David Hargrave, principal/owner of Powerhouse Retail Services, LLC, believes that business responsibilities extend beyond the bottom line. He is using his donor-advised fund to care for and support the community in which he grew up and where his employees work and live.
In 2005, Hargrave and his business partner, Brent Teeter, founded Powerhouse Retail Services, a national construction services provider, with the vision to make a positive and lasting impact on their employees and community. As their business and charitable giving grew, the business partners established the Powerhouse Foundation to provide structure to their giving and increase their impact.
“I like being very focused in what I’m able to support. As a foundation, we chose to prioritize the Crowley community because we saw a need and we wanted to make an impact locally,” said Hargrave.
Guided by his faith and passion for promoting good in his community, Hargrave helped spearhead multiple Crowley-based initiatives, including Impact Kidz and The Fountains Counseling Center — both providing critical services to students in Crowley ISD. Getting involved with young students was especially important to Hargrave since his father once served on the Crowley ISD school board and many of his employees have children attending schools in the District.
David takes his giving a step further by encouraging his employees to be philanthropic as well. Powerhouse provides a dollar-to-dollar match for employee contributions to a number of nonprofits. Over 20% of Powerhouse employees engage in the matching opportunity, which benefits: Impact Kidz, The Fountains Counseling Center, Crowley ISD Resource Room, The Crowley Senior Center, Support Our Soldiers, Center for ASD, Healing Shepherd Clinic, House of Hope, Hillside Community Church, Hope Partners International and Llamado Eterno.
These philanthropic efforts compelled Hargrave to explore a more tax-efficient vehicle to support the charitable efforts of both his family and Powerhouse. Working with his financial advisors and North Texas Community Foundation, he established Hargrave Charitable Foundation Fund in 2019 through a gift of business interest. Working alongside the Powerhouse Foundation, Hargrave’s donor advised fund provides additional flexibility and service to achieve his charitable goals.
Over the past 8 months, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought on a new set of challenges for Crowley. Hargrave remains committed to touching as many lives as he can through charitable giving.
“Whatever is needed, we want to make sure it gets covered.”
