We support research and facilities in those areas that we believe can have the greatest impact for the well being and peace of mind of families. Recent grants in this area have gone to the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Prentice Women's Hospital (which houses the Alberto Culver Women's Health Center), and Children's Memorial Hospital. We also support the American Heart Association's Go Red For Women Campaign and a number of other groups working nationally to alleviate specific illnesses including juvenile diabetes, ovarian cancer, breast cancer and AIDS.

Education - We believe in the support of traditional educational institutions ranging from day care to the university level, but we also recognize the value to groups working beyond the traditional school to provide opportunities to learn and grow in safe environments. Our support here includes groups such as SIFE, Junior Achievement, the Off the Street Club, Boys & Girls Clubs, Midtown Educational Foundation, Northwestern University, the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois at Chicago. We also believe in giving a hand up through scholarships. We support the children of Alberto Culver employees through the Bernice Lavin Jumpstart Fund which, since the inception of this program in 1993, has granted over 325 scholarships. We also award scholarships to students who have demonstrated both a desire for education and a contribution to their communities through strong values with annual Lavin Values Scholarships named in honor of the company's founders on their retirement from executive positions.

Women In the Workplace - Recognizing that women are our most important consumers, we think it essential to search out programs that can give them support in their personal lives, their family lives and in the workplace. We give support to a broad range of shelters, domestic violence support and family counseling groups, programs that prepare women to enter or reenter the workplace and information resources such as Women's e-news.

We look for innovative ways to identify groups worthy of support and, wherever possible, involve our employees in the selection of groups to be assisted. Several of those programs include:

  • The Bernice Lavin Jumpstart Community Grant program which provides seed money and small grants for new programs and initiatives in each of our focus areas. By focusing on startup programs, we can assist programs that do not yet have the critical mass to appear on the radar screens of major funding institutions.
  • The company honors our directors each year with support for a charity they select.
  • Our employees nominate charities to receive company support at the holidays and the winning group is selected by a vote of all employees.
  • We maintain a fund to assist our employees who are faced with a personal emergencies and the level of that support is determined by an employee peer group.

As the company grows, so does our support for each of the groups above. All of our employees know, and are motivated by, an important principle that drives our business: "With powerful growth comes the privilege to care."